Professional Services

Recruiter

Find, screen, and interview job candidates, then match good people to open roles at a company or agency

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What does a Recruiter do?

Recruiters work inside companies or for staffing agencies. They post jobs, search for candidates, run phone screens, and guide people through offers. It is a people-and-sales job: friendly, quick-thinking folks who can hear what someone really wants do well.

A day in the life

8:30 AMCheck applications that came in overnight for open roles
9:30 AMSearch professional networks for people who fit a hard-to-fill job
11:00 AMPhone-screen a candidate and ask about skills and goals
1:00 PMTell a hiring manager which finalists look strongest
3:00 PMSet interview times between candidates and busy teams
4:30 PMCall a finalist with an offer and answer questions about it

What's great

  • Help people land jobs they are excited about
  • Talk with new people every day
  • You can see the result of each hire
  • Skills work at many kinds of companies

The hard parts

  • Many candidates hear no, which is hard to share
  • Pressure to fill jobs fast
  • Hiring slows when companies cut back
  • Lots of phone calls and email

What is a Recruiter's salary and outlook?

$42k – $105k
Salary Range
Bachelor's degree
Typical Education
Growing

Typical pay in this guide runs from about $42,000 to $105,000 a year, with a midpoint around $70,000. These are planning figures for students, not a job offer or an official wage.

CareerLens rates the outlook as Growing.

For the official national outlook, see BLS Occupational Data.

How do you become a Recruiter?

A common path is Bachelor's degree in business, HR, or communications. The ladder often runs from Recruiting Coordinator or Sourcer to Recruiter, then Senior Recruiter or Recruiting Manager, and Head of Talent Acquisition. Other routes: Start in sales or customer service, then move to recruiting; Work at a staffing agency to learn quickly; Recruiting or HR certificate program.

  • Start in sales or customer service, then move to recruiting
  • Work at a staffing agency to learn quickly
  • Recruiting or HR certificate program

Career path

Entry level
Recruiting Coordinator or Sourcer
Mid career
Recruiter
Senior
Senior Recruiter or Recruiting Manager
Executive
Head of Talent Acquisition

Will AI replace a Recruiter?

How much will AI change this job?

A lot

AI will change many everyday tasks in this job. The work shifts toward judgment, checking, and people.

AI will handle busywork so recruiters focus on people.

Recruiters will use AI to sort resumes, schedule interviews, and write job posts faster. This frees them up to spend more time talking with candidates and making smart hiring choices. The job shifts from paperwork toward building trust and reading people well.

AI can help with

  • Scanning resumes to find qualified candidates
  • Scheduling interviews and sending reminders
  • Drafting job descriptions and outreach messages

What stays human

  • Interviewing candidates and judging fit
  • Building relationships with hiring managers and applicants
  • Making final hiring decisions with judgment and empathy

Skills to build now

  • Practice speaking and listening in clubs or debate
  • Write clearly by practicing emails and short essays
  • Build people skills through teamwork and group projects

Based on public research from Anthropic and OpenAI, drafted with AI, checked automatically, and read by a person. How we know

This describes how the work may change. It is not a prediction that the job will disappear.