Build, buy or borrow before you open the req
A third of open roles should never have been opened.
Recruiting teams are measured on filling roles, which means they are structurally disinclined to ask whether the role should exist. Someone has to ask, and it may as well be you, because it buys enormous credibility later.
The four options
Build. Someone internal can do this with three months of support. Cheaper, faster, and it visibly rewards people who stayed.
Buy. A permanent external hire. The default, and the right answer when the capability is genuinely new and durable.
Borrow. Contract, agency or fractional. Correct when the work has an end date, when you are unsure the need is permanent, or when you need a specialist for a phase rather than a career.
Bin. The work is a symptom of a process problem. Two more support agents versus fixing the onboarding flow that generates the tickets.
The triage conversation
Fifteen minutes with the hiring manager, before intake proper. Three questions.
What breaks if this role does not exist for six months? If the answer is vague, the trigger has not fired yet.
Who inside the company is closest to being able to do this? If a name comes back quickly, you have an internal mobility conversation, not a hiring one.
Is the work steady or a project? Projects that get filled permanently create the awkward conversation eighteen months later when the project ends.
Track what the triage saves
Log the outcome of every triage. When a quarter of asks resolve into internal moves, contractors or process fixes, you now have a defensible number showing that the recruiting function reduces cost as well as adding it. That number is what protects your team in a downturn.
None of this makes you slower. A quarter hour of triage against six weeks of search is a good trade even when the answer is always buy.