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Choosing the Right Hiring Model: Contingent, Embedded, or Internal?

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Why This Guide Exists

Hiring top sales and GTM talent is critical, but knowing how to structure your hiring support is just as important. Do you scale with internal recruiters? Hire a firm? Bring in embedded talent? Most early stage founders default to what they've seen before or what their investors suggest.


But the right model depends on your current stage, budget, urgency, and team structure. This guide breaks down the three most common approaches: contingent, embedded, and internal and helps you pick the right model for your needs today, and tomorrow.


Contingent Recruiting


What it is: Pay per hire, often with no upfront cost. You only pay if the recruiter fills the role.


Best When:

  • You need to fill a few key roles quickly, for example your first AE or Head of Sales.

  • You do not have the volume to justify internal or embedded hiring support.

  • You need senior level expertise or proven hard to find talent with experience selling into your industry or ideal customer persona.


Watch Out For:

  • Misaligned incentives, some firms prioritize speed over fit.

  • Limited bandwidth or customization unless you are a top tier client.

  • Overlapping candidates if multiple firms are used.


Pro Tip: Choose firms that specialize in your function and stage, for example GTM hiring for Seed to Series B startups. Ask how they assess fit, not just experience.


Embedded Recruiting


What it is: A recruiter, or small team, works alongside you like an internal team member, often embedded in Slack, leading screening calls, and sometimes joining interviews directly. Think of this like renting a full cycle recruiter who comes with their own playbook.


Best When:

  • Deep partnership with visibility into your business.

  • Works well for high volume or sprint based hiring needs.

  • You want to treat hiring as a project, not a transaction.


Watch Out For:

  • Not one size fits all, success depends entirely on the person or team you are working with.

  • Quality, speed, and strategic thinking vary widely between firms.

  • Often require a 1 to 3 month minimum commitment.


Pro Tip: Look for embedded teams that own sourcing and understand your function, versus just coordinating interviews. The best ones operate like in house recruiters with external horsepower.


Internal Recruiting


What it is: You hire full time recruiters as employees.


Best When:

  • You have steady headcount plans for 6 to 12 plus months.

  • You are hiring across multiple functions and want consistent brand alignment.

  • You need deep process control, employer branding, and long term ownership.


Watch Out For:

  • Hard to justify early if you only hire occasionally.

  • Difficult to find recruiters who are GTM focused and startup ready.

  • Recruiting slows if hiring plans shift suddenly.


Pro Tip: If you are not ready for a full in house recruiter, consider hiring a People plus Talent Lead who can coordinate with agencies or embedded partners while building your future hiring engine.


So, What’s Right for You?

Here is a rough framework based on company stage and needs:

Stage

Headcount Plan

Best Model

Seed

1 to 2 hires, opportunistic or urgent

Contingent

Seed to Series A

3 to 6 hires, project based GTM hiring

Contingent or Embedded

Series B plus, ongoing growth

6 plus hires per quarter

Internal, with agency partners

Final Thought

Your hiring model should reflect your stage, not your aspiration. You do not need to build an in house recruiting team just because others have. And you do not need a massive agency, or multiple agencies, to make one key hire.


About ClosedWon Talent

ClosedWon Talent is a specialized sales recruiting firm that helps growth focused companies hire top GTM talent. We partner with founders, revenue leaders, and investors to build high performing sales teams across SaaS and beyond.


What sets us apart is the ClosedWon Method, a proven recruiting framework built on speed, precision, and transparency. We combine deep industry expertise with a curated candidate network to deliver shortlists of qualified, motivated sales professionals...fast. Our team does not just fill roles, we act as embedded partners who understand how to assess selling style, territory experience, and growth potential based on each clients' specific needs.

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