Executive Recruiters
Overview

Introduction
Executive recruiters are hired by businesses to locate, research, and interview candidates for hard-to-fill employment positions, mainly at the junior to senior management level. Such recruiters work for executive search firms and are paid by clients on a commission basis, or flat fee. There are approximately 39,447 executive search recruiters employed in the United States.
Quick Facts
Median Salary
Employment Prospects
Minimum Education Level
Experience
Skills
Personality Traits
Earnings
Executive recruiters are paid well for their efforts. Contingency recruiters, who get paid only if their candidate is hired, typically charge a fee from 25 percent to 35 percent of the candidates first-year cash compensation.
Retained recruiters average fees of one-third of the candidates first-year cash compensation. Any expenses incurred by the recruiter are usually paid by the employe...
Work Environment
Many recruiters work 50 to 70 hours a week; it is not uncommon for recruiters to spend several days a week on the road meeting clients, interviewing, or doing candidate research. Also, aspiring recruiters should expect to spend most of their day on the phone.
Outlook
The executive search industry should have a good future. The Department of Labor predicts 8 percent employment growth for human resources specialists, including executive recruiters, through 2033, which is much faster than the average for all occupations. The era of company loyalty and employment for life is over in the corporate world. Many savvy workers campaign aggressively and will transfer...