Before you decide the grass is greener in agency recruiting, consult the Money Talks survey from Bullhorn. Released this morning, it shows agency recruiters on average earned $74,000 last year.
Some earned much more. Those who work primarily in contingent recruiting averaged $96,000. There’s no doubt that’s a goodly sum. Just keep in mind that a contingent recruiter earns zero unless the candidate they submit is hired, accepts the job, and keeps it usually for at least 90 days.
The biggest money in agency recruiting is earned by the leaders. CEOs, owners, and partners averaged between $149,000 and $215,000, depending on the size of the firm. Those who headed executive search firms where the work is primarily on retainer did the best, averaging $230,000 last year.
This is just a small part of the compensation data in the Bullhorn survey. The technology provider, whose clients are mostly temp, search, and hybrid agencies, conducts an annual survey on industry performance. A few months ago, Bullhorn released its annual Staffing and Recruiting Trends report that included some detail on agency compensation. Today’s release is a deeper dive into the details. Here’s just a sampler:
The report includes a variety of breakdowns, including a compensation comparison by primary recruiting type. For instance, temp recruiters averaged $53,000 last year. However, owners, CEOs, or partners of firms that did more than half their business in temp averaged $159,000 last year. Only the leaders or owners of retained search firms did better, averaging $230,000.
One not surprising finding: Most everyone in agency recruiting (on average) expects their comp will increase this year. Regardless of firm size, at least 81 percent of Bullhorn’s 1,300+ respondents expect an increase. Only 2 percent expect less money this year.
Actual earnings fell short. Over the years, slightly better than 6 in 10 respondents saw more money. The rest either earned the same or saw a decrease.