For in-house talent teams · free · interactive

What if you stopped paying agency commission?

Plug in your annual placements + commission percentage + salaries. See agency cost vs Raffi cost. Honest math — includes the recruiter hours required to run it in-house.

TL;DR

External recruitment agencies typically charge 20-30% of first-year salary per placement. At a $85K average salary and 12 placements/year, that’s ~$224K paid in commission. The hire isn’t worse, but the price is wildly out of step with what the underlying work costs to perform in 2026.

Raffi runs the same screening + shortlist + reveal flow as SaaS for ~$5-25K/year depending on volume. The trade-off: your team has to manage the pipeline in-house (review shortlists, run final interviews, close offers). This calculator includes the in-house management cost in the math so the comparison is honest. Result is typically 30-50x cheaper than agency commission across 1-3 year windows.

Your hiring math · edit to fit

Annual agency commission

$224,400

$18,700 per hire × 12 placements

Annual cost with Raffi (Pro)

$9,228

Subscription + screening + in-house management

Annual savings

$215,172

24× cheaper · $645,516 over 3 years

Cost breakdown · side by side

Pay agencies (current)

  • 12 placements × 22% of $85k$224,400
Total / year$224,400

= $673,200 over 3 years

Run in-house with Raffi (Pro)

  • Subscription ($199/mo × 12)$2,388
  • Plan includes 12 sourced jobs/yr (covers 12)$0
  • Screening (12 × 50 applicants × 12min × $0.45)$3,240
  • In-house management (12 × 6hrs × $50/hr)$3,600
Total / year$9,228

= $27,684 over 3 years

Method:commission = placements × avg first-year salary × %. Raffi side = annual subscription (Pro $199/mo if ≤ 12 placements; Growth $599/mo otherwise) + $99 per overflow sourced job + screening minutes at $0.45/min + in-house recruiter hours to manage the pipeline. The management line is the honest cost — without it, the calc would over-state savings. Sourcing tools, background checks, and ATS costs are unchanged either way and excluded for clean comparison.

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Methodology & honest tradeoffs

Commission-side formula.Annual commission = placements/yr × avg first-year salary × commission %. Defaults assume 22% commercial-search midpoint at $85K avg salary — ranges 15-33% across staffing/commercial/exec-search categories.

Raffi-side formula.Pro $199/mo (if ≤ 12 placements/yr) or Growth $599/mo (above that). Pro includes 12 sourced jobs/yr; Growth includes 60. Overflow billed at $99/job. Screening cost = placements × applicants/role × 12-min interview × $0.45/min. In-house management cost = placements × hours/role × loaded recruiter hourly cost. See pricing for the full ladder.

What this calc does NOT model.Sourcing tool costs (LinkedIn Recruiter, etc.), ATS subscriptions, background checks — unchanged either way, excluded for clean comparison. Hire quality differences for niche-network roles where boutique agencies have deep passive networks. Risk of coverage gaps during transition (handle via 90-day parallel test before cutting agency contracts).

For directional planning. Your actual cost depends on placement mix, hire complexity, and agency contract terms. Anchor against this estimate, then run one placement through Raffi to validate quality + speed before sunsetting agency contracts.

Frequently asked questions

Is 20-25% really the typical agency commission?
Yes — 20-30% of first-year salary is standard for contingency recruitment in the US and UK. Premium executive-search firms charge 30-33% (sometimes plus a retainer). Volume staffing/contract roles run lower (15-20%). The calculator defaults to 22% as the mid-market commercial-search midpoint. Adjust to your specific contracts.
Doesn't running hiring in-house cost recruiter time I'm not paying for today?
Yes — and we model it. The 'in-house management' input captures recruiter hours per role to oversee the Raffi pipeline (review shortlists, run final interviews, close offers). Default is 6 hours/role at $50/hr loaded cost. Without that line, the calc would over-state savings. With it included, you still typically see 30-50x cost ratios because the agency commission line is so much heavier.
Why does the calculator auto-pick Pro vs Growth?
Pro at $199/mo includes 1 sourced job/month (12/year). Growth at $599/mo includes 5 sourced jobs/month (60/year). Both plans absorb the included volume; anything above triggers $99/job overflow. The calculator picks the cheapest fit for your volume — if you're under 12 placements/yr, Pro is correct; otherwise Growth. You're never forced into Growth unnecessarily.
What about candidate quality? Are agency-sourced hires better than Raffi-sourced?
Honest answer: it depends on the role and the agency. Boutique agencies with deep networks in specific verticals (top legal, top engineering leadership) can deliver passive candidates Raffi won't reach as quickly. For most full-time roles 50-500-person companies fill (mid-market sales, engineering, ops, finance), Raffi's screening rigor + 200M-person sourcing pool delivers comparable shortlist quality at 30-50x less cost. We're transparent about that tradeoff.
Does the calculator include sourcing tool / ATS costs?
No — those are unchanged either way and excluded for clean comparison. If you currently pay for LinkedIn Recruiter ($10K-$15K/yr per seat), an ATS like Greenhouse/Lever, or candidate-sourcing tools, those costs persist whether you use Raffi or pay agencies. The calculator isolates the COMMISSION line for honest before/after comparison.
What's the risk if I cancel agency contracts and run in-house?
Two real risks: (1) coverage gap during the transition — recommend running both in parallel for one quarter before fully cutting agency contracts; (2) some agencies have exclusivity clauses or guarantee periods on prior placements. Read your contracts. Raffi customers who switched typically did a 90-day parallel test, validated quality + close rates, then negotiated wind-down on agency contracts.
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