JobPOVs
Explore

Agency & corporate

Recruiter

Sales, but the product is people who can change their minds.

Typical pay

$50k-$130k

How you get in

None specific; sales or coordinator roles are the entry

Outlook

Cyclical — booms and freezes with the hiring market

Recruiters source, screen and place candidates into open roles. Agency recruiting is commission-driven and fast; corporate recruiting is salaried and slower, and both live or die on responsiveness.

A day in the life

  1. 8:00aReview new applicants and the sourcing pipeline
  2. 9:00aPhone screens back to back
  3. 11:30aIntake meeting with a hiring manager
  4. 1:00pCold outreach to passive candidates
  5. 3:00pPrep a candidate for their final interview
  6. 4:30pNegotiate an offer, then watch it get countered

How to get in

Agency recruiting

Duration

3-12 months to productivity

Cost

$0

Credential

None — placements are the credential

  1. Get hired by a staffing or search agency, which hire on drive over experience
  2. Learn sourcing, screening and closing under a desk manager
  3. Build a specialty vertical — tech, healthcare, accounting, skilled trades
  4. Commission scales quickly once you have a candidate network

Coordinator into corporate recruiting

Duration

1-3 years

Cost

$0

Credential

None; SHRM certification optional

  1. Start as a recruiting coordinator scheduling interviews
  2. Learn the ATS and how hiring managers actually decide
  3. Move to full-cycle recruiter internally
  4. Salaried and steadier than agency, with less upside

Industry expert into recruiting

Duration

6-18 months

Cost

$0

Credential

None — domain credibility

  1. Work in a technical field — engineering, nursing, accounting
  2. Move into recruiting for that same field
  3. Your ability to actually assess candidates is the differentiator
  4. Technical and executive search pay the highest commissions

What people love

  • · No specific degree required
  • · Agency commission has real upside
  • · Remote-friendly
  • · Genuinely changes people's lives when it works

What wears people down

  • · Deals collapse at the final hour
  • · Agency work is a pure sales quota
  • · First to be cut when hiring freezes
  • · Candidates and clients both ghost you

From people doing it

Add yours