Structuring fair splits between job-side and candidate-side recruiters
There's no universal 50/50 rule — here's how splits actually get negotiated in practice.
A common misconception among recruiters new to split-fee work is that every deal splits 50/50. In practice, splits vary based on who did the harder or riskier work: sourcing the job order and managing the client relationship, or sourcing and vetting the candidate. Neither side is inherently worth more — it depends on the deal.
Some common structures: a straightforward 50/50 split when both sides contributed comparable effort; a heavier split toward the candidate-side recruiter (for example 60/40) when the candidate is highly specialized or hard to find; a heavier split toward the job-side recruiter when they're managing a demanding client relationship or complex interview process; and a smaller sourcer split (often 5–10%) layered in when a third party helped identify the candidate but isn't managing the relationship end-to-end.
Whatever the structure, the split should be agreed and signed before the candidate is submitted — not negotiated after an offer is extended, when the parties' bargaining positions have shifted considerably.
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