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Recruiter (m/f/d)
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Recruiter definition - What is a recruiter?
A recruiter takes care of the search, placement and recruitment of qualified employees for vacant positions in companies, as well as related topics such as employer branding and the correct approach to potential employees .
As the search for suitable applicants is not always easy, recruiters (either in-house or through an agency) are deployed who specialize in this task.
They often have their home in the HR department of a company and take care of a variety of tasks that revolve around the successful filling of a vacancy and the search for suitable people.
They are responsible for formulating and publishing job advertisements, conducting job interviews, selecting candidates and drafting contracts. They are also the direct contact persons for candidates throughout the entire applicant management process.
With their selection of suitable candidates, they play a central role in shaping the success of the company.
Recruiter salary: What does a recruiter earn in Germany?
The average salary of a recruiter in Germany is around €56,000 gross per year. This is shown in the Hays HR Salary Report 2023, in which the salaries of all roles in the HR sector were analyzed and broken down. However, depending on the size and location of the company, salaries can be significantly higher. Recruiters earn the most in Baden-Württemberg, Hesse and Bavaria.
The highest level of education can also have a significant impact on a recruiter's salary, meaning that gross salaries of over €90,000 are possible for qualified employees.
The best recruiting salaries are paid in industry, while the public sector attracts attention with below-average salaries.
In the overall cosmos of HR professionals, recruiters are roughly in the middle in terms of salary. HR business partners earn the most, while HR administrators earn the least of all HR professions.
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Recruiter Salary
| JOB TITLE | 1. QUARTIL | 2. QUARTIL | 3. QUARTIL |
|---|---|---|---|
| HR Business Partner | 52.700€ | 64.000€ | 80.300€ |
| HR Controller/in | 45.200€ | 52.400€ | 73.200€ |
| HR Controller | 48.000€ | 56.100€ | 66.200€ |
| Personnel developer | 41.200€ | 51.300€ | 70.800€ |
| Recruiter | 40.200€ | 50.600€ | 64.600€ |
| Payroll Specialist | 40.000€ | 47.200€ | 60.000€ |
| Personnel Administrator | 37.800€ | 43.100€ | 50.900€ |
** Explanation of quartiles: 2nd quartile: 50% of recruiter salaries in Germany are below €50,600; 50% are above this and only 25% of German recruiters earn more than €64,600.
Starting salary as a recruiter: Junior recruiter salary
areer starters in recruiting who have no personnel responsibility can expect comparatively low salaries on the job market. At the beginning of their career, junior recruiters can expect a starting salary of around €36,000 per year. Up to two years after starting, the average salary in HR professions is € 43,900.
The greatest influence on the starting salary is the level of education: a Bachelor's or Master's degree can lead to an increase in earnings of €6,000 a year for prospective recruiters compared to candidates without an academic degree, according to the Hays salary report.
Senior Recruiter salary
After more than 10 years of professional experience, you can expect an average annual salary of around €62,000 as a Senior Recruiter. Further salary increases are usually linked to the assumption of personnel responsibility, which is a common career step for many senior specialists. As a division manager with more than 15 years of experience, for example, a gross annual salary of €142,000 beckons in the HR sector.
In the field of recruitment, large salary jumps are therefore possible over the years, which depend heavily on the following factors: Size of the company, location, level of education, professional experience, negotiation skills.
WAS MACHT EIN RECRUITER: IHRE AUFGABEN UND TÄTIGKEITEN IM RECRUITING
Recruiters are responsible for recruitment in companies. Nowadays, there are many ways to search for, recruit and select suitable candidates and recruitment is becoming increasingly proactive and creative. Active sourcing, i.e. targeted searches in career networks, maintaining talent networks, virtual recruiting via video conferencing and employer branding (the company as an employer brand) are all part of the day-to-day work of recruiters.
Over the last few decades, the specialist area of recruiting has had to adapt to social and technological innovations, which has led to many changes.
Recruiters are increasingly confronted with the challenges of digitalization, the shortage of skilled workers and the "war for talent". This requires long-term strategies in recruitment and the need to find new, creative ways of recruiting.
Recruiters have a wide range of tasks. They are familiar with areas of personnel marketing, personnel development and payroll accounting.
Formulating and publishing job advertisements
Viewing application documents
Carrying out a pre-screening of applicants
Conducting telephone interviews and job interviews
Dealing with personnel development, marketing and payroll accounting
Social media recruiting
Fill vacancies with suitable candidates
Visiting and planning trade fair events
E-recruiting: The entire applicant management process is automated and digital.
Active sourcing: Recruiters actively search for suitable candidates on social media platforms or in career networks and make initial contacts.
Candidate Relationship Management (CRM): Facilitating recruitment involves not only searching for talent, but also maintaining talent networks. This includes an optimized candidate journey in order to further develop the path from application to hiring at the company.
Remote recruiting: Personnel recruiting is also being modernized. Processes are being modernized and virtual procedures such as video conferencing are being implemented.
Creation and development of talent pools: The search for applicants can result in a large talent pool that needs to be maintained. Access to this talent pool makes it easier to fill future vacancies if previous candidates are interested in a vacancy.
Employer branding: Nowadays, candidates also decide for or against a company based on the recruiting process. Recruiters are therefore directly responsible for the attractiveness of the employer brand.
Set up and develop career pages: A dedicated careers page is a classic recruitment tool for presenting sought-after qualifications, tasks and requirements to applicants and presenting the values and culture of a company.
Junior Recruiter tasks
Whether junior or senior recruiter - both roles are crucial to the success of a company. While junior recruiters develop their skills because they have only recently chosen this profession, senior recruiters contribute to long-term talent acquisition with their expertise.
Here are some special features of the tasks of a Junior Recruiter:
Active sourcing: Junior recruiters use active methods such as company contact fairs, trade fairs and social media to attract talent.
Learning phase: Junior recruiters gain experience and develop their recruiting skills.
Senior Recruiter tasks
Experienced experts: Senior recruiters have many years of experience in talent management.
Strategic orientation: You are strategically oriented and help shape the company's recruiting strategy.
Network building: Senior recruiters have established networks and reputations in the industry.
Mentoring: They support junior recruiters and share their knowledge.
How do you become a recruiter? - Training, studies & further education
If you want to become a recruiter, there is no clearly defined training path ahead of you. Rather, there is a wide range of options available to you for starting your career. The academic route can be chosen via different degree courses, while other recruiter training and advanced courses lead to the same goal. Below we show you your options for becoming a recruiter.
Recruiter training: The practical way
Although the profession of recruiter is not yet anchored in an official training regulation, there are still various ways to get into recruiting. One suitable route is the dual training course to become a recruitment specialist. In this 3-year apprenticeship, you will already be dealing intensively with the topic of recruitment. Although no specific school-leaving qualification is legally required, many companies prefer trainees with a high school diploma due to the demanding nature of the profession. Good grades in subjects such as German, economics, mathematics and English are also an advantage.
If you don't want to complete several years of training, you can also attend shorter further training courses that prepare you for working as a recruiter. Institutes such as the Haufe Akademie or IHK offer these options - for example, the "Further training to become a certified recruiter" or the further training to become a "personnel consultant".
Recruiter studies: The academic path
If you would like to venture into recruiting via a degree course, you would be well advised to study Human Resources Management, for example. It provides a solid foundation for a career as a recruiter, while students can also focus specifically on topics such as recruitment, employee retention and personnel development. A full-time Bachelor's degree in Human Resources Management usually takes between 6 and 8 semesters and can be studied at various German universities of applied sciences and universities.
Other suitable fields of study include bachelor's or master's degrees in business administration, psychology or business psychology. As part of your studies, it is also advisable to complete internships in companies and gain practical experience in recruiting. Many students often make the leap from studying to a full-time job through a working student position.
Further training as a recruiter: How you can train in recruiting
After your training or studies, you have the opportunity to continue your education and specialize. There are numerous seminars, workshops and certificate courses that deal with specific aspects of recruiting. The focus is on topics such as active sourcing, employer branding, international recruiting and modern recruiting methods. Providers such as the Haufe Akademie have a wide range of recruiter training courses for you to choose from.
In addition, there are many special recruiter training courses on the market that enable lateral entry.
Recruiter as a career changer
As recruiting is not a profession that can be directly trained or studied, representatives of this profession are often career changers. They have completed training in the commercial sector or have a degree with a focus on business administration, sociology or psychology. The profile can be rounded off with further training in personnel management or human resources, which makes it easier to enter the job market. With increasing seniority and professional experience, possibly also with specialization in one area, the chances of promotion increase, for example to team manager, sector specialist or Head of Candidate Relations.
To make your career change as easy as possible, a recruiter training course offered by the Chamber of Industry and Commerce, for example, is a good option. You will learn the most important skills of a recruiter in a mixture of self-study and lessons. Such courses last between 3 and 6 months and can be completed on site or online. You will then be ready to start your career as a recruiter.
Challenges and benefits as a freelance recruiter
In large corporations or medium-sized companies, recruiters usually work in-house as permanent employees. Smaller companies, on the other hand, often focus on external specialists who work for them on behalf of recruitment agencies or as freelance recruiters.
As a freelance recruiter, you face unique challenges and have specific tasks that differ from those of salaried recruiters. In addition to your normal day-to-day work as a recruiter, you also have to take care of project acquisition and contact with (potential) clients. It is essential for you to remain self-organized at all times and to keep important deadlines in mind. Despite these additional challenges, working as a freelance recruiter also has some advantages, such as flexibility in the selection of projects or specialization in a certain area.
KNOWLEDGE IS POWER
Recruiter skills: You should have these skills and knowledge
The most important recruiter skills primarily include personnel management knowledge and a good understanding of the respective job market. Marketing and sales skills as well as IT and technology skills are also increasingly important. These are primarily required in the area of active sourcing in order to be able to use social media channels and tools for data analysis or text optimization for search engines. Specifically, this means good knowledge of the tools XING, LinkedIn and Google. In addition, many companies work with special recruiting tools that simplify application management - recruiters should also be able to handle these well.
Although theoretical knowledge and the use of common tools are important prerequisites for successful work in recruiting, one central component is even more relevant: Dealing with people. It is not without reason that the career path of many recruiters includes a degree in psychology.
The following soft skills are therefore essential for recruiters:
Quick comprehension
Good knowledge of human nature
Ability to work in a team
Organizational talent
Strong empathy
Open-mindedness
Networking competence
Recruiter career: opportunities on the job market
The shortage of skilled workers, digitalization and the "war for talent" pose major challenges, especially for personnel recruiting. Recruiters are therefore no longer just responsible for pure recruitment, but also for the development of existing staff in the company. Finding and retaining talent in the long term is becoming particularly important in order to counteract the shortage of skilled workers.
As a result, personnel marketing, i.e. employer branding, is becoming increasingly important. Companies must pay more attention to remaining an attractive employer for their workforce in the long term. Breaking new ground and developing effective strategies is therefore part of every recruiter's daily routine. Recruiters are desperately sought after in the IT sector in particular, as special IT skills are an advantage here.
All these challenges mean that experienced recruiters are in high demand and more and more companies are realizing that recruitment doesn't just work on the side. Although artificial intelligence is increasingly able to support human resources management, knowledge of human nature and empathy are the most important skills you need as an experienced recruiter. Therefore, the opportunities on the job market for recruiters are very good - many doors are open to you, especially in personnel service companies or as an independent recruiter. The Hays Skilled Labor Index shows that although job advertisements for recruiters fell slightly in 2023, they are still in above-average demand. Demand for recruiters has risen enormously since the end of 2020 and remains high.
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FAQ
Recruiters are responsible for the entire recruitment process: They write job advertisements, analyze CVs, conduct interviews, pre-select candidates and start the onboarding process. Their tasks are varied and can vary greatly depending on the company.
Recruiters in Germany earn an average of €50,600 gross per year. Depending on the company, level of experience and personnel responsibility, a recruiter's salary can also rise to €90,000.
To become a recruiter, you can complete a bachelor's degree in personnel management, for example. Many people also enter the recruitment department via a degree in business administration or psychology. In addition, numerous institutes offer various recruitment and HR training courses to prepare you for this career.
To become a recruiter, you can complete a bachelor's degree in personnel management, for example. Many people also enter the recruitment department via a degree in business administration or psychology. In addition, numerous institutes offer various recruitment and HR training courses to prepare you for this career.
The job of a recruiter is very varied and particularly appeals to people who enjoy interacting with other people. In addition, experienced recruiters are increasingly in demand, not least because of the shortage of skilled workers, which is why career opportunities are promising.
Although the headhunter and the recruiter proceed very similarly and often pursue the same goal, there is one major difference: the headhunter is generally focused on high-potential managers and therefore has to delve deeper into the search than the recruiter, who generally finds more suitable candidates. The headhunter often recruits suitable specialists from other companies.
Although the headhunter and the recruiter proceed very similarly and often pursue the same goal, there is one major difference: the headhunter is generally focused on high-potential managers and therefore has to delve deeper into the search than the recruiter, who generally finds more suitable candidates. The headhunter often recruits suitable specialists from other companies.
