At Top Echelon, we like to keep our finger on the pulse of what’s going on with recruiters, especially in terms of how well they’re doing on their desk. That’s why we conduct polls of recruiters every week and also send out email surveys on a regular basis.
The second quarter of the year recently came to a close, and we typically poll recruiters about their production at the end of each quarter, but especially at the conclusion of the second quarter and the end of the year. That’s exactly what we did recently, as we conducted a poll of the members of Top Echelon’s recruiting network. Below is the question that we posed to Network recruiters:
How does your overall “cash-in” total for the first half of 2011 compare with last year?
The choice of answers that we provided is listed below, along with the percentage of recruiters who selected each one:
- Up 20% or more—39.1%
- Up 5% to 15%—13.0%
- The same—14.1%
- Down 5% to 15%—20.7%
- Down 20% or more—13.0%
It might not be surprising to see that the results were all over the place, although the trend was slightly more positive than negative. A little over 14% billed the same amount that they billed last year. Whether or not that can be classified as “good” is a matter of debate; I suppose it all depends upon your perspective (not to mention the amount that you billed last year).
However, a combined total of over half of the recruiters who responded—52.1%—indicated that the amount of their “cash-in” billings is up over last year. Not only that, nearly 40% of all respondents experienced an increase in their billings of 20% or more. Now THAT is certainly good news.
On the flip side of the coin, a total of 33.7% of recruiters have experienced a decrease in their collected recruiting fees. Of that total, 20.7% have seen their billings fall by between 5% and 15%, while 13% have witnesses a decrease of 20% or more.
Overall, these numbers are pretty much in line with the conversations I’ve had with recruiters this year. There are some recruiters who are doing well, there are some who are doing about the same as they’ve been doing the past year or two, and there are some who are struggling. When it comes to doing well as a recruiter these days, there are a lot of factors involved, including the industry and niche in which you work, the types of positions your clients are seeking to fill, and even the part of the country in which you live.
So what are you experiencing right now? Have your billings increased since this time last year? Or are they the same or lower? And to what would you attribute those numbers? As always, your feedback is very much encouraged.