How to become a Recruiter
Recruiting is a sales job where the product can say no. Most recruiters never studied it. They came from sales, HR, or a job where they talked to strangers all day and liked it.
Where recruiters come from
Agency recruiting
Staffing agencies hire people with no recruiting background and train them fast. The work is phone-heavy and target-driven. Stick it out long enough to show results, and in-house teams will take your call.
Recruiting coordinator
You schedule interviews, send offer letters and keep the hiring system clean. It's the in-house entry point, and you get a close look at how hiring managers actually decide.
From sales
Cold outreach, handling objections, closing. You already do the hard part. Show your sales results and explain how the same habits fill a pipeline of candidates.
From an HR generalist role
If you've handled onboarding and some hiring, talent acquisition is a short step sideways. Ask to own a few open roles end to end before you apply elsewhere.
What the first months feel like
Rejection, mostly. Candidates stop replying, hiring managers change what they want halfway through, and an offer falls apart on a Friday afternoon. The recruiters who last treat it like sales. They keep the pipeline full, so one lost candidate doesn't sink the week.
Words hiring teams screen for
Recruiters know better than anyone that résumés get keyword-matched. Use the exact terms where they're true.
Before and after: one recruiter bullet
Responsible for recruiting for open positions.
Filled 38 engineering and sales roles in 12 months, with an average time to fill of 34 days.
What Recruiter postings ask for
Hiring the most
- Anduril Industries63
- Aya Healthcare21
- Americanredcross19
- AllegisGlobalSolutions17
- Anthropic10
Remote
14% of openings are fully remote.
Posted pay
$75,000 – $113,500
Typical range in the 31 of the newest 60 postings that list pay.
Ready to apply?
Tell HeroApply you want Recruiter roles. It finds the openings and applies for you each day.