The Hidden Shift in Hiring - Why the Old Recruitment Model No Longer Fits
Hiring today carries more financial and operational risk than it ever has.
A company engages an agency.
Two months of search.
A €5,000-€8,000 fee.
The hire joins.
Three months later, the role fails - misalignment, a change in direction, a better offer elsewhere.
The investment is already sunk before real value is created.
This is one of the main reasons many organizations now avoid agency hiring unless it is critically necessary.
At the same time, recruitment agencies absorb enormous delivery risk.
Roles change. Priorities shift. Searches pause.
Work continues without output or protection.
Neither side truly wins.
Why the Old Model No Longer Holds
The traditional agency model puts both sides under strain from the start.
Success fees delay real commitment and compress pressure into the final stages of the search, often producing rushed or misaligned shortlists. Retainer models reduce some of that risk, but introduce another problem - long contracts with limited flexibility in an environment where business needs evolve constantly.
This isn’t a question of good intentions - it’s a question of structural fit.
Hiring today no longer follows the same rules it once did.
Roles shift faster.
People move more freely.
The ground changes while the search is still in motion.
This is especially clear in sectors like iGaming and tech, where what you need in week one can look very different by week four.
Stability is no longer something you can build a hiring model around.
What Has to Change
Recruitment can’t be built on the assumption that everything stays still.
Work reshapes itself. Direction changes. Careers rarely move in straight lines anymore.
The structure around hiring needs to feel less like a distant service and more like a working part of the business.
When arickard started, the same percentage-based model most of the industry still uses was in place.
Over time, the limits of that structure became clear.
It often felt like the work was moving toward the same goal, but from opposite sides of the table.
So the model changed.
The framework shifted into a structure that behaves less like a transaction and more like a working partnership.
The work stays close.
The process remains visible.
The structure adjusts as the role changes.
Momentum is steady.
That’s what allows hiring to feel calmer and more grounded - because the risk and the responsibility are carried together.
The workforce has already changed.
Hiring is only beginning to catch up.
If you’re planning for 2026 and want a steadier way forward, our Recruitment Advisory & Search Support framework is there when the time feels right.
https://calendly.com/arickard/lets-connect
