What is the difference between managed recruiting and staff augmentation?

Ownership. In staff augmentation the worker stays on the vendor's payroll and you rent capacity month to month, typically with a 30-60% markup embedded in the rate forever. In managed recruiting the worker is your employee from day one and the recruiting firm's fee ends (at Accrety, the retainer ends at month 12). Staff aug is faster to start and easier to stop; managed recruiting is cheaper from year one onward and removes the vendor lock-in.

What is the difference between managed recruiting and RPO?

Scale and integration. RPO (recruitment process outsourcing) embeds an external team inside your TA function to run high-volume hiring under your brand, usually on multi-year contracts with minimum volumes. Managed recruiting is role-by-role: no embedded team, no volume minimums, no multi-year commitment. RPO wins at 50+ hires per year; managed recruiting wins for the 1-15 critical seats where each hire has to be right.

How much does LATAM talent cost compared to US hires?

A loaded US senior engineer runs around $12K per month ($144K annualized with salary, benefits, taxes, equipment, overhead). A senior LATAM equivalent typically runs around $5K per month loaded, same time zone, hired as your own employee. Under Accrety's model the first year costs about $7.5K per month ($5K seat + $2.5K retainer that ends at month 12), netting roughly $54K in year-one savings per replaced seat and about $90K recurring every year after.

When should I choose each model?

Choose staff augmentation for spiky, short-term capacity you may need to turn off in months. Choose RPO when you hire 50+ people a year and need an embedded engine. Choose managed recruiting when you are filling critical permanent seats (1-15 per year), want the hire on your own payroll, and care about the cost structure after month 12.

Managed Recruiting vs Staff Augmentation vs RPO — a buyer's guide for LATAM talent

Q: What is managed recruiting?

Managed recruiting is a model where a firm runs the entire hiring operation for you (sourcing, screening, validation, presentation, offer support) and the hire goes on YOUR payroll from day one. You own the employee and the relationship; the firm owns the process. Accrety runs this model for US companies and PE portfolio companies hiring LATAM talent, priced as a monthly retainer against the savings instead of a 25-30% upfront fee.

01 · The structural difference

The question that decides everything: who owns the hire?

Strip the marketing and the three models differ on one axis: whose payroll the person sits on, and for how long you keep paying a third party for that to be true.

A · Staff augmentation

Vendor's

payroll · you rent capacity

The worker belongs to the vendor. You pay a monthly rate with a 30-60% markup embedded forever. Fast to start, easy to stop, and you never own the asset. Lock-in is the business model.

B · RPO

Yours

payroll · embedded hiring engine

Hires are yours, the engine is theirs. An external team runs high-volume recruiting under your brand, on multi-year contracts with volume minimums. Built for 50+ hires a year, oversized below that.

C · Managed recruiting

Yours

payroll · day one, role by role

Your employee from day one. The firm runs the entire process per seat. At Accrety the fee is a monthly retainer that ends at month 12: after that the seat costs you exactly what the seat costs.

02 · The honest part

Where each model wins.

If a vendor tells you their model fits every situation, they are describing their revenue model, not your problem.

Staff aug wins when…

You need capacity in two weeks for a project that might not exist in six months. Spiky workloads, trial runs, true short-term needs. The markup is the price of optionality, and sometimes optionality is worth it.

RPO wins when…

You hire at industrial volume: 50, 100, 300 people a year, under one brand, with compliance and process at scale. Below that volume you are paying for an engine you cannot keep busy.

Managed recruiting wins when…

The seat is permanent and critical, you want it on your own payroll, and the year-two economics matter. Typical range: 1-15 hires a year where each one has to be right. This is the problem Accrety is built for.

03 · The LATAM math

What the models cost on a real seat.

Reference case: replacing a US senior engineer seat with a same-time-zone LATAM senior, hired as your own employee.

A · Status quo (US seat)

$12K

/ month · loaded

$144K annualized. Salary, benefits, taxes, equipment, overhead.

B · Year one, managed recruiting

$7.5K

/ month · seat + retainer

$5K LATAM loaded cost + $2.5K Accrety retainer. Your payroll from day one. The retainer ends at month 12. 90-day replacement guarantee.

C · Year two onward

$5K

/ month · the seat, nothing else

~$54K saved in year one, ~$90K recurring every year after. Under staff aug, the markup never ends. Under managed recruiting, it does.

04 · Questions buyers actually ask

The short answers.

Written to be quoted. If you need the long versions, that is a working session.

What is managed recruiting?

A firm runs your entire hiring operation per seat (sourcing, screening, validation, presentation, offer support) and the hire lands on your payroll from day one. You own the employee; the firm owns the process.

Managed recruiting vs staff augmentation, in one line?

Ownership. Staff aug rents you a person on the vendor's payroll with the markup embedded forever; managed recruiting hires your person, and the fee ends. At Accrety, at month 12.

Managed recruiting vs RPO, in one line?

Scale. RPO embeds a hiring engine for 50+ hires a year on multi-year contracts. Managed recruiting works seat by seat, no minimums, for the 1-15 hires that have to be right.

Why LATAM specifically?

Senior talent at roughly $5K per month loaded versus $12K for the equivalent US seat, in your time zone, hireable as your own employee. The arbitrage is structural; the hard part is selection and process, which is the part a recruiting firm should own.

Who is behind Accrety?

Sebastián Gallo, co-founder and former COO of Torre.ai (7 years) and one of Forbes' Top 50 Most Influential Angel Investors in Latin America (2025). Accrety is founder-led by design: the person on the call is the person on the engagement, with AI running most of the operation. Not affiliated with Accrete AI (accrete.ai), a different company in a different industry.

05 · If the seat is critical

Pressure-test your case in one working session.

Bring the role. We will tell you, with numbers, which of the three models it actually needs — even when the answer is not us.

Book a working session