Are you a Fee Worthy Recruiter?

Recruitment professionals spend their days sourcing, screening and interviewing candidates that a client will hopefully pay a fee for. Did you ever stop to think that you, as a Recruitment Professional, are also worthy of a fee?

Simply put, Great Recruiters are worth between 20% – 30%. However, defining “fee worthy” is a little more difficult.

Fee worthy Recruitment Professionals can be hard to define because, as a whole, we are all too often thought of as being akin to gypsies. Distilling what a good Recruitment professional looks like to three keys points will enable you to take the mystery out of your own career advancement in Third Party agency environments.

Three Years Rule

Junior fee worthy Recruiters will have a minimum of three years in the industry. During this time they will have been taught through repetition all the skills needed to source, screen and qualify candidates. To prove they have learned the lessons correctly, the Recruiter will have an increase in productivity over the third year.
Seasoned fee worthy Recruiters will have a work history that is divided into minimum three year periods. The reason for this is because it takes a full year to build a desk and the following years will be spent keeping the desk going. The industry the Recruiter is niched into, combined with the health of the third party agency, will determine the length of time that a Seasoned Recruiter can keep that desk productive.

Yearly GM’s of 250K

The difference between a $200k Recruiter and a $250K Recruiter is the steep learning curve between the Science and the Art of Recruiting. Once a Recruiter has reached the $250K mile stone they have demonstrated they have all the techniques mastered to close a million in revenue…given the right opportunities.

“He who has the gold makes the rules.”

This is an old saying that today still holds a lot of weight today. It means whoever has the most money usually can have the ability of having the most influence over the ruling power. Using this saying we making sure the Recruiter is the primary financial contributor in their own household. This ensures they will have the flexibility and emotional support needed to do what it takes to advance their own careers.

If you are following these three points throughout your career then you can count yourself among the few “Fee-Worthy Recruiters.” Congratulations!

I am curious do you think these three requirements are too tough?

Comment by bill josephson on June 12, 2012 at 8:06am: Good piece, Rebecca. I believe you're exactly right as a 32 year recruiter.

In today's speed oriented environment to succeed it's vital to be in a market niche where demand outstrips supply, phone connecting with prospects your clients can't find, using technology effectively, and working with clients hoping the recruit/interview/hiring process works effectively. You can set up guidelines, doesn't mean they'll be followed.

You're right. If a recruiter has succeeded in one discipline which goes cold, they can succeed in another as the skills are transferable. The skills you learn as a young recruiter you're constantly sharpeningwith more experience, just trying to do them more effectively.

One last thing--wasn't sure of your meaning in the last bullet about recruiters as the "financial contributor to the household."

Comment by Rebecca B. Sargeant on June 12, 2012 at 9:09am: Bill ~

Thanks for your comments.

As for "financial contributor to the household," I meant the Recruiter should be responsible for providing the largest part of the household income. When the are providing the spending money, other people in the household will be less likly to constrains them with the obligations of taking care of the family. I.E. "You have to be home at 4:30pm to pick up Joey from football."

Thoughts?

Comment by Elise Reynolds on June 12, 2012 at 1:15pm: That's my problem Rebecca,

I tend to be the one burdened with household restraints! However I am worth the fee, I just maybe don't make as many fees as I might if I were not the primary care giver.

Comment by Robye Nothnagel on June 13, 2012 at 8:25am: Don't be burdened by the household restraints....enjoy them to the fullest as they won't be around forever. You can work the rest of your life but you only have your kids around for a number of years. That's one of my biggest joys about being a small recruiting firm; that I can go to the pool with my kids today if I want to! My kids do think my computer is an attachment of my body though...

I don't see how # 3 really relates to being fee worthy. My clients don't know that I may be at the pool today but working tonight instead. As long as I can provide them qualilty candidates who cares if I'm the "household queen".

Comment by Beth Stearns on June 13, 2012 at 10:37am: Robye - Household Queen - love it!!

And, I agree with you - this can be a very flexible career. Over the past seven years, I have had obligations requiring 2 - 3 terms of 89 day stays per year in France. I hooked up to Vonnage, took my computer and few of my clients / candidates were the wiser -- I just stuck to the east coast and midwest due to time differences.

As to your title, 20 years ago, before I started recruiting, we were living in a small town in MA where they conducted a manual census each year. One year, I gave my title as 'Domestic Princecess' which someone in Town Hall switched to 'wife" on the she / he apparently overlooked the fact that I was running a household with six teen certainly the most demanding (and fulfilling) position I have ever filled!!