What counts as good billing for a recruiter? From starter to top biller.

Every week, a recruiter sits across from me, names last year’s billing and then looks at me. Is that good? Sometimes they ask with pride, sometimes with doubt. And often the answer is different from what they expect.

Billing €160,000 can be impressive, or just a bit low. For someone in their first year, it’s a strong result. For a recruiter with ten years’ experience and their own client base, there’s more to be had. So good billing isn’t a fixed number, but a level that fits where you are.

That’s why I’m setting out here what we see at Greystone, from starter to top biller. They’re not laws, but honest benchmarks for anyone making permanent placements in Belgium.

First: what counts as billing?

Billing is what your clients pay for the candidates you place: the sum of your fees in a year. So it’s not what you earn, but the revenue you bring in yourself. With a permanent placement, your fee is a percentage of the candidate’s annual salary, as agreed with your client.

At Greystone, the average fee this year is around €17,000 to €18,000 per placement. That makes the maths easy: with a fee of €17,500, €175,000 billing is ten placements a year, almost one a month. Keep that in mind, because every level below has a number of placements behind it.

This piece is about permanent placements. If you mainly place freelancers or temps, the maths works differently.

From starter to top biller

At Greystone, we distinguish four levels. The boundaries aren’t sharp, because your billing alone doesn’t decide where you stand.

Starter: on the way to €180,000

Your first years are all about learning the trade: calling, qualifying and winning over your first clients. A good starter grows to around €180,000 a year, about ten placements. Reach that and you’ve got a firm grip on the job.

Senior: €180,000 to €300,000

A senior has found their market. They have clients who call them back with a new vacancy, and they know which vacancies they’re better off leaving alone. Billing between €180,000 and €300,000 means ten to seventeen placements a year.

Principal consultant: €240,000 to €360,000

A principal consultant is more than a senior with higher billing. They’re the go-⁠to person in their niche: clients call them first, they work exclusively more often and their fees are higher. That’s why the two levels overlap. A senior having a strong year can bill more than a principal in a quiet year, but the principal has a market that’s theirs.

Top biller: €400,000 and up

Above €400,000, you’re among the best. That’s more than twenty placements a year, or fewer with bigger fees. If you’re aiming much higher still, you should know that it’s rare everywhere. In 2025, Australian trainer Ross Clennett asked fifteen agencies how many of their recruiters bill more than a million dollars: at eight of the fifteen, the answer was none.

At a glance, with an average fee of €17,500:

What makes the difference

What separates a €180,000 recruiter from a €400,000 recruiter? Not just more hours. The people I see move up mainly do these five things differently.

1. They choose their vacancies. A top biller doesn’t take on everything. At the intake, they ask about the urgency, the budget, the process and who decides. A vacancy they can’t win, they leave alone.
2. They work exclusively more often. With an exclusive assignment or a retained search, you’re not competing with five other agencies, and a vacancy turns into a placement far more often.
3. They defend their fee. Give in to every request for a discount and you have to place more for the same billing. With a fee of €15,000 instead of €17,500, you need three extra placements for €300,000 billing.
4. They have clients who come back. One regular client with five vacancies a year is worth more than five clients with one vacancy each. You know the people, the process and what they’re looking for.
5. They know their numbers. How many conversations lead to a presentation, how many presentations to an interview and how many interviews to a placement? If you know that, you also know what you need to do this week to hit your annual target.

None of those five is a secret. The difference lies in keeping it up, week after week.

What billing doesn’t show

Let’s not be naive about it: billing is a good yardstick, but it doesn’t tell you everything.

• Your market counts. In a niche with lower salaries, fees are lower too. There you need more placements for the same billing, and €200,000 is a more impressive result than in a market with high salaries.
• One year isn’t a career. A market that grinds to a halt, a big client who pulls out or a candidate who accepts a counteroffer on the last day: a year can disappoint without you working any worse. Look at three years, not one.
• Billing isn’t what you earn. Two recruiters with the same billing can take home very different amounts. It depends on your contract: your salary and your commission, or what you get from your billing as an independent.

What your billing earns you

As an employee, you usually get a fixed salary and commission on what you bill above a threshold. How much that comes to varies widely between agencies. What recruiters earn, from in-⁠house to agency, is in What does a recruiter earn in Belgium?

In the long run, your billing earns you more than your salary today. With us, a career unfolds in three steps: first you learn the trade, then you invest two to three years until you can do it with your eyes closed, and then you capitalise. You can do that as a partner with your own office or team, with a stake in what you build, or as an independent.

If, over time, you bill solidly and want to carry on as an independent, part of your billing goes to your own BV (private limited company). How that works and what you keep is on Shortlist, in How much does an independent recruiter earn?

Frequently asked questions

What counts as good billing for a starter?

In their first years, a good starter grows to around €180,000 a year, about ten placements. Your very first year is usually lower, because you’re still building your clients and your network.

How many placements do you need for €300,000 billing?

With an average fee of €17,500, that’s around seventeen, a little over one a month. With higher fees, you need fewer.

What is an average fee for a permanent placement?

At Greystone, the average fee this year is around €17,000 to €18,000. How high your fee is depends on the candidate’s salary and on what you agree with your client.

Is billing the same as what you earn?

No. Billing is the revenue you bring in. What you earn depends on your contract: as an employee your salary and your commission, as an independent the part of your billing that goes to your own BV.

Curious what you’d bill and earn with us? Have a chat with us.

You’ll find all the steps at a glance in our guide Becoming a recruiter in Belgium.

Sources

• Billing per level and average fee: Greystone figures, 2026.
• How many recruiters bill more than a million: Ross Clennett, July 2025.