What is the best job to be in right now?
A recruiter’s job!
Companies witnessed a dearth of recruiters during the pandemic and the hiring for recruiters is on the rise ever since.
The demand for recruiters is increasing throughout the world across industries. In fact, there are 270,834 job openings for recruiters right now.
Are you looking for a job as a recruiter and wish to know a recruiter’s salary? Or are you a recruiter and wish to know if you are getting the right pay?
Read on to understand what factors a recruiter’s salary depends on.
- Who is a recruiter?
- How much do recruiters make?
- What are the factors on which a recruiter’s salary depends?
- What is the salary of a senior recruiter?
- What is the recruiter's salary in New York?
- What is the salary of an in-house recruiter?
- What are the top industries hiring recruiters?
- How can a recruiter’s salary increase?
Who Is a Recruiter?
A recruiter looks after the hiring process of employees for various departments in an organization. They are required to find and hire a team of skilled professionals dedicated to the company's vision.
Talent acquisition is often used synonymously with the hiring process. A human resources specialist or a recruiter oversees the talent acquisition process from drafting job listings, advertising job listings, reviewing candidates, and interviewing to finding the right fit.
Also Read: How to draft a resume for a recruiter’s job?
What Is the Salary of a Recruiter?
The average recruiter salary as per Indeed[dot]com is $55,514 per year in the United States.
The average recruiter salary as per Glassdoor[dot]com is $52,657 per year.
The average recruiter salary as per Payscale[dot]com is $54,330 per year in the United States.
Factors on Which a Recruiter’s Salary Depends
The important factors on which a recruiter's salary depends are:
- Industry: A LinkedIn survey found that recruiters are across industries at a much larger scale as compared to pre-covid times. Technical recruiters that have a niche, such as engineering or sales, are being hired the most across industries.
- Company: The company size also matters in deciding the salary of a recruiter. A company with a significant number of employees generally pays handsomely.
- Location: Are you working out of Houston or New York? Internal recruiters for companies are paid according to which city they are based. This is because the cost of living in the top cities in the US is way higher. The total compensation for external recruiters might depend on other factors, such as the number of candidates they bring.
- Education: Recruiters with a background in psychology, human resources, and business administration are paid well. Higher education in sociology or communications psychology can fetch you brownie points.
- Experience: The recruiter's salary grows with experience. The starting salary for a recruiter is $52,657 and can go up to $1,97,282 in a managing director role.
- Skills: Candidates who continue honing skills after graduation remain an asset to the firm and are paid better.
- Salary-based compensation: External recruiters earn money through commission. The commission could be a flat fee or a percentage of the candidate’s salary paid by the agency.
- Bonus: This is company dependent as well as on the performance of the candidate.
What Is the Recruiter's Salary Based on Experience?
The following table gives us an overview of a recruiter’s salary based on experience:
| Seniority Level | Average Salary |
|---|---|
| Entry Level Recruiter Salary | $52,657 |
| Senior Recruiter Salary | $76,254 |
| Principal Recruiter | $90,050 |
| Associate Director of Recruiting | $91,606 |
| Director of Recruiting | $98,454 |
| Vice President of Recruiting | $1,03,061 |
| Recruiting Managing Director | $1,97,282 |
Recruiter's Salary Based on Job Titles
A recruiter can be of many types. Broadly, they can be external or internal recruiters. An external recruiter or a headhunter works for a staffing agency. They source candidates for companies they have tie-ups with.
An in-house recruiter or internal recruiter works for the company’s HR department and looks after the company’s staffing needs.
The various job titles a recruiter can hold are:
| Job Title | What Would You Do? | Average Salary |
| Executive Recruiter | Acquire highly skilled talent for high-level roles | $57,720 |
| Headhunter | Find qualified candidates for a variety of positions at a staffing agency | $52,981 |
| In-house Recruiter Salary | Source and hire candidates for your company | $53,554 |
| Legal Recruiter | Hire paralegals, lawyers, and attorneys for niche or general jobs | $54,128 |
| Management Recruiter | Acquire highly skilled leaders for management roles | $53,020 |
| IT Recruiter Salary- Technical Recruiter Salary | Source and hire candidates proficient in various IT fields such as data analytics and coding | $68,452 |
| Military Recruiter | Get people to take up military jobs within your special military branch | $63,094 |
| Sales Recruiter | Hire talent for entry-level to executive level in the sales department | $61,775 |
| Pharmaceutical Recruiter | Hire technicians, Pharmacists, and sales representatives | $51,266 |
| Sports Recruiter | Source talented athletes for your team and hire them | $53,828 |
Highest Paying Cities for Recruiters in the United States
The highest paying cities for recruiters are:
| City | Average Salary |
|---|---|
| Recruiter Salary Houston | $92,784 |
| Recruiter Salary New York | $67,023 |
| Recruiter Salary Denver | $61,968 |
| Recruiter Salary Chicago | $61,266 |
| Recruiter Salary Atlanta | $56,630 |
| Recruiter Salary Charlotte | $56,481 |
| Recruiter Salary Dallas | $54,331 |
| Recruiter Salary Orlando | $53,643 |
| Recruiter Salary Indianapolis | $50,691 |
Top Industries for Recruiter Jobs
The hottest industries for recruiter jobs are:
How to Increase Recruiter Salary?
Important ways that can help you increase your recruiter salary are:
Becoming Skilled at Negotiation
A recruiter is someone who brings the best talent possible at a reasonable cost for the company. He/she must also respond to the counter-offers of the candidates. Naturally, negotiation becomes an important skill to have.
A recruiter must be well-versed with the market value that the domain and skills hold. He/she needs to put together a competitive compensation and benefits package.
Gaining Skills for Full-cycle Recruitment Process
A full-cycle recruiter can oversee the lifecycle of a recruitment process. A recruitment generalist with multitudes of skills is a greater asset than a recruiter who caters to one aspect of the life-cycle.
So, a recruiter who wishes to earn more shall gain skills for all aspects of recruitment, from preparing the listing, advertising & sourcing, screening, selecting the right candidate, and hiring, followed by the onboarding process.
Learning Sourcing
Sourcing is an important channel for talent acquisition. Since hiring can be a long process, sourcing builds a pipeline of candidates to have a talent pool as and when the need for hiring arises.
So, sourcing in itself can be developed as an important skill to have for recruiters.
Getting Certified
Getting certified with important certifications to enhance your knowledge would help you get paid better. Organizations such as the National Association of Personnel Services, the American Staffing Association, etc. offer certifications and educational resources.
Also Read: What skills to mention in your resume?
Key Takeaways
Are you getting paid right as a recruiter? Are there tangible ways to increase your salary?
- A recruiter looks after the life-cycle of the hiring process or one aspect of it.
- A recruiter brings the best talent possible to cater to the company’s staffing needs.
- An entry-level recruiter earns $52,657 and can go as high as $1,97,282.
- A recruiter's salary depends on the location, company size, industry, experience & educational background, skills, other compensation, and additional benefits.
- Technical recruiters such as those who recruit for IT jobs and the military are paid the highest.
- Recruiters based in Houston and New York are paid the highest.
- A recruiter can increase their salary by gaining expertise in sourcing, full-cycle recruitment, becoming better at negotiation, and gaining relevant certifications.
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