What does a recruiter earn in Belgium? Pay, bonus and commission.

Put three recruiters with a few years’ experience side by side. The first works in-⁠house at a large company, the second at a temp agency, the third at a recruitment agency. They call candidates, hold interviews and close deals. Yet their payslips look very different.

Search Google for “recruiter salary” and you usually get a single average. That says little, because it lumps three kinds of job together: without commission, with a bonus and with high commission. Below, I pull them apart, with the figures you can find online and the year they’re from.

Without commission: the in-⁠house recruiter

An in-⁠house recruiter or talent acquisition specialist recruits for one employer. Your salary is largely fixed, with your employer’s fringe benefits: meal vouchers, group insurance and sometimes a car. Sometimes there’s an annual bonus too, but it rarely depends directly on your placements.

According to Robert Half’s salary guide, a talent acquisition specialist in Belgium starts on roughly €2,670 to €4,640 gross a month, with €3,650 in the middle (2026 guide). The lower amount applies to those with little experience, the higher one to those who already know the job well. In Brussels, everything is a little higher, up to around €5,000. If you become a talent acquisition manager, you start in Antwerp on €5,090 to €6,770, according to the 2027 guide.

These are starting salaries in the role, without a bonus. So what you see is roughly what you get.

With a bonus: the temp agency consultant

At a temp agency, you mainly place temps and sometimes permanent hires. The work is all about volume: lots of candidates, lots of clients and a fast pace. Here too, your salary is largely fixed. There’s often a bonus on top for your targets or your margin, but it usually stays modest.

On the job site Jooble, the average salary of a temp agency consultant in Belgium is around €3,700 a month (October 2026, based on 358 salaries). The vacancies on the site list ranges such as €2,400 to €2,900 or €3,200 to €4,000, depending on the experience they ask for.

With high commission: the agency consultant

At a recruitment agency, everything revolves around placements. Your base salary is usually lower than in an in-⁠house job: at an agency with high commission, in practice it can start as low as roughly €2,200 gross a month. On top of that, you get commission on what you bill, and the more you place, the bigger that part of your pay.

A July 2026 vacancy for a recruitment consultant in Brussels, Antwerp or Ghent mentions a base salary of €2,520 to €3,080 a month, with bonuses, a car, a pension plan and hospitalisation insurance. So what you really earn depends mainly on the commission.

Commission almost always works as a percentage of your billing, often only above a threshold and sometimes with a percentage that rises the more you bill. Take Lotte from our worked example: a senior recruiter at an agency, with €3,000 gross a month and around €18,000 commission on €240,000 billing. With her thirteenth month and double holiday pay, her fixed salary is around €42,000 a year. The commission comes on top of that.

Let’s not be naive about it: that commission isn’t a gift. In a bad quarter it disappears, and you’re left with your base salary. If you work at an agency, you trade part of your security for the chance of much more.

Why one average tells you little

That’s why the averages you find online rarely hold true for you. A site that lumps all recruiters together mixes fixed salaries without commission with agency salaries that still need the commission added. On a list like that, an in-⁠house recruiter on €3,800 gross looks better paid than an agency recruiter on €3,000 gross. Add the €18,000 commission and it’s the other way round.

So always compare within your own kind of job, and at an agency, count your commission too. In a job interview, ask about the threshold, the percentage and when your commission is paid out. Those three matter more than your base salary.

And later?

Your salary as an employee isn’t the end point. 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.

As an independent recruiter, you don’t earn a salary, but a share of your billing. That’s a step for later, once you know your market and your clients and have been billing solidly for a few years. What recruiters bill, from starter to top biller, is in What counts as good billing for a recruiter? What you keep as an independent is on Shortlist, in How much does an independent recruiter earn?

Frequently asked questions

What does a starter earn as a recruiter?

According to Robert Half’s salary guide, a talent acquisition specialist with little experience starts at around €2,670 gross a month (2026). At an agency with high commission, the base salary is lower, from around €2,200 gross a month, with commission on top as soon as you place.

Does an in-⁠house recruiter get commission?

Usually not. Your salary is fixed, sometimes with an annual bonus tied to company or team targets.

How much commission does an agency recruiter get?

It varies from agency to agency. You usually get a percentage of what you bill, often above a threshold and sometimes rising per bracket. In our worked example, that’s around €18,000 a year on €240,000 billing.

Does a recruiter earn more at an agency or in-⁠house?

If you bill well, you usually earn more at an agency, thanks to the commission. In-⁠house, you have more security, because your salary doesn’t depend on your placements.

Curious what you’d 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

• Talent acquisition specialist in Belgium and in Brussels: Robert Half, 2026 salary guide (in Dutch) and Brussels.
• Talent acquisition manager in Antwerp: Robert Half, 2027 salary guide.
• Temp agency consultant, salaries from vacancies: Jooble, October 2026 (in Dutch).
• Recruitment consultant at an agency: vacancy via Michael Page, July 2026.