Becoming a recruiter in Belgium: the complete guide.
You can become a recruiter without experience and without a degree in HR: what you need is an appetite for selling and the drive to get better every day. In this guide, I set out everything we’ve learned in ten years of Greystone, from your first question to your first deals and what comes after.
Gauthier Denis · 27 October 2026 · 7 min read
Becoming a recruiter in Belgium comes down to a few clear steps: you find out what the job really involves, you check whether it suits you, you apply to an agency that trains you well, and you push through your first year. You don’t need experience, because you learn the trade on the floor. And after three to five years, you choose your path: as a partner, as an independent or as a principal.
In ten years of Greystone, more than 150 people have learned the trade with us, and almost all of them asked the same questions beforehand. What do you actually do all day? Is it for me? What will I earn? And where will I be in five years? In this guide, you’ll find the answers, and with each step the piece that goes deeper.
What does a recruiter do?
Recruiter is a broad term. An in-house recruiter finds people for their own employer, a temp agency consultant places temps, and in project sourcing you find experts that an agency employs itself. We do recruitment and selection: we find companies the people they can’t find themselves, for a permanent job. Only when your candidate starts does the client pay a fee, with us around €17,500 on average. The candidate never pays anything.
That’s not HR, but sales. You sell twice: a next step to your candidate and a solution to your client. You call people who aren’t looking, you do the intake with the manager who needs someone, and you guide both sides from the first interview to the first day at work. Those who succeed spend two to four hours a day on the phone.
What a typical day on the floor looks like is in What does a recruiter do?
Is it for you?
You don’t need experience, a degree in HR or a network. What you do need to bring, we can’t teach you:
- An appetite for selling. If you love winning, every placement gives you energy.
- Daring to pick up the phone. Today rather than tomorrow, even when people aren’t expecting your call.
- Being able to take a no. You hear no more often than yes, and a no doesn’t decide your next call.
- Patience. A placement takes weeks. What you sow today, you reap later.
- A hunger to learn. You ask for feedback yourself, and you want to get better every week.
If you recognise yourself, the rest can be learned. People who come from sales, hospitality or a sector like construction often bring more than they think. Read Is recruitment right for you?, with a short test, and Becoming a recruiter without experience.
What do you earn?
In recruitment and selection, you earn a fixed salary plus commission on every placement. Your base salary is usually lower than in an in-house job: at an agency with high commission, it starts from around €2,200 gross a month. But your commission makes the difference. Lotte, a senior recruiter, earns €3,000 gross a month and around €18,000 commission a year on €240,000 billing.
What you bill grows with your experience. With an average fee of €17,500, it looks like this:
| Level | Billing per year | Placements |
|---|---|---|
| Starter | up to around €180,000 | up to around 10 |
| Senior | €180,000 to €300,000 | 10 to 17 |
| Principal consultant | €240,000 to €360,000 | 14 to 21 |
| Top biller | from €400,000 | 23 or more |
All the salaries, from in-house to agency, are in What does a recruiter earn in Belgium? What makes the difference between a starter and a top biller is in What counts as good billing for a recruiter?
Applying to a recruitment agency
With us, applying takes four steps: a chat on the phone, an interview at the office, an Experience Day where you spend a day alongside a senior consultant, and then your offer. If it clicks, you can sign straight away.
An application is a two-way conversation. Ask every agency what the training looks like, who your coach will be, how the commission works and what you can become after a few years. Those answers matter more than your fixed salary.
You’ll find which questions to expect and how to prepare in Applying to a recruitment agency.
Your first months
You start with two months of training in three parts: first candidates, then clients, then the process from interview to start. Each time, you learn the theory, apply it on the floor and get feedback. Every morning, you plan your day with your manager. After two months, you know around 80% of the job.
After that, you work on your own deals, with your manager still beside you every day. As a trainee, you aim for four deals in your first six months. Then you become a consultant, with your own market.
Those first months are tough, and we won’t pretend otherwise. How they go and how to get through them well is in Your first months as a recruiter.
How you grow
With us, a career runs in three steps. In your first year, you learn the trade. In years two and three, you invest: calling, placing and repeating, until you can do it with your eyes closed, while your commission grows with you. And after three to five years, you capitalise:
- As a partner at Greystone Partners, with your own office, vertical or team and 30% of the shares.
- As an independent at Shortlist, with your own BV (private limited company), where you keep up to 75% of what you bill.
- Or you stay a principal, as an employee, with a fixed salary, uncapped commission and a team around you.
Romina is proof of that. She started as a trainee, was a principal four years later and today runs our Antwerp office, with a team of eight. What each route brings in, with a worked example, is in Your career in recruitment. And when you could be financially independent is in FIRE for recruiters.
Becoming a recruiter in seven steps
01Read what the job really is
Start with What does a recruiter do? Then you know what you’re getting into.
02Test yourself
Go through the checklist in Is recruitment right for you? If you recognise yourself in most of the statements, you’re on the right track.
03Choose a sector that excites you
You’ll be calling people from it every day. If you’re genuinely interested in their work, they notice.
04Choose your agency for the training
Look at the training, the coaching and the growth path, not just your starting salary.
05Apply and spend a day on the floor
After the Experience Day, you know whether you can see yourself doing the job, and we know whether it clicks.
06Push through your first year
Ask for feedback, keep calling even on days you don’t feel like it, and celebrate your small wins.
07Invest two to three years
Until you can do the job with your eyes closed. Then you choose your path: partner, independent or principal.
Let’s not be naive about it
Recruiter isn’t a job for everyone. You hear no every day, the pressure is always on, and your pay moves with your placements. If you’re after the security of a fixed salary or don’t like calling, you’re better off looking for something else. We’d rather tell you now than after three months.
But if you have the drive and push through, after a few years you have what few jobs give you: you earn according to what you do, you know a market inside out, and you decide for yourself where you go next.
Keen to get started? Take a look at the sales consultant vacancies in construction, finance and engineering, or have a chat with us.
Frequently asked questions
How do you become a recruiter in Belgium?
You apply to a recruitment agency that trains you. You don’t need experience or a specific degree: you learn the trade on the floor, with two months of training and a coach beside you.
Do you need a degree to become a recruiter?
No. What counts is how you deal with people, whether you dare to call and whether you want to win.
What does a recruiter earn in Belgium?
At an agency, a fixed salary plus commission on every placement. A senior recruiter with €240,000 billing, for example, earns €3,000 gross a month plus around €18,000 commission a year.
How long does it take to become a good recruiter?
After two months, you know around 80% of the job. To be able to do it with your eyes closed, count on two to three years.
Is being a recruiter a good job?
If you like selling and can take a no, yes. You earn according to what you do, no two days are the same, and after a few years you can choose: partner, independent or principal.
Sources
- Recruiter salaries in Belgium: Robert Half, 2026 salary guide (in Dutch) and a recruitment consultant vacancy via Michael Page, July 2026.
- Billing per level and the average fee: Greystone figures, 2026.
- No payment from workers or jobseekers, in Flanders: decree of 10 December 2010 on private employment agencies, Article 5, 9° (in Dutch). In Brussels: Brussels Economy and Employment, conditions. In Wallonia: Emploi Wallonie, registration of an employment agency.