What is a contingency recruiting fee?

A contingency fee is a percentage of the new hire's first-year salary, owed only if you actually hire a candidate the recruiter presented. It's the most common agency model because it's low-risk to start: no hire, no fee. The tradeoff is that the recruiter is paid per placement, not per good long-term fit, and most contingency agreements only guarantee a short replacement window.

Is it cheaper to hire without a recruiter?

There's no fee, but it isn't free. SHRM's 2022 research put the average cost per hire at about $4,700 in hard costs alone, before counting your own time. SHRM's median time-to-fill was 44 days for nonexecutive roles in 2025, and skilled-trades roles average about 56 days per Randstad — weeks of an empty truck while you screen resumes yourself.

What does a bad hire cost?

SHRM Foundation research puts the direct cost of replacing an employee at 50-60% of their annual salary, with total costs ranging from 90% to 200% once lost productivity and ramp-up are included. That's why the real question isn't the recruiter's fee — it's the cost per hire who stays and performs.

What is subscription or managed recruiting?

Instead of a per-placement percentage, you pay a flat monthly or per-role fee and the service runs recruiting continuously — sourcing, screening, and keeping a pipeline warm. It makes sense for businesses that hire repeatedly, because the cost doesn't scale with each salary and the pipeline exists before the vacancy does.

How much does a recruiter cost? Every fee model, explained for trades businesses

Q: How much does a recruiter cost?

It depends on the model. Contingency recruiters typically quote a fee of 15-25% of the hire's first-year salary, paid only when someone is hired. Retained search costs a similar total but is paid in installments up front. Staffing agencies charge an hourly markup for as long as the worker is on their payroll, and subscription or managed recruiting services charge a flat monthly or per-role fee. Those percentage ranges are industry pricing conventions, not fixed rates — every agency sets its own.

How much does a recruiter cost?

It depends on the model, and the model matters more than the number. Contingency recruiters typically quote 15-25% of the hire's first-year salary, paid only on a successful hire. Retained search costs a similar total, paid up front in installments. Staffing agencies charge an hourly markup for as long as the worker stays on their payroll. An in-house recruiter costs a full salary plus tools. And subscription or managed services charge a flat monthly or per-role fee. Those percentages are industry pricing conventions — what agencies commonly quote, not rates set by any study or regulator. Here's what each model actually means for a trades business, and when each one makes sense.

Contingency search: a percentage of first-year salary

This is the default model most owners meet first. You pay nothing up front; if you hire a candidate the recruiter sent, you owe a fee commonly quoted in the 15-25% range of that person's first-year salary. Do the arithmetic on a real trades wage and the number gets concrete: at the BLS median electrician wage of $63,190 (May 2025), a 20% contingency fee would run about $12,600 for a single hire.

When it makes sense: occasional, one-off hires — you rarely hire, and you only want to pay when it works.
The catch: the recruiter is paid to close a placement, not to find the person who's still on your team in year three. Most agreements guarantee a replacement only for a short window. And because the fee scales with salary, the hires you need most cost the most.

Retained search: paying for the search itself

Retained recruiters charge a similar total percentage but collect it in installments — typically a portion up front, a portion mid-search, and the balance at placement — in exchange for an exclusive, dedicated search.

When it makes sense: senior, hard-to-fill leadership roles, like a general manager or an operations lead, where a failed search is worse than the fee.
The catch: for field techs, it's the wrong tool. Retained search is built for one high-stakes seat, not for the fifth service electrician this year. Most trades businesses never need it.

Staffing agency: an hourly markup, forever

A staffing agency doesn't charge a placement fee at all. The worker stays on the agency's payroll, and you pay a marked-up hourly rate for every hour they work for you. Cheap for a month, expensive for a year — and the markup never ends unless you convert the worker (often for a conversion fee).

When it makes sense: genuine surges — a big seasonal install push, covering an injury — where you need capacity now and don't intend to keep it.
The catch: minimal fit screening, and no one is building your team. We compared this head-to-head in recruiting service vs. staffing agency vs. in-house.

In-house: no fee, but not free

Doing it yourself — or hiring a full-time recruiter — removes the per-hire fee and replaces it with costs that are easy to ignore because they never show up as an invoice.

SHRM's 2022 research put the average cost per hire at about $4,700 in hard costs — job ads, tools, screening — before anyone's time is counted.
The seat stays open while you do it: SHRM's median time-to-fill was 44 days for nonexecutive roles in 2025, improving to 39 days in 2026, and skilled-trades roles run longer — about 56 days, per Randstad. Two months of an idle truck is a real number even if it never hits an invoice; we broke it down in what it costs to hire an HVAC technician.
A dedicated in-house recruiter only pencils out if you hire enough, every month, to keep a full salary busy. Most trades businesses under a few hundred employees don't.
When it makes sense: you have steady inbound applicants, a strong local reputation, and someone with real time to own recruiting — not "own it between service calls."

Subscription and managed recruiting: a flat fee for an always-on pipeline

The newer model: a flat monthly or per-role fee, and the service runs recruiting continuously — sourcing, screening for fit, and keeping a bench of candidates warm before you have a vacancy. The cost doesn't scale with the hire's salary, and it doesn't reset to zero (and restart the 56-day clock) every time someone quits.

When it makes sense: you hire repeatedly — growth, plus normal turnover — and you'd rather have a predictable line item than a five-figure surprise per hire.
The catch: it's a commitment, not a one-off. If you truly hire once every couple of years, contingency is simpler. And as with any recruiting partner, quality varies; done-for-you vs. done-with-you hiring covers what to look for.

The number that actually matters: cost per good hire

Every model above prices the placement. None of them price what happens after — and that's where the money is. SHRM Foundation research puts the direct cost of replacing an employee at 50-60% of annual salary, and 90-200% all-in once lost productivity and ramp-up are counted. A "cheap" hire who quits in month four costs more than an expensive hire who stays — the full math is in the cost of a bad hire in the trades.

So when you compare recruiter pricing, divide by hires who stay, not hires made. A 20% contingency fee for a tech who leaves in six months is the most expensive option on this page.

The honest bottom line

There's no universally cheapest model — there's a cheapest model for your hiring pattern. Hire once in a blue moon: contingency. Filling a temporary gap: staffing. Hiring constantly with real internal bandwidth: in-house. Hiring repeatedly without that bandwidth — which describes most growing trades businesses in a market where good techs are scarce — a flat-fee, always-on model usually wins on cost per good hire, because the pipeline exists before the vacancy does.

That last lane is the one HireAligned runs for plumbing, HVAC, and electrical businesses: continuous recruiting for a flat fee, so an open seat is a phone call instead of a two-month search. If that matches your hiring pattern, here's how done-for-you hiring works.