recruitment – Highfield Careers

If you’ve been in recruitment long enough, you’ll know something simple but uncomfortable:

Some recruiters plateau. Others compound. And the difference isn’t necessarily talent.

If you’re serious about increasing your earnings in recruitment, you need to think beyond “I’ll just try to bill more this quarter.” There are multiple levers available, and the highest earners pull several at once.

Recruiters typically make money in multiple ways:

Base salary
Commission
Bonuses and incentives

In truth, you’ll need to do a mixture of the below to truly lift your earning potential. If your financial growth depends solely on incremental salary increases, your ceiling will rise slowly. If you focus purely on your commission then you may miss out on easier opportunities for increasing your income.

Contents

Increase your billings
Increase your base salary
Increase your bonuses and incentives

1. Increase your billings (and hence your commission)

Let’s get the most obvious one out of the way first.

There are essentially just two ways to increase the amount that you’re billing each month, and hence increase the amount of commission that hits your bank account:

Do more deals
Increase your average deal fee

How to do more deals as a recruiter

Many recruiters try to make more money by doing more. More calls. More CV sends. More interviews. And that certainly is a way to do more deals (hopefully) but it’s also a fast route to burnout.

High earners increase earnings by improving conversion. This means making yourself more efficient so you have more time to do things like build relationships with your clients and candidates and grow your network.

If you tighten qualification, manage expectations better, reduce drop-outs, and control counter-offers effectively, your revenue rises without your hours increasing. Small improvements at each stage of the funnel compound quickly.

How to increase your average fee (and hence your commission)

There are two ways to increase your average deal fee:

1. Increase the fee you’re charging the client

This might not be in your control if you’re in a more junior role, but it’s still a conversation worth having. Increasing your clients’ fee might mean increasing the % you charge them per placement, or it could mean upselling them to a higher tier of service, for example working their roles on a retained basis rather than on a contingent basis.

2. Work roles with higher salaries or rates

Firstly, positioning yourself as someone who can work more senior roles, even C-suite roles, will increase the amount you earn per deal you do. Of course there are different skills required for executive search rather than standard contingent recruitment, so don’t make the mistake of thinking this will be a walk in the park!

Secondly, the sector you’re working in greatly affects the salaries and rates of the people you’re placing, and therefore how much money you can make from doing deals. Recruiting blue collar construction workers is a totally different ball game to recruiting senior level data centre professionals.

For us, the average perm fee in 2025 was £16.5k (for our UK/Europe arm of the business – US fees are typically even higher). That level of fee doesn’t come from pure volume, it comes from authority, positioning and disciplined process control.

Actions to take:

Go through your deal process from start to finish. Are there any parts that are more inefficient or time-consuming than others? Could AI or automation help you streamline the process?
Think about the last time a deal fell through. What was the reason? Were there any steps you could’ve taken to prevent this?
Reach out to your L&D team, if you have one. Can they spot areas for improvement?
Assess the sector you’re in and the roles you typically work. Could you position yourself to work more senior roles?

2. Increase your base salary

Base salary is often the least scalable part of your income, but it’s still worth trying to increase it if you’re trying to make more money as a recruitment consultant.

There are primarily three ways you can increase your base salary as a recruitment consultant:

1. Negotiate a pay rise in your current role

This means discussing your base salary with your manager, not basing it on increased responsibilities, but rather on your personal market value or factors such as inflation. Take a look at what other agencies are offering and use that to assess whether what you’re earning is about right or whether you feel you’re owed an increase.

2. Go for a promotion

This means discussing your options for an increase in responsibility (and hence base salary) because you feel you can do more in your role than you are currently doing. This might mean that you’re hitting billings targets to be promoted to ‘Principal Recruitment Consultant’ or that you have spotted a management opportunity within the business.

It’s worth bearing in mind that promotions might not just come with higher base salaries, but also higher commission rates and access to more financial incentives. This will depend on your agency so would be worth talking to your manager about.

3. Move to a new recruitment agency

While moving to a new agency does not guarantee an increase in base salary, it is likely, depending on how long you’ve been working at your current agency. Again, research is your friend here. Use LinkedIn and other job boards to assess your market value and the potential for an increase.

Actions to take:

Research recruiter salaries and decide whether you think your base salary currently reflects what your market value is.
Have a clear conversation with your manager about what your career progression looks like over the next 12–24 months.
If you’re looking to move to a new recruitment agency and you’re based in the Southampton/Portsmouth/Winchester area of the UK, drop us a message to careers@highfieldps.co.uk to discuss our current vacancies.

3. Increase your bonuses and incentive payments

Another often overlooked way to make more money as a recruiter is by fully leveraging the bonus schemes and incentives offered by the company you work for.

Many agencies structure quarterly bonuses, accelerator thresholds, and performance-based incentives that significantly boost total earnings if you take the time to understand how they work. The difference between just hitting target and exceeding it by 10–15% can unlock disproportionately higher payouts.

If you add in incentives such as top-performer trips (like the one we do annually, last year to Malta), welfare allowances or profit-share structures, and your total compensation can shift meaningfully.

The key is to understand exactly where bonus triggers sit, and to plan your activity around them rather than stumbling into them by accident.

Actions to take:

Review your bonus structure in detail and identify where accelerators or threshold jumps significantly increase your payout – then plan your quarter around hitting those levels early.
Ask your manager or a culture lead in your business to walk you through how top performers maximise incentives and bonuses, not just how they hit target.

4. BONUS TIP – Make yourself indispensable

A little bonus section for those of you who have read this far!

The highest earners don’t just sell CVs. They provide real value.

An often underrated way to improve your earning potential in your current role (WITHOUT negotiating a higher base salary or billing more) is to make yourself indispensable in the company you work for.

Being indispensable means that you’re much harder to replace – your employer will consciously try to retain you and keep you happy in your role.

When you provide salary benchmarking, competitor mapping, market intelligence, or structured hiring advice, you become embedded in your client’s decision-making process. If your value stops at sending profiles, your earning ceiling remains low because you’re a transactional recruiter.

To be truly unique in your agency, you’ll need a strong personal brand that increases response rates, strengthens negotiation position and improves fee resilience. It’s not about ego, it’s about authority.

Looking for a new role as a senior recruitment consultant?

We’re hiring in our office in Durley (SO32) and would love to hear from you.

Email careers@highfieldps.co.uk

Learn about our sectors

1. Really get to know their business

Not just the job. The whole business.

The best partnerships start with real understanding. Go deeper than the job spec. Learn how the business works, what challenges they’re facing, what success looks like in 12 or 24 months. What’s changing in their market? What does a brilliant hire actually look like in context?

This isn’t about ticking boxes, it’s about showing up with insight that makes a difference. When you understand the client’s goals, you don’t just fill roles. You become someone who truly gets it.

Action: Make a list of your top three clients right now. Do you know what their short, medium, and long-term hiring goals are? If you don’t, ask them.

2. Prioritise quality over quantity

A flood of CVs isn’t impressive, it’s overwhelming.

One well-matched person, who’s been properly qualified and is genuinely right for the role, is always better than ten half-fit maybes. Clients are busy. They value your judgement and your ability to save them time, not add to the pile.

Great partners focus on quality. They take the time to get under the surface of a brief, check for cultural fit, and make sure every recommendation is solid. Because the goal isn’t just speed here, it’s trust.

Action: Next time you submit a CV to a client, ask yourself what the percentage likelihood of acceptance is. Lower than 80% chance you think they’ll be accepted? Think twice about sending that CV over.

3. Communicate early, honestly, and often

Silence is rarely a good sign.

You should never leave a client wondering what’s going on. Whether things are going brilliantly or there’s a challenge behind the scenes, keeping them updated shows you’re on it and that you care.

Be upfront about your process, manage expectations clearly, and don’t wait for them to chase you. People appreciate honesty, especially when it’s delivered with care and professionalism.

Action: Are you working a role that’s taking a little longer to fill than it should? Drop your client a message to let them know why you haven’t filled it yet. Be honest here – transparency builds trust.

4. Be a partner

Great recruiters add values in other areas, they don’t just send CVs.

That could mean sharing salary insights, market trends, hiring advice, or feedback on the brief. If something doesn’t look right, say so, and if expectations are out of line with the market, explain why. It’s all about being consultative over transactional.

You’re not there to nod and agree. You’re there to help solve real problems. And when you bring knowledge, honesty, and a bit of courage to the conversation, you earn respect as a true partner – not just a service provider.

Action: Ask your marketing team if they’ve produced any content for clients recently. Perhaps a Salary Survey, a hiring guide, or market report. Book a meeting to share this piece of content with your top three clients.

5. Stay involved after the placement

The work doesn’t stop when the contract’s signed. Check in. Ask how the new hire’s getting on. Offer support for the next stage of their hiring. These small moments – the ones that go beyond the transaction – are what turn a one-off placement into a long-term relationship.

People remember who showed up when they didn’t have to.

Action: Make a list of all the people you’ve placed in the last 3 months. Reach out to them, and their new employer, to find out how they’re getting on.

6. Build trust through consistency

It’s not about being perfect, it’s about being dependable.

Clients want to know they can count on you. That means doing what you said you would do. Being prepared. Following up. Owning things when they don’t go to plan.

Trust isn’t built in one big moment, it’s built in the small, consistent, day-to-day actions. The call you returned. The feedback you chased. The extra thought you put into your shortlist. That’s the stuff that builds real, lasting credibility.

Action: Identify five times you weren’t consistent last quarter. What could you have done differently?

7. Play the long game

Some roles won’t convert. Some feedback will sting. Some clients will push back.

But if your mindset is always short-term, you’ll miss the bigger picture.

Sometimes building trust means turning down work you can’t deliver on. Or having honest conversations that don’t result in a brief, but do build respect.

Because when a client sees you’re focused on doing the right thing, not just closing a deal, that trust carries forward. They’ll come back. They’ll introduce you to other teams. They’ll ask for your advice before they even write the job description.

That’s the long game. And it pays off.

Action: Consider whether you’ve ever taken on any roles simply because you felt like you had to. Have you taken on any roles where the client had unrealistic compensation expectations? Think about how you could have handled the conversation differently.

Strong partnerships don’t happen by accident. They’re built one conversation, one placement, one decision at a time, by showing up with honesty, consistency, and care.

The recruiters who thrive long-term aren’t just great at filling roles. They’re great at building trust. They understand their clients’ world, they add value beyond the brief, and they’re there for the journey rather than the job.

Learn about our sectors

1. Growing sectors to watch

The first major opportunity for recruiters right now is the work in growing sectors. Some industries are booming, with talent demand far outpacing supply. This means that for recruiters in these sectors the work is plentiful and the margins are high.

Tech continues to be a major growth area, especially with the rise of artificial intelligence and machine learning. Renewable energy is also expanding rapidly as governments and corporations push for sustainability. The data centre sector is seeing a surge in infrastructure investment globally, creating urgent demand for skilled professionals.

The opportunity is greatest for recruiters with technical know-how. If you can establish yourself in one of these high-demand niches, you’ll quickly become a go-to expert in your field.

2. Rise of global talent pools

Another huge opportunity for recruiters is the introduction of remote and hybrid working models, which have broken down geographic barriers. Today, recruiters have access to talent across borders like never before, giving rise to a more global, flexible recruitment model.

There’s a growing opportunity to place international candidates and connect clients with hard-to-reach talent. At the same time, recruiters themselves get the chance to be more mobile – attending industry conferences, networking events, and client/candidate meetings in person around the world. For example, some of our own data centre contract team members are currently in Sweden visiting sites they recruit for and building stronger relationships on the ground.

If you’re open to travel and thrive in face-to-face interactions, this globalisation of recruitment presents a huge growth opportunity.

opportunities in recruitment - rise of global talent pools

3. Employer branding

With competition for talent in a lot of sectors being fierce, employer branding has become a priority for businesses of all sizes. More companies now recognise the importance of their brand in attracting and retaining the right people—but many still struggle to articulate it.

If you’re a recruiter with a particular interest in marketing or communication, this is your time to shine. Recruiters can add real value by helping clients clarify their Employee Value Proposition, define their culture, and promote their brand across job ads, social media, and beyond. The more you understand your client’s story, the more effectively you can sell their opportunity—and the more indispensable you become.

4. Tech-driven recruitment

Technology is transforming recruitment, and there’s a big opportunity for recruiters to embrace it. From automation tools that streamline admin tasks, to AI that enhances candidate screening, tech is helping recruiters work faster and smarter.

Embracing these tools can drastically improve your day-to-day efficiency—making your job not just more productive, but more enjoyable too. You’ll have more time to focus on what matters most: building relationships and closing deals.

opportunities in recruitment - technology

5. Becoming a talent partner

One of the biggest mindset shifts in the industry right now is moving from being “just an agency” to becoming a long-term, consultative talent partner. Clients increasingly want consultants who can help them not only hire—but also plan for the future, retain great talent, and build inclusive teams.

This opens the door for recruiters to offer strategic support around workforce planning, diversity and inclusion, market trends, and employer branding. By acting as a trusted advisor, you can build more meaningful relationships, earn greater loyalty, and create a more predictable income stream for yourself if you’re in a commission-based role.

It also leads to higher job satisfaction—because you’re making a real, long-term impact on the people and businesses you work with.

The recruitment landscape is changing—but that change brings enormous opportunity. By focusing on growth sectors, embracing global talent, supporting employer branding, adopting smart technology, and shifting towards consultancy, recruiters can thrive in today’s market.

Now is the time to upskill, stay curious, and lean into new ways of working. The recruiters who adapt will not only survive—they’ll lead the way.

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