How to hire without an HR agency: a complete guide for managers in Romania

If you are a manager or entrepreneur in Romania and have ever tried to hire through a recruitment agency, you already know how it works: you pay a fee equivalent to 1–3 gross salaries of the candidate, wait for weeks on end, and receive CVs that often do not match what you asked for at all.

There is an alternative. And no, it does not mean spending all your spare time sorting through hundreds of CVs manually.

See how we build the evaluation matrix in the Recrutio methodology. The licence is determined following an analysis of the company's needs — details on the pricing page, with no fee per hire.

In 2026, managers in Romania can hire on their own, efficiently and at a tenth of the cost — using the right tools.

Why more and more managers are moving away from HR agencies

The cost of an external recruiter in Romania is typically measured as a significant portion of the annual gross salary of the hired candidate. For a developer, that means tens of thousands of lei paid to the agency — for a single hire.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Romania cannot afford this cost repeated 3–5 times a year.

Alongside cost, there is also the issue of control. When you delegate recruitment to an external agency, you lose visibility over the process. You do not know how many candidates were contacted, what they were told about your company, or why a good candidate was eliminated right from the start.

What you really need to hire on your own

Hiring without an HR agency does not mean doing everything manually. It means having the tools that automate the repetitive parts and retaining control over key decisions.

Here is what you specifically need:

• A clear and engaging job description. The biggest reason managers receive unsuitable candidates is a vague job description or one copied from elsewhere. A good job description specifies exactly what the person will do in their first 90 days, which skills are mandatory, and what the salary expectations are.
• Presence on the platforms where your candidates are. In Romania, eJobs (one of Romania's largest job boards) and BestJobs (one of Romania's major recruitment portals) gather the most active candidates. Hipo (a Romanian career portal focused on students and junior professionals) is relevant for juniors and students. You do not need to be on all of them simultaneously — choose based on the role you are recruiting for.
• A candidate management system. Without an ATS (Applicant Tracking System), you will manage candidates in Excel or via email, misplace CVs, and forget what stage each person is at. Chaos quickly sets in when you have 50+ applications for a single job.
• An efficient pre-screening process. Telephone pre-screening interviews consume an enormous amount of time. A manager recruiting for 3–4 roles simultaneously can lose 15–20 hours a month just on initial qualification calls.

What the recruitment process without an HR intermediary looks like in 2026

Current technology allows a manager to run the entire recruitment process without delegating anything externally. Here is what it looks like in practice:

Step 1: Create the job description using AI

Instead of writing from scratch or copying from the internet, you use an AI tool that asks structured questions — what the person will do, which skills are mandatory, what your budget is, what contract type you offer — and automatically generates a comprehensive job description aligned with Romanian market standards.

A good job description is at most one page long, has a clear title, concrete responsibilities, and genuine benefits. Avoid clichés such as "dynamic environment" or "young team" — strong candidates ignore them.

Step 2: Post the job on multiple platforms simultaneously

With a single click, the job appears on eJobs, BestJobs, and other relevant platforms. You no longer fill in different forms manually on every site. The system also tracks where each candidate comes from, so you know which platform brings you the best candidates.

Step 3: AI scores CVs automatically

When CVs start arriving, you no longer read them all from cover to cover. An AI system compares each CV against the job description and assigns a score from 0 to 100, with details on what matches and what is missing — technical skills, experience, languages, preferred contract type.

You directly see a top 10–20 shortlist of candidates, ranked by relevance. You save the vast majority of your triage time.

Step 4: Candidates complete an asynchronous video interview

This is the element that completely transforms process efficiency. Instead of scheduling 20 telephone pre-screening calls, you send selected candidates a link to an asynchronous video interview.

The candidate records answers to 3–7 questions defined by you, at their own pace, from home. You review the answers whenever you have time — early morning, evening, or over the weekend — and the AI automatically generates a summary highlighting strengths, weaknesses, and a recommendation score.

There is no more "I could not talk because I was in a meeting." The process does not depend on anyone's schedule.

Step 5: Schedule the technical interview only with candidates who are worth it

Based on the CV score and the video interview, you select 3–5 candidates for an actual technical interview. The invitation is sent automatically, with slots from your Outlook calendar, and the candidate chooses when they are available.

You enter the technical interview already informed — you have seen the CV, watched the video interview, and know what to explore in depth.

How much time you specifically save

Here is a realistic comparison for a role recruited with 50 applications:

The traditional process without tools

• Reading 50 CVs manually: 5 hours
• 20 pre-screening calls (20 min each): 7 hours
• Scheduling technical interviews: 2 hours
• Total: approximately 14–16 hours

The process with AI and video interviews

• Reviewing top 10 AI scores: 30 minutes
• Watching 10 video interviews (15 min each): 2.5 hours
• Automated scheduling of technical interviews: 10 minutes
• Total: approximately 3–4 hours

You save between 10 and 12 hours per role recruited. If you recruit for 5 roles a year, that translates to a full working week reclaimed.

What Romanian legislation says about recruiting without an agency

There is no legal requirement for the recruitment process to be mediated by an agency or an in-house HR department. Any manager or company director can manage the hiring process directly.

What you must comply with regardless of the chosen method:

• GDPR — The European General Data Protection Regulation, implemented in Romania through Law 190/2018. Candidate CVs and data must be stored with their explicit consent, for a maximum of 6 months if the person was not hired, with the right to erasure upon request.
• Non-discrimination — the selection process cannot be based on criteria of age, gender, ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation, in accordance with Government Ordinance (OG) 137/2000.
• Individual employment contract — ultimately, employment is finalised through a contract registered in Revisal (Romania's official general employee register), regardless of how recruitment was conducted.

A modern ATS system automatically manages GDPR consents, keeps a complete audit log of the process, and protects you in the event of a dispute.

Common mistakes when recruiting without an HR intermediary

• Job description copied from the internet. Strong candidates apply for dozens of jobs simultaneously. A generic description does not attract the right people and floods your inbox with irrelevant CVs.
• Lack of a clear process. Without defined stages — application, pre-screening, technical interview, decision — candidates are left in limbo, and you lose good people who accept other offers in the meantime.
• No feedback for rejected candidates. Romania is a small market. The candidate you treat with respect today could be your client or partner tomorrow. An automated feedback message makes all the difference.
• Unprepared technical interviews. If you enter a technical interview without having read the CV or knowing what you want to find out, you waste time and leave a poor impression on the candidate.

Conclusion: efficient recruitment is within any manager's reach

Recruitment agencies existed because the hiring process was complicated, time-consuming, and required networks of contacts that were difficult to build. In 2026, these barriers have disappeared.

With the right tools, any manager in Romania can post a job on the main platforms, filter candidates with AI, run video interviews without scheduling, and make informed decisions — in under 4 hours per role recruited.

The cost? A fraction of an agency's fee.

Recrutio is the ATS platform built for recruitment teams in Romania. Post your job, evaluate CVs, run video interviews, and keep decision-making with the recruiter. Book a Recrutio demo.