How Much Do Recruiters Charge Employers?

The three common fee models

Contingency fees

A contingency recruiter is paid only if you hire a candidate it introduced. In a 2016 article on working with search firms, SHRM reported that contingency recruiters usually earn a fee in the area of 20 to 25 percent of the role's first-year cash compensation, counting salary, bonus and signing bonus. A 2017 review of agency agreements by the law firm Gordon Feinblatt said the contingency fee is usually a fixed amount or a percentage of first-year salary, and that the percentage agencies seek varies widely, from 15% to as much as 40%.

Both sources are several years old and describe the market in general, so use them to sense-check a quote. We explain the process from intake call to start date in how contingency recruitment works.

Retained fees

In a retained search, the firm is paid whether or not it finds the hire. The same SHRM article quoted a search consultant putting the standard retained fee at about 33 percent of the role's annual salary, bonus and signing bonus. Gordon Feinblatt noted that retained agreements typically require an up-front payment of about a quarter to a third of the fee, and that retainer payments are typically non-refundable. Retained search is mostly used for senior and confidential roles.

Flat fees

Some agencies charge a fixed amount per hire. Flat fees show up most often when an employer is hiring several people into the same role at the same pay, because a percentage of near-identical salaries adds little information. Ask whether a flat fee changes if the pay rate on the offer changes.

Staffing agencies that employ temp workers are paid differently again: they bill an hourly rate with a markup built in. If that is the quote in front of you, read our guide to staffing agency markup rates.

What a percentage fee looks like on an hourly role

Percentage fees are easy to picture on a salary and harder on an hourly wage. The agreement has to say how hourly pay is turned into an annual figure, and what counts toward it.

Here is the arithmetic for illustration only. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a median wage of $18.38 an hour for hand laborers and material movers in May 2025. At 40 hours a week for 52 weeks (2,080 hours), that is $38,230.40 a year.

• At 20% of base pay, the fee would be $7,646.08.
• At 25% of base pay, the fee would be $9,557.60.
• If the schedule includes five hours of overtime a week at time and a half, that adds $7,168.20 a year. Counting overtime at 20% raises the fee by $1,433.64.

Those percentages come from the published ranges above and are nobody's quote. The fee base can move the total as much as the percentage does. A 2025 article in Insurance Journal notes that some contracts calculate the fee on base salary and others on estimated total first-year compensation, and Gordon Feinblatt advised employers to specify that only base salary counts. For hourly roles, ask in writing whether overtime, shift differentials and bonuses are included, and how many hours a week are assumed.

What the fee should include

Two fees at the same percentage can buy very different things. Before you compare numbers, compare what comes with them.

• Screening. Ask what the recruiter checks before you see a candidate: experience, pay expectations, schedule fit, commute, licenses or a skills check.
• A guarantee. Find out what happens if the hire leaves or is let go in the first weeks, and whether the remedy is a replacement or a refund. Our guide to recruiter guarantee periods covers what to look for.
• When the fee is due. Gordon Feinblatt said there are normally no circumstances where it would be appropriate to pay an agency before the employee begins work, and suggested paying within a set number of days after the start date.
• Payment window. Insurance Journal describes 15, 30 or 45 days as a standard payment window, with check and ACH most common and a service charge likely if you pay by card.
• The referral window. Agreements usually let the agency claim a fee if you hire someone it introduced within a set period. Gordon Feinblatt called a one-year window standard and said the obligation should not be open-ended.

When a recruiter costs less than an open role

A fee is easy to see because it arrives as one invoice. The cost of doing the search yourself is spread across job board spend, hours from a manager who has another job, and the weeks the seat stays empty. A fair comparison counts both.

Start with your own cost per hire: internal costs such as recruiter or manager time plus external costs such as job ads and background checks, divided by the number of hires. Our cost per hire calculator does the sum with your figures. Then add what the vacancy costs each week in overtime, missed orders or slower customer replies.

If your own process fills the role in a couple of weeks with good applicants, you may not need an agency for it. If the role has been posted twice, needs a license or a track record, or is one of several openings at once, a recruiter's fee is often the cheaper option once the empty weeks are counted.

Questions to ask before you sign

• Is the fee contingent on a hire, or is any part due before or during the search?
• Is it a percentage or a flat amount, and what is the fee base: base pay only, or total compensation including overtime, commission and bonuses?
• For hourly roles, how many hours a week does the annual figure assume?
• What triggers the invoice: the offer, the acceptance or the first day of work?
• What happens if the hire leaves early, and what would void that protection?
• How long can you claim a fee on candidates you introduced, and does that apply to people we already knew?
• Are there any other charges, such as advertising, assessments or background checks?

Our checklist of contingency recruiting agreement clauses goes through each of these in the order they usually appear in a contract.

How Optihire Staffing charges

Optihire Staffing works on contingency for permanent non-IT roles across the United States. There is no fee until you hire a candidate we introduced, and the fee, when it is due and what happens if a placement does not work out are agreed with you in writing before any work starts. Candidates never pay us.

See our recruitment services and how we work with employers, or submit your hiring requirements and we will send our terms for your roles.