What is a Fractional Recruiter? A Complete Guide for January 2026
Dover
January 19, 2026
•
4 mins
A fractional recruiter is a recruiting professional who works with your company on a part-time, hourly, or project basis instead of as a full-time employee. They bring deep recruiting expertise without the overhead of a full-time salary and benefits package.
Unlike traditional recruiting agencies that juggle hundreds of clients at once, fractional recruiters work with a smaller number of companies. They embed themselves into your hiring process, learn your culture, and represent your company to candidates like an in-house recruiter would.
The key difference? You only pay for the hours you need. They handle sourcing candidates, conducting screens, managing pipelines, and supporting offer negotiations and candidate communications on your schedule and budget. For startups not ready to hire a dedicated talent leader, fractional recruiters fill the gap between doing everything yourself and committing to a six-figure hire.
Fractional recruiters typically work on an hourly basis, though some offer project-based packages for specific roles. You define which roles to fill and what level of support you need. Some companies hand off the entire hiring process, while others bring in help just for sourcing or closing.
Once engaged, the recruiter integrates directly into your hiring workflow. They'll use your ATS, attend team meetings, and coordinate with hiring managers like an internal team member. Most log their hours transparently and provide regular updates on pipeline metrics and candidate progress, making it easier to choose the right recruiter for your startup.
The scope usually covers full-cycle recruiting: writing job descriptions, sourcing candidates from their networks and LinkedIn, conducting initial screens, coordinating interviews, gathering feedback, and supporting offer negotiations. You stay involved in final decisions while they handle the time-consuming work.
Traditional agencies charge between 15% and 25% of a candidate's first-year salary. For a $120,000 hire, that's $18,000 to $30,000 per placement.
Fractional recruiters work differently. Most companies using Dover spend between $2,000 and $7,000 per hire, paying only for actual hours worked.
Benefits of Hiring a Fractional Recruiter
The case for fractional recruiting goes beyond simple cost savings:
You scale on your terms. Hiring three roles this quarter and none next quarter? Ramp support up and down without layoffs or underutilized headcount.
You get specialized expertise. Most fractional recruiters bring 10-15 years of experience across specific functions or industries. Need someone who's closed 50 engineering roles at Series A companies? You can find that exact profile.
They embed with your team. Fractional recruiters learn your culture, attend standups, and build relationships with hiring managers. Candidates get a consistent experience, not generic agency pitches.
Quality improves through focus. While agencies spread one recruiter across dozens of clients, fractional recruiters work with a handful of companies at once. Your roles get real attention.
You get an outside perspective. They spot gaps in your interview process, compensation misalignment, or unrealistic job requirements that internal teams miss.
Why Fractional Recruiting Is Growing in 2026
Fractional recruiting reflects a broader shift in how companies access talent. Fractional professionals doubled from 60,000 in 2022 to 120,000 in 2024, spanning CFOs, CMOs, CTOs, and recruiters.
Three forces drive this growth. First, economic uncertainty makes flexible staffing less risky than fixed headcount. Second, the talent war created specialist roles companies only need intermittently. You might need a technical recruiter who understands machine learning for two months, then switch to sales hiring. Fractional models provide that expertise without year-round commitments.
Third, remote work normalized distributed teams and project-based collaboration, making fractional arrangements a legitimate way to build teams instead of a compromise.
For recruiting particularly, the model solves a timing problem: you need recruiting help before you have volume to support a full-time hire. Fractional recruiters professionalize your process exactly when needed.
Fractional Recruiter vs. Agency Recruiter vs. In-House Recruiter
The three models differ in how they work with your team and what you pay for.
Agency recruiters work for the agency, not you. They often shop your role to multiple clients and focus on speed over fit. You get minimal visibility into their process and pay a success fee only when someone accepts. That misaligns incentives: agencies win by placing anyone, not finding the right person.
In-house recruiters are full team members who know your culture deeply and build long-term candidate relationships. But you pay their salary whether you're hiring or not. They make sense when you have 20+ annual hires to keep them busy year-round.
Fractional recruiters integrate closely into your team’s hiring process, providing internal-like alignment while remaining flexible on scope and hours. But you pay hourly and can adjust involvement based on current needs. You get the cultural fit and dedication of in-house recruiting with the flexibility and lower cost of external help.
When to Hire a Fractional Recruiter
How to Choose and Work with a Fractional Recruiter
How Dover's Fractional Recruiting Marketplace Works
Frequently Asked Questions
Final Thoughts on Choosing a Fractional Recruiter
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