Why Good Recruiters Leave: A Tale of 2 Agencies

Recruiting companies are no different than most other companies when it comes to hiring but with one major difference. The recruiting industry is one of the few industries where you can choose how much money you want to make. Other than professional athletes, actors or stockbrokers and day traders, I can’t think of many professions where you have limitless financial possibilities. I often thought it was funny to see job ads from recruiting agencies that had salary ranges from 5M to 15M yen!! But it’s true. But what most people don’t realize is how hard it is to go from 5M to 15M and the discipline and strategy it takes to do that.

There was a time during the early part of the COVID era I wanted to just get away from the rec2rec market because there was no real incentive for recruiters to move; everyone was at a standstill. The market is still nuts and there are a lot of factors that are contributing to why someone wants to leave from agency A to agency B. But at the same time, there are many reasons to consider options, either staying where you are and assessing your potential or looking around at what is possible.

So here are my top 5 reasons why recruiters want to leave an agency.

When most agencies start out, they create a comp scheme that works for the short to medium-term but often not for the long-term. Most comp schemes are simple, clear and fair but they may outgrow their original purpose. Agencies often need to change their comp schemes because of their manpower, preparing for a slow market or because their recruiters aren’t performing as well as before or their fundamental model shifted from an individual biller focus to a team billing focus. For whatever the reason, it can mean people are looking for another option.

This is probably the most common when a new leader or manager comes in and turns the environment into something they are not used to. It always happens and is not always a bad thing. Sometimes, turning up the heat shakes the tree to lose the leaves that don’t belong. Other times, it is just a fundamental flaw in culture shift. In either case, this can lead to a drop in retention.

This one I have experienced firsthand and is still very prevalent in many agencies, especially boutique agencies. Boutique agencies need to hire the right kind of people that fit the culture but are also self-sufficient. Boutiques usually do not have the bandwidth to help develop their own people however, I do have work with some agencies that are very good at that, however, for the most part, they simply can’t. Often, the leadership needs to focus more on the bottom line and growth and less on people development. Larger agencies usually have a pretty good training and development program but keeping people engaged and interested is getting much harder for any size agency with remote work. Again, another reason why people start kicking the tires and window shopping. 

Both boutiques and large agencies often struggle with this one especially when teams specialize in a certain sector. But since the Lehman days and with the COVID era, the stronger agencies found a way to pivot and many recruiters had no choice but to shift industries. For me, I have never really specialized which is both good and bad but in terms of recruiting in general, it’s great and makes you a better recruiter in some cases. I often get motivated when a client asks for some way out in left field search. The process never changes; for me, it’s all the same but many recruiters are reluctant to give up their relationships and hard work to dive into something new. I can respect that but I what I respect more are people who take the plunge into something new.  But again, this is often a reason why some recruiters want to leave because their current agencies are not allowing them to expand professionally. 

I often talk to agency recruiters that are just looking to get away from the agency and revenue side of the business and more into an in-house model where they can focus their attention on one client and one mission. Many times, moving over to an in-house role is often much harder than the agency side and can occasionally derail your career but moving from an agency to an in-house role is a big step and you need to assess what type of recruiter you are before making the jump. The market for experienced agency-side recruiters is picking up so this is becoming more of a leave factor than before.

So these are just some of the reasons I have experienced where people are considering changing agencies. While I used to pitch roles and agencies with my rec2rec candidates, I have moved away from pitching and more into redirecting the conversation. I have found that many recruiters are stuck and struggling and sometimes taking a thorough look and at all the pros and cons of their situation can often reveal the best place is often to stay where you are, dig in your heals and reinvent yourself within your current agency. But for others, there are fundamental areas that won’t change and that is when it is time to start talking to rec2rec recruiters (and there are some good ones and not so good ones out there so choose wisely) but another option is just to reach out to other agencies directly. I’ve never met a Managing Director of an agency that is not willing to talk to another recruiter or if anything, just make some new drinking friends from the industry and talk shop.