Recruitment Commission Calculator

Commission = candidate's first-year salary × placement fee % × recruiter's share of the fee. A $135,980 hire at a 20% fee bills $27,196. A recruiter on a 50% share earns $13,598 from it; on a split placement with another firm, the fee is shared first.

It depends on the commission plan. Top Echelon's example is a firm that pays recruiters no base salary and gives them 50% of each placement fee they generate; firms that pay a base salary pay a smaller share (Top Echelon). Enter your plan's share in the calculator.

Usually a percentage of the candidate's first-year salary. Top Echelon uses 20% in its example and reports an average fee of about 22.5% across its network, or about $20,000 per placement (Top Echelon). For the fee from the employer's side, use the recruitment agency fee calculator.

On a contingency search, the recruiter is not paid until the candidate is placed, and Top Echelon says the client typically pays the fee 30 to 90 days after the placement. On a retained search, the firm is paid up front, and a hybrid arrangement takes about half the fee up front (Top Echelon). Commission usually follows once the client pays.

Two recruiters share one placement: one has the client, the other the candidate. In Top Echelon's network each recruiter receives 47% of the fee and the network keeps 6% (Top Echelon). Choose the 50 / 50 option in the calculator for a simple even split.

With the calculator's defaults, 10 placements of a $135,980 hire at a 20% fee and a 50% share pay $135,980 in commission. In-house recruiters are salaried instead: the BLS counts them as human resources specialists, with a median wage of $75,940 in May 2025 (BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025).

Universities and schools pay student recruitment agents per enrolled student. In AIRC's 2026 survey of 61 US institutions, 48% paid a fixed fee, most often $2,000 to $3,500 per student; 39% paid a share of net tuition, most often 10% to 15%; and 6% paid a share of gross tuition, most often 15% (AIRC 2026 survey, reported by ICEF Monitor). To use the calculator, enter first-year tuition as the salary, the rate as the fee and 100% as the share.

Second Talent helps US startups hire vetted AI-Native Engineers and Specialists from Asia. The Talent Subscription has no placement fee: $0 cost until you hire, then $29 to $39 USD an hour, billed monthly, with a 90-day, one-time replacement guarantee.