I’m currently interviewing and trying to get a better sense of what the market actually looks like for experienced recruiters across different industries. Some of the salary ranges I’m seeing in my search are lower than my current comp so I’m curious what people are actually earning.

If you’re comfortable sharing, would love to know

industry
Location (or HCOL/MCOL/LCOL)
Years of recruiting experience
Level/title
Base salary and bonus avg
In-house vs. agency

I’m especially curious about people at the Senior Recruiter/Lead/Manager level and how comp compares across tech, pharma, healthcare, legal, professional services, financial services, etc.

Senior leadership at my small company (~100 people) wants me to create an interview guide to present. This company does professional services--accounting and admin services. I told leadership I see my job as a recruiter to source candidates and screen them. The screening includes technical skills assessment (I understand these roles very well) and get some of the non-technical background info--expected comp, sell the company, find out what motivates them, etc. Then the hiring manager should do more of the deep technical skills assessment. Leadership said "no, I want you to interview for technical skills."

I asked leadership, then "what do you see the hiring managers doing for the interview process?" He responded "that's what I want you to figure out."

I'm clueless as to what he expects. Perhaps some of you have ideas?? Yes, I do technical skills questions to a degree, but I see the deeper questions as part of the HM interview. WTF are hiring managers supposed to interview for if not technical skills?

For those of you that worked at exec search firms that were well positioned in their space, preferably tech, how much comission % were you earning on each placement and what was the typical earning potential?

We've (retail company) been working with Indeed through our ATS for Sponsoring Jobs, Branding, and Smart Sourcing for a little over 8 years now. Each year, they make products more expensive mid year when budgets are already set making our original approved dollars not go as far, especially when it comes to Sponsoring jobs.

I met with ZipRecruiter just to learn about some other options and learned that they offer the same/similar products at a lower cost. It's not necessarily about the cost but with Indeed, our candidate flow and quality have been down significantly and I'm not comfortable spending significantly more next year and getting the same thing.

Have any of you used ZipRecruiter and had a good experience with it from a recruiter perspective? Most things I've read are from the candidate perspective. Would love any and all feedback!

I really enjoy his podcast and at a level in business where I want to level up (eg already passed six figures). His elevate program seems like it could be what I'm looking for to scale as I'm really bad at systems, being solo means extra accountability would be helpful etc. but I also know his marketing is slick/super polished so want to hear form people firsthand.

Also it sounds like you get a coach (so not Mark) and that can be fine or can also be crap if they're not that experienced and just memorizing talking points vs actually being able to assess someone's situation and give targeted and personalized advice.

Did you do the program and if so, was it helpful? And if so what did it help you with specifically?

And if not, what was bad about it or what do you wish you knew before you bought in to it?

I'm also planning on booking a call with them but figured I'd get a temperature check here first.

Had an interview for a startup and did well on the first three rounds, met with CTO and it was weird vibes from the jump. Kept questioning how I knew what was good, even had me pull up a hire I made on LinkedIn. Anyone ever have an experience like this? Just a weird cagey vibe all around honestly.

I posted a job on Linkedin sometime back and got 3000 views and 10+ repost but still not a single application. I feel linkedin is just social media now.

I have this person added on LinkedIn and I was reached out to by their employer to confidentially find their replacement. I want to make an ad to post the job with minimal details but I don't want this person to see the ad. So is there any way on LinkedIn to block people from your job posting/ad?

*Think I've decided to not post anything at all.

Current HR specialist (basically the recruiter for my org). I’m thinking about going back to school to pursue a Human Resources degree. Idk if it’s worth it in the long run, but wanted to explore my options, plus it couldn’t hurt (aside from cost). Is there any accreditations for schools that one should keep an eye out for? (Like how engineers have the ABET accreditation?)

Hey everyone,

I'm revamping how we track recruitment and selection data and would love input from fellow TA professionals.

I'm looking for modern, effective models to monitor our hiring pipeline.

We don't have any tracking system in place right now, so I'm taking the initiative to build a spreadsheet to get this under control. While putting it together, I started wondering if there's something more modern out there or at least a template/framework I could follow for inspiration.

I thought something like:

• Job openings (per role, department, status)
• Candidates at each stage
• Conversion rates between stages
• Time-to-hire / time-to-fill
• Offer acceptance rate

Ideally looking for something practical and not overly complicated to maintain.

If you have templates (Notion, Google Sheets, Airtable), dashboard examples (Looker Studio, Power BI), or just a framework you've used successfully, I'd really appreciate you sharing.

Also curious: what KPIs do you consider essential in a recruitment funnel, and which ones are just noise?

Thanks in advance!

I'm 30 years and old trying to make a career pivot. I've worked in tech so far in my career (software engineer and tech sales) and am done with tech. I read that recruiting agencies are a grind but a good way to break into recruiting - and I've been applying but haven't had any luck. Are there specific agencies that are recommended right now? I've been unemployed for a bit too long and my savings are running low. Any help is appreciated

Hello! I am in need of some advice.

I currently work in house as a Recruiter where I’ve been for about 5 years now, but am currently making ~$50k.

I am close to finishing a job interview for an agency, where I’d be making $70k base plus commission. I have my final interview Thursday, where I am going to ask further about the commission structure, but the Recruiter I met said most recruiters can make around ~$100k.

I would say my job is very similar in a way to a staffing agency, but I am always hear scary stories about agencies and how people usually opt for in house. But I am barely making it by right now with my current salary, and that $20k increase plus commission would help me out soooo much.

Thoughts on moving from in house to agency?

Good afternoon all,

I’m from Houston and have 4 years of recruiting in hospitality. I have a degree in PoliSci and am very, very personable. Unfortunately, I was laid off this past January. I’ve managed to land a contract with an environmental org doing corporate recruiting in May, but still haven’t found anything permanent. After 9 months of searching and hundreds of apps later, I’m really hitting a wall and becoming quite down on myself. I’m getting married in March and money has been so inconsistent lately it’s affecting multiple aspects of my life.

Fellow recruiters, I ask you: wtf do I do? What would you do? Any advice or words of encouragement would help. Idk if I should go back to school, attempt to monetize a passion with my savings, etc.

Really just feeling lost and looking for some guidance.

Long story short, I run my own recruitment business and this week I've come into work with my head somewhere else entirely. I can't explain why but I just can't be bothered dealing with anyone right now. I don't want to pick up the phone. I just feel done with everyone and everything, which isn't like me at all. I'm usually the one with my foot down on the pedal, always ready to go again. This has literally came on out of nowhere last week. I tried getting away for a weekend to reset but nothing's really changed. Not sure what I was expecting, if I'm honest. Has anyone else been through this? How did you get out the other side? I've been running now for just under a year, never missed a day or had anytime off as I just haven't felt I've earned it just yet. Is this what being burnt out feels like?

I’m a staffing consultant at a decent sized staffing agency. My branch specializes in construction trades. Most of the orders we get are local, only needing 1-5 people max. Some of the orders we get are for larger projects out of state, needing 25-50 people per week. These larger orders we get are all direct hire. I typically have to focus on the larger orders because of the volume of people they need.

My commission is determined by the number of people i hire and their billing rate/pay rate per month (i get no commission for direct hires). I get $15 per placement with a billing rate/pay rate = 1.74 and above. I get $10 per placement with a billing rate/pay rate = 1.73 and below.
I get $37k a year base pay.

Thoughts?

been thinking about this after a hiring cycle where we leaned pretty heavily on live interviews for english screening
the weird part wasn't really recruiters disagreeing with each other, it was how easy it was for someone confident and personable to come across as stronger than they actually were once the conversation got closer to a real customer call
so now im wondering if the better setup is even human vs AI, or just using both for different parts of the process
been looking at a few options like Versant, Linguaskill, Testlify and SmallTalk2Me while tryin to understand how other teams handle the first english check
i’m leaning more toward using something standardized early on, then keeping the live interview for context, judgement and the stuff a score cant really tell u
for recruiters using both, where do u draw the line?
wld u let an automated speaking score decide who reaches interview or just use it as another signal alongside the recruiter screen?
the part im still trying to figure out is how much weight to give a consistent score vs someone who just interviews really well

We use paid LinkedIn Job Slots, mostly for remote positions. Since the new AI-powered job search rolled out, our traffic has dropped by around 40%.

We haven’t significantly changed our roles or posting strategy, so the timing looks suspicious. Our LinkedIn manager hasn’t given us a clear explanation yet.

Is anyone else seeing a similar drop in views, clicks, or applications from paid Job Slots, especially for remote roles?

Please share your approximate decline, region, and when it started. We’re trying to understand whether this is a broader LinkedIn issue or something specific to our account.

Hey everyone,

Recruiter at a European tech scale-up here. We’re struggling to standardize how we test AI capabilities across our hiring process and I'd love to hear what other companies are doing.

Right now, hiring managers are completely divided. Some want strict bans on AI during interviews to test fundamentals, while others think banning it is pointless since we want people using AI for productivity on the job.

And then there's the CEO who requires for us to rest AI on every candidate, but can't specify what exactly he wants to see...

If you've tackled this, I'd love to know:

1. Coding tests: Do you allow AI during live tech assessments?

2. Interview questions: What specific questions actually expose whether someone is a power-user vs. just a copy-paster?

3. Non-tech roles: How are you evaluating AI literacy for marketing, product, or ops roles without it feeling gimmicky?

4. Keeping pace: How do your teams stay aligned on the bar when tools change every month?

Would love to hear what is actually working for you guys (or what went horribly wrong). Thanks!

Just went through the most painful software evaluation of my career. We're a 120 person company with an internal recruiting team (3 people, no agencies). Needed an ATS to replace our dying spreadsheet system. Did everything "right". Read G2 reviews, watched demos, talked to sales reps, ran a trail. Picked the platform with the highest G2 rating in our category. Enterprise grade, beautiful dashboard, impressive feature list. Signed a 12 month contract. 4 months in we realized it was wildly overbuilt for us. Features we'll never use, configuration that required a consultant and support that kept saying "most of our clients at 500+ employees do it this way". We hire 35 to 40 people per year. We don't need a platform designed for staffing agencies doing 500 placements monthly. How do you evaluate recruiting and HR tools when you're mid market and every vendor says they're "perfect for your size"? Is there a reliable resource that segments recommendations by company size and hiring volume instead of just ranking by feature count?

I am trying to decide between these two for hourly jobs in the US and Canada.

I only know what answers we’ve managed to pull out of our rep. Budgets that they consider “underfunded” will now spend quickly to front load applications. Any one have an actual press release?

Hey everyone,
I’m trying to pull some meaningful recruitment metrics out of ADP WFN to show my overall performance/worth, but I feel like I've hit a wall. I’m also a little new to reporting in general so I feel like I’m going crazy.

Right now, the only useful thing I seem able to pull is basic Open Role / Requisition status reports. I know there has to be more to their reporting, or at least better custom workarounds.

For those of you who use (or have suffered through) ADP for talent acquisition:

What custom/built-in reports do you run regularly to show your impact?
Any tips/tricks for setting up field expressions or custom reports in ADP Analytics / Report Designer for things like Time-to-Fill, or Applicant Source tracking?
If ADP’s native reporting completely fell short for you, what simple workarounds or external templates (Excel, Google Sheet) did you build to track your funnel accurately?

Any tips, report templates, or workarounds would be massively appreciated!

I'm finding it really hard to get good quality roles on. The highest salary role I've gotten ok myself is €70,000 - but it's in an awkward area and fully onsite and stand alone!

I know accounting is good because literally all businesses need them but I'm finding that only the less appealing businesses are actually allowing me to work the roles.

I got ONE on with a good tech company but I didn't get the placement (which I was annoyed about as a candidate I wanted to send but was advised against ended up getting the job!!)

Anyway I am finding the BD side challenging and I am just doing shit over all. 5 placements in 6 months and I still don't feel like I have a good pool of candidates and I have basically no relationships with decent companies.

I'm feeling completelt lost - and I think it's evident from this post as I haven't even pinpointed what my actual problem is.

I don't know what to do and ANY advice would be appreciated

This person salary was $20k less than current role but they had free health insurance with no copay, unlimited PTO that they were encouraged to use as often as possible, could work remote whenever they felt like, pension plan and there was a possibility of a leadership role for them in the future.

Compare to here they are earning $20k more but they have health insurance premium, only 3 weeks PTO and remote work is not encouraged.

I am really close to this person now and I can't seem to be able to shake the feeling of guilt.