AIRS and HireDesk present statistics on state of search fees in the U.S

AIRS, a global leader in recruitment training and technology, and HireDesk, an award-winning recruitment and Quality of Hire solutions provider, presented a free webcast entitled The State Of Search Fees In The U.S. Market - An AIRS Research Report. The webcast delivered results of a recent survey conducted by AIRS and underwritten by HireDesk, which sought to discover the historical, present and future state of recruiter search fees. 200 attendees joined the event as AIRS CEO Chris Forman presented the findings.

145 companies and 98 search firms from 38 different industries participated in the survey. More than half of the search firm respondents were contingency recruiters (51%), with 8% being retained and the rest of mixed functions (41%). On the corporate side, 50% of responding companies reported using contingency/retained recruiters for less than 15 positions, with the other 50% only going outside the company for searches of over 15 positions.

Findings include:

Search fees are stable and there are some indications they are increasing.

This study shows a ’center of gravity’ in the contingency market between 20% and 25% in search fees with some significant inconsistency between Search Firm and Corporate reporting.

30% contingency fees are only awarded in a minority of searches.

This study shows a ’center of gravity’ in the retained market of 30% in search fees with consistency between Search Firm & Corporate reporting.

It was clear that individual performance and perception of value were strong indicators of fee scales; looking ahead, the consensus is that fees will continue a moderate upward rise over the next two years, and competition, vendor management programs, and internal corporate search functions will serve to keep a grip on inflated costsî said Forman.

The survey results show an optimistic perception on both sides of the industry, added Chad Wells, HireDesk Marketing Director. It represents an opportunity for both recruiting firms and hiring organizations to focus on more controllable mission critical issues that result in a higher value to the business. This means recruiting firms focus on customer response and quality of placements to win and retain more business; and corporations focus on quality of hire, creating a more positive and lasting impact with each hiring decision to obtain more value on the dollar.