I see a lot of posts around recruiters - wanted to clarify and hopefully provide some context around recruiting. TL;DR: -Internal Recruiters get paid 6 figure salaries because the cost of external recruiting agencies can quickly add up. Significant cost savings to the business to hire a recruiter in-house. -Some recruiters aren’t good - why? Barrier to entry is very low, especially at an external agency. -Recruiters do not get rewarded for low-balling you. At the end of the day, they want to fill this position. -Ghosting happens for 2 main reasons: The recruiter doesn't manage all their open positions well and forgets about you; OR the recruiter wants you to ‘get the hint’ rather than them having an uncomfortable conversation/sending a rejection email. —— Two types of recruiters: External vs Internal (aka In-house or Corporate) External = Agencies (aka Headhunters) 2 main types below. (There are hybrid models but for simplicity....contingency vs retained). Contingency: -“Success-based” - clients will only pay you if you fill their role. Ex. Company A needs a sales manager. Find a candidate for the role, Company A will pay the recruiter an agreed fee amount. -This fee can range from 20-25% on average, on the high-end up to 35%, of the candidate’s base pay (most likely only the base, but can be TC or including bonus). -The recruiter has an incentive to negotiate a higher base pay because the commission will be higher for the recruiter. -If a candidate makes $100K and the agreed fee % is 20% = $20K will be paid to the agency. Retained: -Most likely for executive searches or niche/specialized industries. -Usually starts from 30% and upwards with retainer + placement fee. Company A must pay the agency regardless of the outcome Ex. fill or no fill, the client pays. -Retained recruiting fees, specifically for execs, usually include TC!! (think of 30% on 1M TC) -Recruiting agencies will still want to fill because their reputation as an ‘executive’ or speciality search firm is crucial. Execs know each other…. word of mouth is powerful. If you’re a rockstar external recruiter, you can make a very lucrative base + commission. However, it is sales…it’s definitely not an environment for everyone = many ext. recruiters transition into internal recruiting. Imagine you’re a CEO/owner and you need 10 roles to be filled and at $100K salaries at 20%, that’s at least $200K in recruiting fees. Or if I need VPs/execs? That can be easily $300K for ONE placement. Or you can hire a recruiter internally for $100K to fill x number of positions. I usually make at least 30-40 hires a year. It’s definitely a cost-savings to the business + external recruiting doesn’t always do a good job promoting the culture. Side note: Recruiters at larger companies w/ comp teams usually have little to no influence when it comes to comp. But they will be your advocate if you are worth fighting/pushing back for. So be nice. Recruiters at smaller companies can sometimes make the call on what they offer you within their range. I’ve had instances where I would recommend moving to the lower end of the range just bc the candidate wasn’t as nice. I also rejected candidates who were a-holes. Treat people with respect - no matter their position/ title/ rank/ profession. TC: $210K
When I worked in advertising I had almost exclusive authority to determine comp and govern all offers, extend through close. You do a lot of speaking in absolutes, which isn’t really fair. But I agree with a lot of what you mentioned.
You’re right- it usually isn’t this black & white because recruiting is a profession dealing w people but wanted to lay out the general framework.
Totally! I’d also argue that a lot of the recruiters you paint with a brush are transactional. I would argue that I work some of the brightest, most strategic, highly engaging people on the planet. Just excellent at what they do.
I am HM, and I second what OP is saying, Rule of thumb when you are job hunting. Treat recruiter as your partner and that will work in your favor.
If I get an offer, how acceptable is it to delay a start date? How long is reasonably acceptable?
*Typically* 2-4 weeks is acceptable
Your TC is dis congruent with your info, what is off? Assuming you fill 30 roles a year at 100k each at 20% commission, seems your fair pay is 600k, likely more. Why do you only get 1/3 this?
Benefits, job security, wlb, getting dicked by a company, etc
What do you think about Google’s practice of asking for competing offer letter proofs. I feel Google will do anything to lowball the applicants.
I get that it’s not the best candidate experience. But as a company I get how G might need to draw the line somewhere and the intention is to be more fair. Unfortunately some people lie to negotiate higher comp and this practice kinda ruined it for others.
How many placements is a high achieving agency recruiter doing per year? I'm a tech recruiter at a very small agency based in Toronto. Most of our clients are Silicon Valley based startups with Series A-D funding rounds. Most of the jobs I work on are Software Engineering roles paying 150-200K CAD base looking for 5YOE. We exclusively source software engineers living in Canada so these US based firms don't have to pay SF/NY comp plans. I'm presently the top performer at our firm this fiscal year with 11 placements, 20 offers, and 300K in billing in 9 months. This market is crazy competitive and most of my candidates are getting 2 or 3 offers, but I'm curious what a high achieving agency recruiter is achieving in this vertical? I honestly have no idea, but my best guess would be 3-4 placements per month and 1MM per year in billing.
How many candidates is a recruiter dealing with at any given time?
It's not about the candidates, it's the number of positions they work on at once.
Also it varies company by company and Amazon is worst. Recruiting is overwhelming