In-house recruitment has its place. It can be lean, responsive, and cost-efficient – when it works.

But in Occupational Health, it doesn’t always work. Roles pile up. Briefs get watered down. Candidates fall through the cracks. And the ones you really want? They’re long gone by the time you get the green light to act.

If you’re not sure whether it’s time to call in support, here are five red flags we see all the time.

1. You’re Hiring -But Only at the Entry Level

If your internal team is great at filling junior roles, but anything more senior or strategic gets kicked down the road, you’ve got a gap. Senior candidates need more than a job ad. They need a conversation. A proper one.

2. You’re Briefing More Agencies Than You Can Remember

The more agencies you bring in, the messier it gets. Candidates hear about the same role from different people. Reputations get damaged. Timelines stretch. And your inbox fills up with a sea of CVs that don’t hit the mark.

More agencies doesn’t mean better outcomes. It just means more noise.

3. You’re Seeing the Same Names Every Time

If the same handful of candidates are coming through for every role, your reach is too small. There’s a whole pool of OH talent that’s not on job boards and won’t touch LinkedIn job ads. But they will move for the right offer, through the right route.

That route is headhunting. Not mass mailing.

4. You’re Too Busy to Even Reassess the Problem

If your team is stuck in delivery mode -reacting, firefighting, trying to move things forward -you’ll struggle to ever fix the root cause. Sometimes you need someone to step back, look at what’s happening, and reset the plan.

That’s where we do our best work.

5. You’re Filling Roles -But the Feedback’s Getting Worse

Placements don’t mean much if the fit’s wrong. If you’re getting whispers of high caseloads, poor retention, or “they didn’t know what the job actually involved”, it’s time to reassess how the role is being positioned -and who is representing you.

You don’t have to scrap your internal process. You just need the right support where it counts.

At Recruiting Heads, we don’t do generic.

We help healthcare leaders fill senior roles in Occupational Health, Wellbeing and H&S, fast, quietly, and properly. No waffle. No juniors. Just two seasoned recruiters who know the sector inside out.