Unbundled vs Full-Service Recruitment: What They Are and When to Use Them

14 Aug

10 mins read

In a labour market as competitive and changeable as New Zealand’s, choosing the right recruitment approach is crucial. Even with greater availability of candidates today than in recent years, there are ongoing skills shortages across numerous industries, immigration trends highlighting the ‘brain drain’ (thanks Australia!), and increasing pressure to find cost-effective hiring solutions. So employers are asking themselves: should we manage the recruitment process ourselves or should we use a recruitment agency?

The reality is that you don’t need to choose just one or the other. You can keep some parts of the process in-house while outsourcing others to a recruitment company – this is normally called ‘unbundled’ recruitment. Alternatively, you can enlist the help of a recruitment partner for the entire process, this is generally called ‘full service’ or ‘end-to-end’ recruitment.

Whether you choose a more ‘bespoke’ approach or enlist the help or a recruitment agency for the entire hiring process really depends on your organisation’s unique situation, the role you’re recruiting, and the market conditions. This is a conversation I have with my clients all the time, so let’s look at each type of recruitment service, what they are, and when to use them!

What is Full-Service Recruitment?

Most people are more familiar with this type of recruitment. ‘Full-service’ or ‘end-to-end’ recruitment covers the entire hiring journey. Depending on your requirements and the agency you’re working with, this could include:

1. Needs Analysis & Job Briefing
This is the very first meeting to discuss and define your hiring requirements. Each agency has a process they’ll take you through to identify the skills and experience of the role you’re hiring for, as well as details about the organisation and team culture.

2. Consultation & Role Definition
This involves a more in-depth dive into defining the role(s), including crafting job descriptions, defining competencies, and advising on pay benchmarks or salary bands.

3. Sourcing & Advertising
During this phase, your recruiter uses specialist tools, platforms and channels to find the right candidates. This often includes activity like listing the role on job boards (e.g. SEEK, Trade Me Jobs, LinkedIn, etc.), searching internal databases, reaching out to industry networks, advertising on social media, and targeted outreach to passive candidates.

4. Screening & Shortlisting
As the recruitment company receives applications, they sort through the CVs, find the best candidates, and screen them to ensure they match the role and any other requirements you may have specified. The screening process could be a few basic questions, or a more rigorous discussion. The recruiter then delivers a curated short (or long) list of candidates for you to review.

5. Interview & Assessment
During this step your recruitment partner manages all the interview logistics, whether that’s interviewing by phone, in-person, or by panel. Once you’ve identified your top pick(s), the agency can then assist with background checks, references, and any assessments necessary, like psychometric or skills testing.

6. Offer Management & Post-Placement Care
At this final stage your agency will present offer terms, facilitate any negotiations between parties, and ensure the process remains seamless for both sides. Most agencies then extend support beyond the hire, which could include assisting with onboarding planning, making sure candidates are ready for their first day, and checking in periodically with both you and the candidate to ensure they settle in well.

The steps above may differ depending on the agency you’re working with, or some steps may not be included, but the key thing to know is that full-service recruitment means that you’re enlisting an agency to handle the entire hiring process, from start to finish – whatever that may look like.

What is Unbundled Recruitment?

A lot of employers and hiring managers I talk to initially assume that if they use a recruitment agency, they have to use them for the entire hiring process. But as I’ve mentioned, this isn’t the case. ‘Unbundled’ recruitment is a more flexible approach, where you choose only the specific hiring services you need or want support with, rather than the full package.

What does that look like? Well, each of the steps in the full-service approach above can be broken down further into individual components. For example, you could enlist an agency just to advertise the job and screen CVs, or just to check references – or even all of those components, without any other services. I’ll give you a real-life example a little later on.

When to Use Unbundled Recruitment

Unbundled can be a great option when you need additional support to supplement your internal hiring process – whether that’s due to constraints in time, resources, capability, or budget. It can be especially effective when:

You have some capacity in your internal HR/P&C/Recruitment team, but not enough. E.g. you’re filling temporary or lower-level roles at scale and don’t have time to screen all the CVs.
You have some recruitment capability in-house, but need additional support in certain areas. E.g. your normal advertising platforms aren’t resulting in the right candidates and you require access to specialist sourcing methods.
You’re recruiting a role with requirements outside the norm for your organisation. E.g. you have a strong internal hiring process but need to outsource psychometric or skills testing.
You’re having difficulty filling a role and need to re-advertise, but want to protect your brand reputation.
You have budget constraints that mean full-service isn’t a viable option, but you still require hiring support.

These are just some examples – there are lots of different situations where you might need support, so another way to look at it is to consider what benefits unbundled offers:

Flexibility
You can choose exactly what support you need, when you need it, depending on your organisation’s recruitment capability and capacity. You can also maintain ownership of parts of the process if that’s important to you.
Scalability
You can change which services you choose as your organisation grows, making it ideal for SMEs with changing requirements or larger organisations filling specialist roles or managing high-volume recruitment drives.
Cost Effectiveness
You only pay for the specific recruitment components you need, avoiding the expense of a full-service recruitment package when it’s not required.
Time Efficiency
You can leverage the specialist systems and processes that agencies provide, reducing the time-to-hire and getting the person you need in your business faster.
Quality Results
You benefit from expert advertising and sourcing approaches that ensure the best candidate or result, no matter which part of the process you’re outsourcing.

Unbundled: A Real Example

One of my clients was hiring for a new role, and while internal staff had expressed interest, the client “wanted to make sure that we had the best candidate”, so they decided to advertise externally too.

They chose to do this themselves because they had previously used other recruitment agencies for end-to-end services, but found “they were expensive and did not fully understand our requirements”. Unfortunately, their advertising didn’t result in the calibre of candidates they were looking for, and the client was wary of advertising again because they felt it could negatively impact the perception of their brand if they were seen to be repeatedly advertising the same role.

Enter Madison and our unbundled services! After a few discussions to ensure I understood their needs and concerns, I suggested we recruit for the role under Madison’s name. This would protect the client’s brand, while also leveraging Madison’s positive reputation and strong brand recognition in the NZ job market to attract a new pool of candidates.

So ahead we went – I advertised the role, screened out any overseas applications, and sent the rest to the client to review, as agreed. Since the candidate experience is also really important to us (and our client), we made sure to clearly communicate the situation and our role in the process to the candidates too.

The result? The client loved it! Their feedback was that it was cost-effective and they didn’t have to spend time and energy fielding enquiries. They also appreciated that our advertising methods meant we were able to reach applicants who wouldn’t have otherwise applied.

“We remained anonymous and were able to confirm what the calibre of candidates were in the market. We hired internally, however this person also applied through the Madison ad.”

They found the process so helpful that they’ve since returned to use our unbundled services again!

When to Use Full-Service Recruitment

While unbundled recruitment can supplement your internal hiring processes, it still requires some internal resources and capacity. Full-service recruitment, on the other hand, generally requires only involvement only at defined milestones.

With end-to-end recruitment you get all the benefits of unbundled, plus the strategic advantage of having a single partner who takes responsibility for the process from start to finish. It’s more than just task execution; it’s a true consultancy partnership. This means:

One point of contact and full accountability for the quality of hire.
Motivation to deliver quickly and effectively, often with replacement guarantees.
Consistency in candidate experience, protecting both your brand and the agency’s.
A complete view of the role and business needs, so recommendations are informed by context from day one.
Specialist sourcing methods to reach both active and passive candidates.
Advanced systems and processes for effectively managing applications, tracking candidates, and coordinating assessments.
Market intelligence to position your role competitively and set realistic salary expectations.
Advice on workforce planning, future growth, and team structure.
A long-term partner who understands your culture, values, and goals.

By partnering with an agency, you also free up your own time and resources, allowing you to focus entirely on your business.

This model is particularly valuable for:

Executive or specialist roles that require discreet headhunting.
Confidential or sensitive hires where privacy is critical.
Hard-to-fill positions in competitive or niche markets.
Urgent projects requiring multiple hires in a short time frame.
Organisations without in-house teams to manage recruitment effectively.

In these type of situations, full-service recruitment not only saves time but also reduces the risk of a bad hire (we’ve all seen it happen!). There are lots of varying statics on the cost and impact of hiring the wrong person, but research agrees that a bad hire can hit a business hard, driving up costs, reducing productivity, and affecting team morale. But that risk is significantly reduced when an experienced agency manages the process end-to-end.

So, while the upfront cost of full-service recruitment may be higher than a single unbundled component, it can often deliver greater value for money, all things considered. The efficiency, quality of hire, and reduced risk mean the investment pays off, especially in a tight talent market where getting the right person quickly can have a major impact on your business performance.

How to Decide Which Model to Use

There’s no one-size-fits-all answer. The best recruitment model depends on your role, budget, timeframes, and internal resources. Ask yourself:

Do we have the capacity to manage part of this process in-house?
Is the role likely to attract good candidates through our advertising alone?
Would passive candidates be a better fit than active ones?
How critical is it that we get this hire right the first time?
Is cost-saving more important than time-saving in this case?

If you’re not sure which path to take, I’d be more than happy to help you assess your options – feel free to reach out!

Hannah Williams

Senior Consultant

A bit about me With a background in HR and administration, the world of recruitment was only one step away, and here I am making a career out of it. As a Senior…

More about Hannah

About Madison's Services

Our bespoke recruitment methods allow us to provide unique solutions that can help solve your hiring challenges.

A Decade of Change: Insights from 10 Years of NZ Employment Market Reports

Kerrie Gregory

10 Jul

8 mins read

Employer

The employment market in Aotearoa has seen more change in the past ten years than anyone could have predicted. We can probably all agree that it’s been an action-packed decade – though much of the ‘action’ we’d have collectively preferred to avoid! The employment landscape continues to change, and every year here at Madison, we continue to produce our Employment Market Report (EMR), to reflect on and learn from what’s passed, while also forecasting the future.

This year’s milestone tenth edition of the EMR serves as a valuable resource for both employers and job seekers, filled with updated salary benchmarks, emerging trends, and insights across various topics and sectors. The current market has been shaped by volatility, so we hope this comprehensive data offers clarity and reassurance for the year ahead.

Having been with the Madison business for over 18 years, I’m proud to see the EMR continue building on its purpose: to offer New Zealand-specific insight backed by data that helps employers, job seekers, and the wider market make informed decisions about work.

A Job Market That Doesn’t Sit Still

In preparation for writing this blog, I looked back over the nine previous issues of the report. It gave me a strong sense of nostalgia – especially reading a few lines of that inaugural 2016 edition, which began “Fuelled by a stable economy…”.

Needless to say, since that moment, the world has changed significantly. We’ve moved through periods of steady growth, a global pandemic, multiple legislative shifts, political curveballs, and increasingly complex economic conditions. At the same time, ideas about what people want from work have evolved. For example, who was talking about, or offering hybrid work in 2016?

Some of the biggest shifts were triggered suddenly. COVID-19 didn’t just disrupt hiring in 2020, it rewrote the playbook. Office roles adapted overnight, and we all had to become video call experts. Salary freezes were followed by unexpectedly sharp pay demands. Both employers and candidates had to reassess what stability and success looked like. Pay expectations today, in contrast with a few years ago, are shaped by the economy, but also values alignment.

Other changes have taken shape more gradually. Since 2016, business confidence has moved through cycles: strong in the early years, softening in the lead-up to the pandemic, and cautious again as economic headwinds returned. These cycles have influenced everything from recruitment lead times to internal restructuring patterns.

Recognising the rhythm helps us all to plan effectively; whether it’s planning our next career move, navigating restructures, forecasting talent needs, or seeking approval for future hiring budgets.

Through the Employer Lens: What’s Changed

The challenges employers are facing in the current climate didn’t arrive all at once; they’ve built up steadily over the last few years. In the earlier EMRs, the focus was sourcing talent in a tight market and improving speed to hire. By 2018, more emphasis was put on the design of recruitment processes and keeping up with candidate expectations. Then the pandemic accelerated the shift toward flexibility and soft skills.

Since 2022, we’ve seen an increased focus on retention and workforce planning, with hiring becoming more strategic. Savvy employers have been building internal mobility pathways, investing in skills development, and better aligning their Employee Value Propositions (EVPs) with what job seekers actually care about.

At the heart of the EMR is salary data. So, what’s happened to salaries over time? Across most sectors, the trend line reveals a gentle upward incline, but the post-pandemic years saw significant spikes. In particular, contact centres, HR, and mid-level finance roles saw marked increases from 2021 onwards.

Employers are still working hard to offer competitive packages, but there’s increasing pressure to look beyond salary. Flexibility, development, wellbeing support, and progression, are all key elements of a competitive offer in today’s market – and all are reflected in the data in our latest EMR.

From Pain Points to Planning Tools

Despite high unemployment rates, skills shortages remain a real problem for many New Zealand employers. When it’s difficult to find the talent you need, it’s useful to know whether it’s isolated to your sector or part of a broader trend, to help decide on the right action. This may look like reframing a role, investing in learning and development, or adjusting recruitment timelines. Similarly, if your organisation needs to plan for AI impacts, redraw role specifications post-automation, or rethink benefit packages in line with changing job seeker values, real life data offers a grounded starting point.

Direct feedback from clients tells us this is one of the primary ways they use the EMR. The 138 salary data points and qualitative feedback from thousands of job seekers and employers around New Zealand helps empower organisations to plan for both the typical and the unexpected, especially when it comes to sourcing, recruitment, and onboarding.

The Candidate Perspective: A Different Set of Priorities

Job seekers in 2025 are more informed, more selective, and more focused on alignment than they were ten years ago. In the mid-2010s, salary and stability were top of mind, but over time, new themes emerged. By 2018, cultural fit and values alignment were gaining ground. Three years later, wellbeing and flexibility were the focus. Today’s job seeker wish list looks different yet again, and I encourage you to download the report to find out what’s changed (and what hasn’t).

The long-term data across our decade of reports highlights shifts in job seeker preferences. Initially, hybrid work was a unique perk, but it’s now become more of an expectation. Over time, candidates have increasingly prioritised career growth, internal progression pathways, and learning opportunities.

Job seekers now look for more from employers, asking about organisational transparency, leadership styles, performance recognition, and flexibility. Even in today’s economy, we consistently see that top talent chooses roles based on values alignment rather than availability.

This year’s EMR offers insights for job seekers about where there are budding opportunities, potential growth areas, where roles might be influenced by funding and contract cycles, and (of course), valuable salary benchmarking information.

Why Long-Term Insight Matters

This year’s report includes the core elements you’d expect: hiring confidence, candidate sentiment, industry trends, and salary benchmarks across ten sectors and 138 roles. Ten years of reliable data collation with consistent measures means we’re also able to identify cyclical patterns, sector-specific signals and mini-trends, and meaningful changes over time. For example:

Migration. It’s a consistent part of Aotearoa’s workforce story, but in recent years, the dynamic has changed. More mid-career professionals are heading offshore, and employers are feeling the impact (check out our other recent blog on this topic). The EMR tracks how these shifts are accelerating.

Workplace flexibility. In our early reports, it barely featured, but by 2023, it was front and centre. The 2025 report reveals the different ways that job seekers now see flexibility, and why it’s an increasingly hot topic amongst employers and our clients.

Of course, we’ve seen disruptions we couldn’t predict, from global pandemics to political turbulence home and abroad, but that’s exactly why a long-term view matters. Historical context provides a solid starting point when the future feels uncertain. We believe the trends are clearer when you look across multiple years, and the EMR data and commentary helps employers and job seekers to forecast with more accuracy, and to avoid those common, short-term noise traps.

Real Insights, Backed by Real People

Behind the hard data is something else: the human layer. The EMR draws on tens-of-thousands of survey responses gathered over the past decade, and real-world insight from job seekers and hiring managers across New Zealand. Looking at this collectively, certain patterns begin to stand out.

Counter-offers, for example, were somewhat effective for a time, but have now consistently underdelivered in retaining staff, even as they remain a common tactic. We’ve seen the rebound effect of restructures, where short-term hiring freezes are followed by critical skill shortages that are harder, and more expensive to fill. We’ve also seen the early effects of technological change, such as AI, surface in sentiment data well before they’re visible in hiring patterns.

These types of signals are often missed in year-on-year analysis but become clearer when combined with input from our Consultants, who see the practical impacts unfold inside teams and hiring processes.

A Tool for Better Decision-Making

If you’re hiring, looking for a new job, or thinking about how to structure your workforce for the year ahead, the 2025 Employment Market Report offers timely insight and grounded perspective. It marks ten years of consistent data collection, and this milestone edition brings added depth to the trends and signals we’re seeing now. The insights are shaped by the voices of employers and candidates across Aotearoa, and the patterns are clearer when you can view them in context.

Download the full report and see where the market might take you next!

If you’d like even more value from the report and to be able apply it with greater impact, our Consultants are available to present the key takeaways (along with exclusive additional long-term insights), tailored to your organisation and sector. These sessions are practical, not promotional, and are designed to help you make more informed decisions, backed by data, and shaped by what’s actually happening in the market. If you’re interested, just drop us a line here, or contact a Consultant directly.

Kerrie Gregory

General Manager

My role combines leadership, strategy, innovation, and operations strengths to deliver exceptional outcomes for clients and candidates while growing a high-performing team.

More about Kerrie

About Madison's Services

Our bespoke recruitment methods allow us to provide unique solutions that can help solve your hiring challenges.