Legal Recruiting Careerpath Forum

[Anonymous User]

Biglaw burnout and currently have a few leads into legal recruiting (both in-house at a firm and a recruiting agency).

Anyone have any insight/experience as to the day-to-day stuff recruiters do, money they make, advancement over the years, etc.? For example, I know agencies have pretty low salaries because it's largely commission, but I don't have any real numbers.

Thanks!

[Toni V]

Firm wide, if anyone here recommends someone for an associate position and that person is hired the person making the successful recommendation receives $8.5k. With that in mind, I assume that figure is the minimum amount a headhunter receives. If you find out, it would be interesting to know.

[Anonymous User]

I'd be really interested in this information as well. I always thought it would be a good option for me in a few years, when I burnout.

I don't know anything about salaries, but from what I've heard, headhunters (or at least their agencies) get about $20k for each candidate they place.

[Anonymous User]

I was interested in this recently as well, so I was just super forward and flat out asked several recruiters who have called me. I've found that the good recruiting shops in NYC pull anywhere from 15-30% of the successfully placed associate's annual starting salary (depending on the recruiting firm's relationship / pre-arranged agreement with the specific law firm). The recruiting firm/house usually takes half of that, and the individual recruiter takes the other half. The agreement with the firm usually stipulates that the placed associate has to stay with the new firm for at least 6-12 months, or else they have to give the law firm back a certain % of the commission paid (so in a sense, your money isn't really 100% yours until the associate stays for a while)

The firms that pay the bigger %'s (i.e., 30%) are obviously the bigger firms with deeper pockets. Some in-house places use recruiters too, but I think the commissions are much lower. Not sure about partner placements.

My conclusion: money could be pretty great if 1) you bust your ass/find a way to differentiate yourself from the bazillion other annoying recruiters calling everyday and 2) you don't mind cold calling people all day trying to sell them on lateral moves, which 95% of associates don't want (which sounds horrendous to me).

Re "salaries," I think most of the better recruiting firms will pay a small "draw" to recruiters, which is a monthly "salary" that must be paid back to the firm out of commissions made later on.