How much Commission does a Job Agency Recruiter take?
 

As above. For a full time job.
I applied for a job through an agency online, agent called me and quoted $2600-$2800 for a position which I think is below market rate. A friend of mine working in another company same position draws a salary of $3100. I will be meeting an agent soon before I go for an interview with the company. Thus, I am curious to know if the lower salary quoted by him is because he took a cut or it was quoted by company's HR and he did not take any cut. Or do recruiters earn just by taking a one time amount from company?

I understand that 'market rate' is subjective so please don't flame me. Main thing is still to understand how the recruiters/agents earn. Others is just to provide some context. :)

I'm not sure about junior executive positions but for senior executive recruitment, recruiters earn a fixed percentage of your salary. So the higher your salary is, the higher their commission.

The only problem is, they know the budget of the client company. So they won't bother quoting you a budget that the client company will not offer.

That is incorrect. Fixed % of salary is for jnr to mid level managers.

Most senior executives placements work on fixed retainer + placement bonus + % of remuneration

Not all recruitment placements are on a retainer basis. Contingency searches still exist from mid-to-senior positions.

Recently, I went for an interview with a bank (avp position) and used a head hunter.

I told the her that my last drawn was $xxxx a month, she told the employer my last drawn was x - $2.5k. I got shortlisted, interviewed and went to the final stage of discussing package. Then the bombshell surfaced. After the session, I immediately called the hh but instead of apologising, she spent half an hour try to persuade me why I should accept the job for the lower pay. DAMN PISSED

I asked a friend who is working in a small time job agency.

She said, below a certain pay grade (below $100k/annum) it is 1 month of the person's salary.

She will get 50% of it immediately as her commission. Once the person completes 90 days work at the company, she gets the another 50% (split 25% to her, 25% to her boss).

So using her formula;

$2800 x 12 months pay + (hidden cost of $2800 recruiter's commission) = $36400, for the Employer.

$36400/12 = about $3050, if you had found the job by yourself, and HR budget the same.



Additionally, she did say HR people prefer to use agencies as to HR, cost is the same (cost per hire) and agencies can bully or pressure people into accepting the lower pay by using the threat of "i have other candidates lined up for this position if you don't want it".

Furthermore, her boss will send gift hampers for each new hire...

That's bloody unethical.

That happens because sometimes recruiters are on contingency search basis (i.e. they do not get paid until they actually make a placement) Hence they will try their best to fit you into their client's budget in hoping that they will still be able to close the deal, or at least be able to answer to the company that there are things in the pipeline. Regardless, it is unethical and unprofessional and you should not engage her services again.

There is a big difference between senior executives like you mention earlier & mid-senior positions in your latest post.

It is very seldom now for senior exec placements to be done solely on % salary. mid-senior, yes most still operate on % salary fee

Yes I have to reword it. What I meant was placements for positions ranging from 80-300k p.a.