Now, let’s state the obvious: the economy has an effect how much recruitment revenue a person can generate. When the economy is good (like now), a recruiter can generate a lot of revenue. When the economy is bad (like during the Great Recession), that is rarely the case.

But outside of the economy, what other factors contribute to recruiting revenue? It’s important to note that just because a recruiter is busy does NOT mean that recruiter will bill a lot. Activity level is not a key performance indicator for cash-in billings. The recruiting profession simply does not work that way.

How much recruitment revenue is available?

It’s also important to note that this blog addresses the topic of recruitment revenue for professional recruiters and search consultants. It does not include corporate recruiters or internal recruiters. The latter usually receives a set salary from their employer. As such, the only way they can increase their revenue stream is through earning raises and/or bonuses. (For what it’s worth, according to Indeed, the average salary for a recruiter working in United States was $54,745 as of the writing of this blog post.)

A professional recruiter or search consultant can potentially make a lot more than that. One reason is the amount of money that is available to them. According to Statista, the market size of the staffing and recruiting industry was $151.8 billion in 2019. (Yes, that’s billion with a “B.”) Although the market size shrunk in 2020 due to the pandemic, it was also expected to bounce back in 2021.

How professional recruiters get paid

Before we go any further, we should probably review how professional recruiters make money and get paid. First, search consultants are paid a percentage of the first-year salary of the candidate they place. No, they don’t take money from the candidate. The employer that hires the candidate pays the recruiter (or the recruiting agency) a percentage, which the agency and the employer agree upon before the search begins.

For example, if a recruiter places a Plant Manager at a starting salary of $100K and the agreed-upon percentage is 20%, the recruiting fee for that placement is $20K. Does that mean the recruiter receives all of that $20K? That depends upon the following factors:

  • If the recruiter is also the owner of the agency, then the recruiter does receive all of the $20K and can do with it as he or she pleases.
  • If the recruiter is NOT the owner of the agency, then how much of that $20K they receive is dependent upon their compensation structure.

To commission . . . or not to commission

You see, it’s up to the agency owner how they compensate their recruiters. And they have multiple options for doing so:

  1. The recruiter could work on full commission. This means the agency owner only pays them when they make a placement. Does that mean they’ll get the full $20K? Hardly. They’ll receive a percentage of that $20K based upon their commission structure.
  2. The recruiter could work with a base salary, plus receive a commission on the placements they make. Obviously, since they’re earning a base, the percentage for the commission will be smaller than if they were working on commission alone.
  3. The recruiter could work with a base salary, plus a flat fee for each placement they make. In this case, their base salary is typically higher. For example, they could earn a $1,000 flat fee for every placement they make. That’s a lot less than $20K, but keep in mind that they’re earning a higher base salary to offset that difference.

This is the wonderful world of recruitment revenue, as it pertains to professional recruiters and search consultants. For more information, I invite you to check out our blog posts on the types of recruitment agency fee structures you can use and setting up a recruiter commission structure.

In the meantime, let us continue . . .

Recruitment revenue starts with the job order

Not only is it important for recruiters to work hard, but it’s even more important for them to be working on the right things. If not, then you’ll just be “spinning your wheels.” There have been plenty of recruiters with high levels of activity who ultimately left the profession because they simply could not make enough placements. (Or any placements, for that matter.)

The focal point of this whole analysis is the job order. A recruiters “lives and dies” with the job order they work. If a recruiter is working on the right job orders, then their activity will be rewarded with more recruitment revenue. If, on the other hand, they’re working on the wrong orders, then the disparity between activity and revenue could grow quite large.

So as you can see, it’s critical that a recruiter is working on the right job orders. And there is a lot involved when it comes to determining which job orders are right and which ones are wrong.

In fact, below are three factors that contribute directly to recruitment revenue:

#1—The quality of the job order (or search)

The better the quality of the job order, the better the chances that you will fill said job order and receive a placement check for doing so. So what makes a high-quality job order?

An accurate job description for one thing. For another, there should be some “sizzle” in the order, not just a laundry list of tedious job duties and responsibilities. Your client does want the job to be attractive, right? The job order should truly reflect the type of candidates that the hiring manager wants to see.

#2—The sense of urgency

In order to collect a placement fee, you must fill the job order. In order to fill the job order, the hiring manager must be motivated to make a hire. If they’re not that motivated (i.e., there’s no sense of urgency tied to the search), then they’re not that motivated.

If you have 50 job orders, you won’t fill any of them if the hiring manager is not truly motivated, even if the job orders are quality orders. The last thing you want to do is present quality candidate after quality candidate, only to have the hiring manager “drag their feet” and delay the whole process. No urgency, no placement. It’s as simple as that.

#3—The recruiter/hiring manager relationship

The best way to make sure that decisions happen—and happen quickly—is to work directly with the decision maker. If you don’t, then that will surely slow the process down. Whoever you’re speaking with directly will have to speak with the decision maker. And you have absolutely no idea what they’re saying to that person regarding you, your candidate, and the search.

The bottom line is that you’re getting your information second-hand. So not only does this type of arrangement slow everything down, but it also increases the chances that there will be some kind of miscommunication along the way. As every recruiter knows, “Time kills all deals.” For our purposes, we’ll amend that saying to “Time kills all placements.” Dead placements do NOT equal dead presidents.

So as a professional recruiter, the worst thing you could be doing is just snatching any job order that comes along. A job order is no guarantee of a placement. It’s just a job order, one component of the whole process. You must ask the right questions and properly qualify the order. If you don’t, then you run the risk of jeopardizing your recruiter revenue flow.

So to recap, here are the crucial steps:

  1. Make sure that the job order is of high quality.
  2. Make sure that there is a high degree of urgency tied to the job order.
  3. If at all possible, speak directly with the decision maker during the entirety of the hiring process.

These are three factors that contribute directly to recruiting revenue. Or more specifically, to maximizing your revenue for each and every search that you undertake.

How to increase recruitment revenue

Now that you understand the core factors that contribute to recruitment revenue, let’s look at additional ways recruiters and agency owners can increase the revenue generated on their desk—and across their firm.

There are more ways to grow revenue, and two of the most effective are outlined below.

#1—Split placements

Making a $25,000 or $30,000 placement fee on your own is exciting—and understandably so. But what if you could also generate revenue from placements you can’t make entirely by yourself?

The reality is this: no recruiter can fill every job order or place every candidate on their desk. Coverage gaps happen—by industry, geography, timing, or bandwidth. And when a job goes unfilled or a candidate goes unplaced, the revenue opportunity is usually lost entirely.

Unless you’re part of a professional split placement network.

By collaborating with other recruiting agencies through a split placement network, recruiters can:

  • Share job orders they can’t fill alone

  • Submit candidates they can’t place with their own clients

  • Earn a portion of placement fees they otherwise wouldn’t capture

As the saying goes, half a loaf is better than none. Earning $10,000–$15,000 on a split placement is far better than earning nothing on an unfilled job or an idle candidate.

Many experienced recruiters become “split-minded,” meaning they proactively share job orders or candidates with their network as soon as they recognize collaboration will lead to a faster, higher-quality placement. This approach helps:

  • Fill positions more quickly

  • Deliver better results to clients

  • Strengthen long-term client relationships

  • Increase total annual revenue without adding headcount

A Split Placement Network Built Exclusively for Recruiting Agencies

TE Network™ is a split placement network and sourcing marketplace built exclusively for recruiting agencies.

It is:

  • Agency-only

  • Recruiter-to-recruiter

  • Focused entirely on placement outcomes

TE Network is not a job board, freelancer marketplace, or employer-facing platform. Its value is simple and measurable: when splits happen, agencies generate revenue they wouldn’t have earned on their own.

Top Echelon Software has operated TE Network since 1988, helping recruiting agencies collaborate on placements and earn hundreds of millions of dollars in split placement fees over the years.

If you’d like to see how a professional split placement network can help increase your recruitment revenue, you can request a demo of TE Network to explore how agency-to-agency collaboration works in practice.

#2—Contract placements

Instead of placing candidates on a direct hire basis, you can also place them on a contract basis. After all, organizations hire contractors all the time. There are multiple benefits to hiring contractors. First, they’re paid for with a different budget than direct hires. Second, employers can use them to finish a project or meet a deadline and then terminate the contract. The candidate doesn’t mind because they knew it was a contract assignment when the recruiter placed them.

And there are multiple benefits for you, the recruiter, as well. First, you get paid for every hour that the contractor works. Rather than receiving payment in one lump sum check like you do with direct placements, you are paid on a weekly or monthly basis over the course of the contract assignment.

Second, you receive consistent and steady income. In fact, there are recruiters who make both direct hire and contract placements. This means they don’t worry about where their next direct hire placement is going to come from. That’s because they have the peace of mind associated with knowing there will be a steady stream of contract income between direct hire placements.

Want to know more about contract staffing and how it can benefit your recruiting desk and agency? Talk to our friends at Foxhire (formerly Top Echelon Contracting). They can tell you all about it and prepare you to start offering contract staffing services to your clients so you can increase your recruitment revenue.

Search consultants who are truly serious about maximizing their recruitment revenue utilize everything available to them. They make direct hire non-split placements, they make direct hire split placements, they make direct hire contract placements, and they even make contract split placements. They’re giving themselves more opportunities to make placements, while at the same time meeting more of their clients’ needs in a shorter amount of time. That’s truly a “win-win” strategy, both in the short term and for the long haul!

Recruitment revenue and your ATS

Another proven way to increase recruitment revenue is to get organized, operate with discipline, and understand the numbers that drive your results.

You’ve likely heard the phrase: “Inspect what you expect.”
If you expect to make more placements and generate more revenue, you need visibility into the activity, pipeline, and outcomes that lead to those results.

This is where the right technology matters.

TE Recruit™ is an ATS + CRM built specifically for recruiting agencies, designed to help recruiters standardize workflows, track performance, and make data-informed decisions—without enterprise complexity or unnecessary overhead.

Turning Recruiting Data into Revenue Insights

TE Recruit’s reporting and visibility tools help agencies understand what’s working, what’s slowing them down, and where to focus their time to drive more placements.

Key report types include:

  • Candidate Sourcing Reports
    Identify which sourcing channels consistently produce high-quality candidates. With this insight, recruiters can double down on what works and stop wasting time on low-return efforts.

  • Activity Reports
    Gain visibility into recruiter activity over specific time periods. These reports help agency owners and team leaders understand how effort correlates to outcomes—and where coaching or prioritization can improve results.

  • Pipeline Reports
    Visualize candidates across each stage of the recruiting process, including volume and progression. Pipeline clarity makes it easier to spot bottlenecks, forecast placements, and establish daily and weekly priorities.

  • Hiring and Placement Reports
    Review placement trends and performance over time to understand what drives success. These insights support faster placements, improved consistency, and ultimately higher recruitment revenue.

Free recruitment software

Rather than taking our word for it, you can see TE Recruit in action.

You can:

Because TE Recruit is built for growing recruiting agencies, it’s powerful enough to support professional operations while remaining intuitive, affordable, and easy to adopt.

TE Recruit offers:

  • Straightforward pricing

  • Monthly and annual plans

  • A platform that scales with your agency—without forcing a future switch

If your goal is to place candidates more consistently and increase recruitment revenue, your ATS + CRM should actively support those outcomes—not slow you down.