6 templates for the firm doing the placing, not the client paying for it: full desk, delivery, high-volume temp, healthcare, contract technical, and entry level. Download as DOCX.
Almost every recruiter job description on the internet was written for a corporate talent acquisition team. It talks about hiring managers, requisitions, stakeholder alignment, and quality of hire. None of those words describe a staffing desk, where the customer is external, the pay is half commission, and the order you are working is being worked by three other firms at the same time.
I have spent a lot of time with small staffing firms, and the pattern repeats. A five-person agency that places hundreds of people a year runs its own hiring off a posting borrowed from a corporate careers page. Strong agency recruiters read it, see no quota, no split, and no desk, and conclude the owner does not know what the job is.
At FirstHR we write hiring templates for small employers, and a staffing firm is one. The six below cover a full desk, a delivery desk, a high-volume temp branch, a healthcare desk, a contract technical desk, and an entry-level associate seat, each with the commission and classification language the corporate versions have no reason to carry.
TL;DR
A staffing agency recruiter fills orders for client companies and is paid on production, usually a modest base plus commission on fee, gross profit, or hourly spread. The posting has to state the desk model, the commission structure, and the overtime classification. Recruiters are counted inside human resources specialists, median $75,940 (BLS OEWS, May 2025). Six templates below.
What a Staffing Agency Recruiter Actually Does
A staffing agency recruiter fills job orders for client companies rather than for their own employer, and is paid on what those fills produce. The work splits into two halves: winning and servicing the client, and sourcing and closing the candidate. Which halves the seat owns is the first thing your posting has to say.
That split has a name inside the industry. A full desk, often called a 360, does both. A delivery desk, a 180, does candidates only while an account manager owns the client. Applicants sort themselves by that number before they read anything else, so leaving it out costs you qualified applications.
Full desk (360)
Sells and fills
One person opens the account, takes the order, sources the candidate, and closes the placement. The highest earner in most small agencies and the hardest seat to fill, because it demands a sales temperament and a recruiting one in the same person.
Delivery desk (180)
Fills only
Account managers own clients, recruiters own candidates. Easier to hire for and easier to train, and it usually produces faster fill times. The tradeoff is a split commission and a recruiter who never learns the client side.
Temp and contract desk
You employ the talent
The people you place are your W-2 employees on the client site. Payroll, onboarding, workers compensation, and wage and hour compliance sit with you, and the money is a weekly spread rather than a one-time fee.
Direct hire desk
Fee on placement
The candidate becomes the client’s employee and you invoice a percentage of first-year salary, usually with a guarantee period. Lumpy revenue, no ongoing employer obligations, and a commission plan built around chargebacks.
Write the Desk, Not the Title
The phrase staffing agency recruiter covers four different jobs with four different pay structures and two different overtime answers. A full-desk recruiter carrying a gross profit number is not the same hire as a high-volume branch recruiter filling forty warehouse shifts a week. Name the desk model, the vertical, and the placement type in the first two lines of the posting. Everything after that is easier to write and easier to defend.
The other structural difference is what happens after the placement. On a direct hire desk the relationship ends at the guarantee period. On a temp or contract desk it starts there, because the person on assignment is your employee and stays on your books until the assignment closes. Our comparison of contingency versus retained recruiting covers the fee models behind those desks.
What Belongs in an Agency Recruiter Posting
An agency recruiter posting does four jobs: it describes the desk, it publishes the money, it protects you legally, and it proves the firm is worth leaving another firm for. Corporate templates handle none of these, because a corporate seat has no desk and no commission plan.
The parts recruiters read first
Desk model: full desk, delivery, or account management
Perm, temp, contract, or a mix
Vertical and territory, stated exactly
Warm accounts inherited versus built from zero
The parts that decide whether they apply
Base salary and the commission percentage
What the commission is paid on: fee, gross profit, or spread
Draw structure and whether it is recoverable
When commission is paid and when it is charged back
The parts that protect you
FLSA classification stated on the posting
Overtime treatment for non-exempt seats
Non-solicitation and confidentiality expectations
Equal opportunity statement and the client-request line
The parts that win the hire
Real production numbers from the desk
Activity targets stated as numbers, not adjectives
Who supports the desk: coordinator, back office, payroll
Promotion path and what it takes to get there
The single most common omission is the production data. Candidates want the numbers the desk currently does: order flow, average fee or spread, fill rate, how many accounts are active. Vagueness there reads as a desk that is not producing, and the recruiters you want have the option of not finding out. Our general guide to writing a job description covers the structure that sits underneath.
6 Staffing Agency Recruiter Job Description Templates to Download
Download all six as one file or copy them individually. Each follows the same structure: agency overview, position summary, key responsibilities, required qualifications, compensation and commission, a classification and compliance note, an equal opportunity statement, and how to apply. The bracketed fields are the only parts you change.
If you are also writing postings for the roles you place rather than the desk that places them, the rest of our hiring templates cover several hundred job titles in the same format.
Download All 6 Staffing Agency Recruiter Job Description Templates
Full desk, delivery desk, high-volume temp, healthcare, contract technical, and entry-level associate. All in one download.
Full-Desk (360) Recruiter
Business development plus delivery
The complete agency seat, with the client half and the candidate half written separately so applicants can see both quotas.
Delivery Recruiter (180)
Fills orders handed over
For a split desk: service levels, submittal targets, and a commission split with the account manager on the order.
High-Volume Temp
Light industrial and hourly
For branch work: weekly fill counts, walk-in hours, same-day replacements, and paperwork completed before the first shift.
Healthcare Staffing
Travel and per diem
For clinical desks, with licensure, compact states, credentialing files, expiration tracking, and pay package transparency.
IT and Professional Contract
Bill rate and spread
For technical and professional contract desks: rate negotiation, submittal quality, extensions, and conversion terms.
Recruiting Associate
Entry level, hourly
For your training seat, written as a non-exempt hourly role with ramp targets and a written path to a commission desk.
The complete agency seat, with the business development half and the delivery half written as separate responsibility blocks so applicants can see both quotas before they apply.
•Source through [database, referrals, job boards, outreach, networking]
•Screen for skills, availability, pay expectations, and work authorization
•Submit [number] qualified candidates per order within [hours / days]
•Prep candidates for interviews and debrief both sides afterward
•Close offers, confirm start dates, and check in on day one, week one, [day 30]
Operations
•Keep every candidate, client, and activity record current in our system
•Hit weekly activity and production targets: [calls, submittals, interviews,
placements, gross profit]
•Complete onboarding paperwork for placed W-2 employees before their first shift
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•[Number] years in agency staffing, recruiting, or a quota-carrying sales role
•Comfort with cold outreach and rate negotiation, not just candidate screening
•Working knowledge of applicant tracking and CRM systems
•Ability to run [number] open orders at once without dropping candidate
communication
•[Bachelor’s degree preferred / not required: set your own bar]
COMPENSATION AND COMMISSION
•Base: $________ per year
•Commission: [percent] of gross profit on perm placements and [percent] of
weekly spread on contract placements, paid [monthly / on client payment]
•Draw: [recoverable / non-recoverable] draw of $________ for the first [number]
months
•Chargeback: commission is [adjusted / reversed] if a placement falls inside the
[number]-day guarantee or if the client does not pay
•Written plan: the full commission plan is provided in writing at offer and
governs all payouts
CLASSIFICATION AND COMPLIANCE NOTE (read before posting)
Decide exempt or non-exempt on duties and pay, not on the word recruiter. The
Fair Labor Standards Act does not list recruiter as an exempt job title. The
administrative exemption requires a salary or fee basis of at least $684 a week,
a primary duty of office work directly related to management or general business
operations, and the exercise of discretion and independent judgment on matters of
significance. A recruiter whose day is mostly quota-driven production and
scripted outreach may not meet that test. If the role is non-exempt, commissions
and non-discretionary bonuses must be folded into the regular rate before
overtime is calculated. This is general information, not legal advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Agency Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role. We do not honor
client requests that would exclude candidates on a protected basis.
HOW TO APPLY
Email __ with your resume and your production numbers from
the last [12] months.
Template 2: Delivery Recruiter (180 Desk)
For a split desk where account managers own clients. It sets submittal service levels and a commission split on the order. If you are hiring the other half of that desk, start from the general recruiter templates instead.
Delivery Recruiter (180 Desk) Job Description
DELIVERY RECRUITER (180 DESK) JOB DESCRIPTION
Agency: __ ([City, State])
Reports to: [Recruiting Manager / Owner]
Employment type: Full-time, W-2
FLSA status: [Exempt / Non-exempt] (see classification note)
Compensation: $_ base per year plus per-placement commission
ABOUT THIS ROLE
[Agency Name] splits the desk: account managers own the client relationship and
recruiters own delivery. You will never be asked to cold call for new logos. You
will be asked to fill orders faster and more accurately than the agency across
the street.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Delivery Recruiter fills job orders handed over by account management:
sourcing, screening, submitting, prepping, and closing candidates against a
defined service level.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
•Take handoff from the account manager and confirm the order is fillable:
scope, rate, timeline, interview process
•Source through [database, referrals, job boards, outreach, alumni of past
placements]
•Screen for skills, availability, pay expectations, and work authorization
•Submit [number] qualified candidates within [hours] of order release
•Prep candidates before every client interview and debrief immediately after
•Close offers, confirm start dates, and hand off to onboarding
•Keep the pipeline for [job family] warm between orders
•Maintain accurate records for every candidate touch, submittal, and placement
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•[Number] years recruiting, agency experience preferred
•Demonstrated sourcing skill beyond posting and waiting
•Clear written and verbal communication with candidates at [skill level]
•Ability to carry [number] open orders at once
•Comfort with a metrics-driven desk: submittals, interviews, fills, fill time
COMPENSATION AND COMMISSION
•Base: $________ per year
•Commission: [percent] of gross profit on placements you fill, split [ratio]
with the account manager on the order
•Paid: [monthly / on client payment], subject to the written plan
•Chargeback: applies if the placement falls inside the [number]-day guarantee
CLASSIFICATION AND COMPLIANCE NOTE
A delivery recruiter working from a defined order under close direction is the
hardest version of this job to defend as exempt, because the discretion and
independent judgment prong of the administrative exemption is where these cases
turn. Many agencies run delivery seats as non-exempt, pay overtime, and keep the
commission plan intact. If you do that, remember that commissions and
non-discretionary bonuses must be included in the regular rate when overtime is
calculated, which means the overtime premium has to be trued up in the pay period
the commission lands. Track hours for anyone non-exempt. This is general
information, not legal advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Agency Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
HOW TO APPLY
Email __ with your resume and the roles you have filled.
Still Using Spreadsheets for Onboarding?
Automate documents, training assignments, task management, and track onboarding progress in real time.
Template 3: High-Volume Temp and Light Industrial Recruiter
For branch work: weekly fill counts, walk-in hours, same-day replacements, and paperwork completed before the first shift rather than after it. Pair it with the staffing coordinator templates if a coordinator handles scheduling.
High-Volume Temp and Light Industrial Recruiter Job Description
•Complete I-9 and onboarding paperwork for every W-2 temp before the first shift
•Dispatch and confirm start details: site, gate, supervisor, PPE, start time
•Run day-one and week-one check-ins to cut early turnover
•Manage call-offs, no-shows, and same-day replacements
•Track attendance, assignment end dates, and redeployment
•Escalate any site safety or hours concern reported by a placed employee
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•[Number] years in high-volume recruiting, staffing, or hourly hiring
•Comfort working a phone list and a walk-in lobby in the same hour
•[Bilingual [language] strongly preferred, if that matches your labor market]
•Accuracy on I-9, work authorization, and onboarding documents under time
pressure
•Availability for [early morning / second shift] order coverage
COMPENSATION AND COMMISSION
•Hourly rate: $________ per hour, overtime paid past 40 hours in a workweek
•Bonus: [fill bonus / bonus per hours billed / retention bonus at day 30]
•Note: non-discretionary bonuses are included in the regular rate when
overtime is calculated
CLASSIFICATION AND COMPLIANCE NOTE
Two classification questions run through this seat, and they are different
questions. First, the recruiter: a high-volume seat is usually non-exempt,
because the day is production work against a fill target rather than
administrative work requiring discretion on matters of significance. Second, the
people placed: temps you place are your W-2 employees, so you run the I-9,
withhold and pay payroll taxes, carry workers compensation, and own wage and hour
compliance for their hours. The client site directs the daily work, which is why
staffing arrangements are routinely treated as joint employment, with both firms
exposed on equal employment obligations. Never accept a client instruction to
screen on a protected basis. This is general information, not legal advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Agency Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role. We do not honor client
requests that would exclude candidates on a protected basis.
HOW TO APPLY
Email __ with your resume and your weekly fill volume.
Template 4: Healthcare Staffing Recruiter (Travel and Per Diem)
For clinical desks, with licensure and compact status, credentialing files, expiration tracking, and honest pay package conversations built into the responsibilities.
Healthcare Staffing Recruiter (Travel and Per Diem) Job Description
HEALTHCARE STAFFING RECRUITER JOB DESCRIPTION (TRAVEL / PER DIEM)
Agency: __ ([City, State])
Reports to: [Director of Recruiting / Owner]
Employment type: Full-time, W-2
FLSA status: [Exempt / Non-exempt] (see classification note)
Compensation: $_ base per year plus commission on hours billed
per diem, local contract] assignments with [hospital systems, skilled nursing,
home health, clinics] in [states]. Credentialing is half the job. A candidate you
cannot credential on time is not a placement.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Healthcare Staffing Recruiter builds and manages a caseload of clinical
candidates, matches them to open assignments, drives the credentialing file to
completion, and keeps travelers redeployed between contracts.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
•Build a pipeline of [specialty] clinicians through referrals, outreach, and
license lookups
•Qualify on specialty, license state and compact status, years of experience,
shift preference, and pay package expectations
•Present assignments and explain the pay package clearly: hourly rate, stipends,
overtime, cancellation terms, guaranteed hours
•Drive the credentialing file: license verification, certifications, health and
immunization records, background check, drug screen, references, competency
testing
•Coordinate with the credentialing and compliance team on expiration dates
•Submit to client managers and manage interview and offer timing
•Support the clinician through onboarding, first shift, and assignment end
•Redeploy or extend before the contract closes
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•[Number] years recruiting, healthcare staffing preferred
•Working knowledge of clinical licensure, compact states, and common
certifications ([BLS, ACLS, specialty certs])
•Accuracy with credentialing files and expiration tracking
•Ability to explain a pay package honestly and in plain language
•[Comfort with an on-call rotation for active travelers]
COMPENSATION AND COMMISSION
•Base: $________ per year
•Commission: [percent] of gross profit or [dollar amount] per hour billed on
your caseload
•Paid: [monthly / on client payment], per the written plan
•Chargeback: applies on early contract cancellation per the plan
CLASSIFICATION AND COMPLIANCE NOTE
Healthcare staffing carries obligations general staffing does not. Credentialing
requirements come from state licensure boards, client facility policy, and
accreditation standards, and a file that is complete on paper but expired in fact
is a real liability at survey time. Track every license, certification, and health
record with its expiration date rather than its issue date. The clinicians you
place on assignment are typically your W-2 employees: you own their payroll,
their wage and hour compliance, and their onboarding, while the facility directs
the clinical work. Pay packages that split an hourly rate from non-taxable
stipends carry tax rules of their own, so confirm your structure with a tax
advisor. This is general information, not legal advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Agency Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
HOW TO APPLY
Email __ with your resume and the specialties you recruit.
Template 5: IT and Professional Contract Staffing Recruiter
For technical and professional contract desks: rate negotiation inside an approved spread, submittal quality, extensions, and right-to-hire conversion terms.
IT and Professional Contract Staffing Recruiter Job Description
IT / PROFESSIONAL CONTRACT STAFFING RECRUITER JOB DESCRIPTION
Agency: __ ([City, State])
Reports to: [Practice Lead / Owner]
Employment type: Full-time, W-2
FLSA status: [Exempt / Non-exempt] (see classification note)
Compensation: $_ base per year plus commission on spread
finance, marketing] professionals on [contract, contract-to-hire, direct hire]
engagements with [client types]. Contract work means you are selling a rate, not
a salary, and the spread between bill rate and pay rate is the business.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Contract Staffing Recruiter sources and qualifies technical and professional
candidates, negotiates pay rates against an approved bill rate, manages the
submittal and interview process, and keeps consultants extended or redeployed.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
•Source [skill sets] through outreach, referrals, communities, and the database
•Screen for technical depth, not keyword overlap: [screening method]
•Qualify on rate expectations, work authorization, remote or onsite fit, and
notice period
•Negotiate pay rate inside the approved spread and document the approval
•Write submittal summaries a hiring manager can act on in two minutes
•Coordinate technical interviews and manage feedback loops
•Manage the consultant through onboarding, timesheet setup, and the first month
•Track engagement end dates and start the extension conversation early
•Keep an accurate record of every submittal, rate, and approval
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•[Number] years recruiting in [technology / professional services]
•Ability to hold a credible technical conversation about [stack / discipline]
•Comfort with rate negotiation and spread math
•Understanding of work authorization categories common to contract staffing
•Experience with [contract, contract-to-hire, and direct hire] engagement types
COMPENSATION AND COMMISSION
•Base: $________ per year
•Commission: [percent] of weekly spread on contract placements and [percent] of
fee on direct hire, paid [monthly / on client payment]
•Conversion: [percent] of the conversion fee when a contractor converts
•Chargeback: applies inside the [number]-day guarantee per the written plan
CLASSIFICATION AND COMPLIANCE NOTE
Two classification decisions live in this seat. The recruiter: exempt or
non-exempt on the administrative test, decided on duties and the salary basis,
not on the title. The consultant: a contractor you place is either your W-2
employee, an independent contractor, or an employee of a subcontractor firm, and
the three carry different tax, insurance, and wage obligations. Do not let the
word contractor blur the difference. Where you place W-2 consultants, you run
onboarding, payroll, and wage and hour compliance while the client directs the
work, which is the classic joint employment fact pattern. Right-to-hire
conversion terms, rate confidentiality, and non-solicitation language belong in
the signed client agreement, not in a verbal understanding. This is general
information, not legal advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Agency Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
HOW TO APPLY
Email __ with your resume and the skill sets you recruit.
Template 6: Recruiting Associate (Entry Level)
For your training seat, written as a non-exempt hourly role with ramp targets and a stated path onto a commission desk. It is the seat most agencies fill first and describe worst.
•Organized enough to keep [number] candidate conversations straight
•Accurate with documents and deadlines
•[High school diploma / associate degree / bachelor’s degree: set your bar]
COMPENSATION AND PROGRESSION
•Hourly rate: $________ per hour, overtime paid past 40 hours in a workweek
•Bonus: [team bonus / per-screen bonus / ramp bonus at day 90]
•Progression: written ramp targets and a review at [timeframe] for promotion to
[delivery recruiter / full desk] with a commission plan
CLASSIFICATION AND COMPLIANCE NOTE
Treat this seat as non-exempt and pay overtime. An associate working from a
script, a call list, and someone else’s job orders does not exercise discretion
and independent judgment on matters of significance, which is the prong the
administrative exemption turns on. Track hours honestly, including early calls
and after-hours candidate follow-up, because unpaid off-the-clock work is the
most common wage claim in this industry. Any non-discretionary bonus is included
in the regular rate when the overtime premium is calculated. This is general
information, not legal advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Agency Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
HOW TO APPLY
Email __ with your resume and a short note on why staffing.
Writing the Commission Plan Into the Job
Publish the structure in the posting and the arithmetic in the written plan. Four items belong in the job description itself: the base, what commission is calculated on, the draw and whether it is recoverable, and when commission is paid or charged back. Everything else can wait for the offer.
Agency recruiters evaluate a posting the way a salesperson evaluates a territory. A plan that is described only as competitive tells them you either have not built one or do not want to show it. Both readings cost you applications from the people who already know what a good plan looks like.
Plan element
What to put in the posting
What to leave for the written plan
Base salary
An actual number or a real range
Review timing and increase triggers
Commission basis
Fee percentage, gross profit percentage, or dollars per hour billed
The full rate table and tier thresholds
Tiers
That tiers exist and roughly where they start
Every threshold, accelerator, and cap
Draw
Amount, duration, recoverable or not
Recovery schedule and what happens at termination
Payment timing
On invoice or on client payment
Cutoff dates and payroll mechanics
Chargebacks
Guarantee period and that chargebacks apply
Calculation method and non-payment handling
Splits
Whether the desk splits with account management
Split ratios by scenario and dispute process
One structural warning. If the seat is non-exempt, the commission plan is not a separate document from your payroll process, because commissions feed the overtime calculation. Our explainer on how commission pay works covers the mechanics, and the classification section below covers why it matters.
Overtime and the Administrative Exemption
There is no recruiter exemption under federal wage law. An agency seat is exempt only if it clears a general exemption test, and the realistic one is the administrative exemption, which requires a salary or fee basis of at least $684 a week plus a primary duty involving discretion and independent judgment on matters of significance.
That third element is where agency recruiters get tested. A recruiter who negotiates rates, sets terms, and decides what goes to a client is exercising judgment. A recruiter working a call list against someone else’s order is doing production work, and calling the seat exempt because it pays a salary does not change the analysis. Our breakdown of exempt versus non-exempt classification works through the tests in full.
There is no recruiter exemption
The Fair Labor Standards Act regulations do not list recruiter as an exempt job title, so every agency seat gets tested against the general rules. The realistic candidate is the administrative exemption, which requires all three of: payment on a salary or fee basis of at least $684 a week, a primary duty of office or non-manual work directly related to management or general business operations, and a primary duty that includes the exercise of discretion and independent judgment with respect to matters of significance. That third prong is where agency recruiters get into trouble. A seat built around a call quota, a script, and orders someone else negotiated looks like production work. A seat where the recruiter sets rates, negotiates terms, and decides which candidates go to a client looks administrative. Classify on the actual day, write it on the posting, and keep the analysis in a file. This is general information, not legal advice.
Commission changes the overtime math
For a non-exempt recruiter, commissions and non-discretionary bonuses are pay for hours worked and must be included in the regular rate before the overtime premium is calculated. That is not the same as paying time and a half on the base hourly rate. When a commission is earned over a period covering several workweeks and cannot be identified with a particular week, the regulations require you to apportion it back across the period and pay the additional overtime due. In practice that means a true-up in the pay period the commission lands, and a payroll process that knows how to do it. Agencies that pay a flat overtime premium on base only, then hand out monthly commission checks, are running an underpayment on every overtime hour. This is general information, not legal advice.
You are the employer of everyone you place on a temp desk
On a temp or contract desk the workers you place are your W-2 employees, not the client’s. You complete their I-9, you withhold and remit payroll taxes, you carry workers compensation, you own their onboarding, and you own wage and hour compliance for the hours they work at a site you do not control. The client directs the daily work, which is exactly why staffing arrangements are treated as joint employment for equal opportunity purposes: the firm and the client can both be employers, and both can be liable. The practical consequence for a small agency is that your headcount is not your office staff, it is your office staff plus every person currently on assignment. Build your onboarding and records process for that number. This is general information, not legal advice.
Client requests do not override equal opportunity law
Federal enforcement guidance is explicit that a staffing firm is liable if it honors a client’s discriminatory assignment request, or if it knows the client has rejected workers in a protected class for discriminatory reasons. The client asked for it is not a defense, and it is a request small agencies receive more often than anyone likes to admit, usually phrased as a preference rather than an instruction. Put the answer in writing before it comes up: a line in the job description, a line in the client service agreement, and a script your recruiters can use on the call. Then train for the softer version, where a client describes a culture fit that maps onto age or national origin. Recruiters who have never been told what to say will improvise, and the improvisation is what ends up in the file. This is general information, not legal advice.
Staffing firms are covered employers under the Fair Labor Standards Act regardless of how small the office is. Off-the-clock evening candidate calls are the most common way a desk generates a wage claim, and a recruiter who is told to hit a call target after hours is the person who files it.
Co-Employment on a Temp Desk
On a temp or contract desk, the people you place are your employees, not the client’s. You run the I-9, withhold payroll taxes, carry workers compensation, own onboarding, and own wage and hour compliance for hours worked at a site you do not control. That is the deal your fee is priced around.
The client directs the daily work, which is why federal enforcement guidance treats staffing arrangements as joint employment. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's guidance on contingent workers placed by staffing firms states that where both the firm and the client have the right to control the worker, both are covered as joint employers, and that a firm is liable if it honors a client's discriminatory assignment request.
Your Headcount Is Not Your Office
A ten-person staffing firm with two hundred people on assignment is a two-hundred-and-ten-employee employer for most compliance purposes. Onboarding records, I-9s, certifications, safety acknowledgments, and wage records all have to exist for the people on assignment, and they have to be findable when a client audit or an agency inquiry arrives. Build the recordkeeping for the larger number from the start, because retrofitting it after a growth year is far more expensive than doing it on day one.
Write the consequence into the recruiter job description. A recruiter on a temp desk is responsible for paperwork completed before the first shift, for escalating hours and safety concerns reported from a client site, and for refusing client screening requests that touch a protected characteristic. Those are duties, not values statements, and they belong in the responsibilities list.
What to Pay a Staffing Agency Recruiter
There is no federal wage figure for an agency recruiter, because the Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish recruiters as a separate occupation. Recruiters are counted inside human resources specialists, which lists recruiter among its reported job titles, and the survey does not separate agency desks from corporate ones inside that classification.
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According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey (May 2025), human resources specialists (SOC 13-1071) had a national median wage of $75,940 a year, or $36.51 an hour, across 944,300 workers. The annual ladder runs $47,180 at the 10th percentile, $58,610 at the 25th, $99,380 at the 75th, and $128,720 at the 90th. Human resources managers (SOC 11-3121), the closer comparison for a branch or desk manager, had a median of $149,280 with a 90th percentile of $267,810 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS national estimates).
Use the ladder rather than the median, because agency pay arrives in two parts. The base for a producing desk usually sits below the median on purpose, with commission carrying total compensation above it in a good year and below it in a bad one. That is the trade the posting has to describe honestly.
Seat
Base benchmark anchor (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
What sits on top of the anchor
Recruiting associate, entry level
10th to 25th percentile, $47,180 to $58,610
Ramp or team bonus, non-exempt with overtime
Delivery recruiter (180)
25th percentile to median, $58,610 to $75,940
Commission on fills, often split with account management
Full-desk recruiter (360)
Around the median, $75,940
Percentage of gross profit on the whole desk
Specialty desk, healthcare or technical
75th percentile, $99,380
Higher spread and longer contracts, plus credentialing load
Senior producer
90th percentile, $128,720
Commission is usually the majority of total compensation
Branch or desk manager
HR managers median, $149,280
Override on team production rather than personal billings
Publish a good-faith range where pay transparency laws apply, and state whether the range is base only or on-target earnings. Ambiguity there is the fastest way to lose a candidate at offer stage, because the two numbers can differ by a factor of two on a producing desk.
Hiring for the Desk Without an HR Department
Small agency hiring fails in three predictable places: the posting is borrowed from a corporate job, the compensation structure is hidden, and the paperwork load doubles because every placement is also an employee record. Each has a fix.
You are the owner, the top biller, and the HR department at the same time
At a staffing firm under thirty internal employees, the person writing the recruiter job description is usually the owner, between a client escalation and a payroll run. The posting gets copied from a corporate talent acquisition job that describes a completely different animal: no quota, no commission, no client, no desk. Strong agency recruiters read that and assume you do not know what the job is. The fix is a fixed structure you reuse: desk model, vertical, order flow, quota, commission plan, classification. Then the only parts you rewrite each time are the numbers. Write the numbers down even when they are unflattering, because a recruiter who joins on a vague promise leaves the first month the commission math disappoints them.
Your best candidates for the desk are working someone else’s desk right now
Experienced agency recruiters are recruited constantly, mostly by firms that lead with a bigger commission percentage. You will not win that comparison as a small agency, so compete on the things a large branch cannot offer: a desk you actually own, accounts you can keep, decisions made by the person interviewing you, back office support that pays commission on time, and a promotion path that is a conversation rather than a calendar. State the split and the draw in the posting. The recruiters worth hiring are already doing the arithmetic, and a posting that hides the plan reads as a plan worth hiding. Then move fast: the same speed you sell to clients is the speed you should be hiring at.
Every new internal hire and every placed employee needs the same paperwork, and it never stops
A staffing firm has two onboarding streams running at once. Internal hires get the offer, the handbook, the commission plan, the non-solicitation agreement, and the compliance acknowledgments. Placed W-2 employees get the I-9, tax forms, safety orientation, site-specific rules, and certification copies, in volume, often the day before a shift starts. FirstHR was built for that kind of repetition. The onboarding wizard runs the same sequence every time, e-signature handles offers and acknowledgments, document management stores certifications and clearances against each employee profile with renewal dates attached, and training modules cover safety orientation before day one. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR. Note that FirstHR is an onboarding and HR platform, not a payroll provider.
Once the offer is signed, internal onboarding runs the same way any small employer runs it: a fixed onboarding checklist covering the commission plan, the non-solicitation agreement, the handbook, and system access. Note that noncompete enforceability is a state question and several states bar them outright for most workers, so check yours before pasting one into an offer.
Key Takeaways
Name the desk model first: a full desk (360) sells and fills, a delivery desk (180) fills only, and the two attract completely different applicants at completely different pay structures.
Publish the commission basics in the posting: base, what commission is calculated on, draw and whether it is recoverable, payment timing, and chargeback terms.
There is no recruiter exemption under federal wage law, so test each seat against the administrative exemption, which requires at least $684 a week and discretion and independent judgment on matters of significance.
For non-exempt seats, commissions and non-discretionary bonuses must be included in the regular rate before the overtime premium is calculated, which means a true-up when the commission lands.
Temporary and contract workers you place are your W-2 employees while the client directs their daily work, and federal guidance treats that as joint employment with liability on both sides.
Human resources specialists, the classification that contains recruiters, had a national median wage of $75,940 with a ladder from $47,180 to $128,720 (BLS OEWS, May 2025); use the ladder to anchor a base and let the commission plan carry the rest.
A staffing firm onboards twice: internal hires and everyone placed on assignment. FirstHR runs the same sequence for both, with e-signature for offers and acknowledgments, document storage for certifications and clearances, and renewal dates tracked so nothing expires quietly before a client audit. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does a staffing agency recruiter do?
A staffing agency recruiter fills job orders for client companies rather than for their own employer. On a full desk, that means both halves of the business: prospecting and opening client accounts, running intake calls that produce an order you can actually fill, negotiating fees and bill rates, then sourcing, screening, submitting, and closing candidates against that order. On a split desk, an account manager owns the client and the recruiter owns delivery only. The job is measured in production numbers rather than in process compliance: submittals, interviews, placements, gross profit, and fill time. On a temp or contract desk the recruiter also carries an ongoing relationship with people who are legally employees of the agency, which means attendance, redeployment, and extensions are part of the role rather than an afterthought once someone starts.
How is an agency recruiter different from an in-house recruiter?
The difference is who pays them and how they are measured. An in-house or corporate recruiter is employed by the company they hire for, paid a salary, and judged on quality of hire, time to fill, and hiring manager satisfaction across a fixed requisition load. An agency recruiter is employed by a staffing firm, usually paid a smaller base plus commission, and judged on revenue: placements made, gross profit generated, and hours billed. The agency seat carries client acquisition or client service work that no corporate seat has, plus rate negotiation on both sides of the deal. The daily rhythm differs too. Agency desks run on volume and speed against competing firms working the same order, while in-house recruiting runs on internal process, stakeholder management, and a hiring plan set months ahead.
Are staffing agency recruiters exempt from overtime?
Not automatically, and the title alone decides nothing. The Fair Labor Standards Act regulations do not list recruiter as an exempt occupation, so an agency seat has to satisfy a general exemption test. The realistic one is the administrative exemption, which requires payment on a salary or fee basis of at least $684 a week, a primary duty of office work directly related to management or general business operations, and the exercise of discretion and independent judgment with respect to matters of significance. That last prong is where agency recruiters commonly fail: a seat built on a call quota, a script, and orders negotiated by someone else looks like production work rather than administrative work. Many agencies run delivery, high-volume, and associate seats as non-exempt, track hours, and pay overtime, which is the safer answer when the duties are genuinely production. This is general information, not legal advice.
How do you write a commission plan into a recruiter job description?
State four things and leave the arithmetic to the written plan. First, the base: an actual number or a real range, not competitive. Second, what the commission is calculated on: a percentage of the placement fee, a percentage of gross profit, or a dollar amount per hour billed on a contract desk. Third, the draw: how much, for how long, and whether it is recoverable against future commission. Fourth, timing and chargebacks: whether commission is paid on invoice or on client payment, and what happens when a placement falls inside the guarantee period or the client never pays. Experienced agency recruiters run these numbers before they reply to a posting, so a job description that hides the structure filters out exactly the people you wanted. Provide the complete written plan at offer and make it the document that governs every payout.
How much does a staffing agency recruiter make?
The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish recruiter as a separate occupation, so there is no official figure for the title. Recruiters are counted inside human resources specialists, and according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey (May 2025) that classification had a national median wage of $75,940 a year, or $36.51 an hour, across 944,300 workers. The annual ladder runs $47,180 at the 10th percentile, $58,610 at the 25th, $99,380 at the 75th, and $128,720 at the 90th. Use the ladder rather than the median, because agency pay is split between base and commission. A base for a full desk typically sits below the median with commission carrying total compensation above it, an associate anchors near the 10th to 25th percentile, and a branch or desk manager benchmarks closer to human resources managers at a median of $149,280.
Who employs the temporary workers a staffing agency places?
The staffing agency does, in the standard arrangement. Temporary and contract workers placed on assignment are typically W-2 employees of the firm that placed them: the agency completes the I-9, withholds and remits payroll taxes, carries workers compensation, runs onboarding, and owns wage and hour compliance for the hours worked. The client company directs the daily work at its own site, which is why federal enforcement guidance treats staffing arrangements as joint employment for equal opportunity purposes, with both the firm and the client capable of being employers and both capable of being liable. For a small agency the practical consequence is that your employee records system has to hold everyone currently on assignment, not just the people in your office, and that your recruiter job descriptions should say so.
Can a staffing agency honor a client’s request to exclude certain candidates?
No. Federal enforcement guidance states plainly that a staffing firm is liable if it honors a client’s discriminatory assignment request, or if it knows that the client has rejected workers in a protected class for discriminatory reasons. The client asked for it is not a defense. The requests that cause trouble are rarely blunt: they arrive as a culture fit description, a preference for someone with a lot of energy, or a comment about who worked out last time. Train recruiters on the softer version, give them a sentence they can say on the call, and put the position in writing in both the job description and the client service agreement so nobody has to invent an answer under pressure. This is general information, not legal advice.
How do I hire my first recruiter for a small staffing agency?
Decide the desk model before you write anything, because it determines who applies. A full desk needs a sales temperament and takes longer to fill. A delivery seat is easier to hire and easier to train, and it lets you keep the client relationships while you grow. Then publish the numbers: base, commission percentage, what it is paid on, draw, and chargeback terms. Screen for evidence rather than enthusiasm by asking for production history, and run a live exercise, either a mock intake call or a mock candidate screen, because the job is a phone job. Move faster than the branch offices you compete with. Once the offer is signed, run internal onboarding as a fixed checklist covering the commission plan, non-solicitation agreement, handbook, and system access. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
