How much a recruiter costs is usually the first thing a founder asks us, and most of the answers online come from agencies working hard not to give a number. So here are the actual numbers for Australia in 2026, with sources, and what each pricing model is good and bad at for a startup.
Most Australian recruitment agencies charge a percentage of the new hire's first-year salary. Experis puts the 2026 ranges at 15% to 20% for entry-level or junior roles, 18% to 25% for mid-level professional roles, and 20% to 30% or more for senior, executive or hard-to-fill positions.
The percentage is usually calculated on base salary plus superannuation, and some agencies add expected bonuses or allowances. Always ask what the fee is calculated on, because the same percentage can mean very different invoices.
Here is what that looks like on a $120,000 base salary. With 12% super the package is $134,400.
The percentage matters less than the model it sits inside, because the model decides how the recruiter spends their time on your role.
You only pay if the agency fills the role, and there is no upfront cost. It is the most common model in Australia. On a non-exclusive brief several agencies work the same role, and the one whose candidate you hire gets paid. That rewards whoever sends a CV first, which pushes recruiters towards speed and volume and away from depth.
One agency works the role. Because the recruiter knows the effort will not be wasted, exclusive terms are usually cheaper. Specified Select, for example, publishes 15% for exclusive contingent work against 17% non-exclusive.
You pay in instalments, commonly a third at the start, a third at shortlist and a third on placement. It is used for senior, specialist and hard-to-fill roles, where the search needs real time before anyone knows who is available. Retained work is where you get headhunting, market mapping and a considered shortlist, because the recruiter is paid to do the search properly.
A growing group of Australian firms price differently.
These models work well when you are hiring several similar roles with a clear spec and your own employer brand already does the attracting. They work less well for a single hard role, like a first senior hire in a function you do not know yourself, where the value is in shaping the role and finding people who are not looking.
A replacement guarantee is standard. Australian agencies typically offer three to six months, and if the hire leaves or is let go in that window the agency re-recruits the role at no extra charge. Check the length, what triggers it, and whether it depends on you paying on time.
Beyond that, ask what you are paying for. The fee might cover advertising and screening applicants, or it might cover role design, positioning the company, headhunting people who are not on the market, structured assessment and reference checks. Those are very different amounts of work at the same headline percentage.
A Talent Acquisition Specialist in Melbourne earns a median base of $103,000 in 2026, according to Robert Half, which is about $115,000 with super before recruitment tools and job ads. If you are making one or two hires a year, an agency fee costs less than a full-time recruiter. Once you are hiring steadily across the year, an in-house recruiter or an embedded model starts to make more sense.
The other number worth knowing is the cost of getting it wrong. SEEK research with advisory firm Nature found a wrong hire can cost a small business up to $16,000 on an $80,000 salary, and that wrong hires stay around 11 to 14 months against roughly three years for good ones. At startup stage the cost is bigger than the dollars, because a wrong early hire also costs months of momentum.
Our fees are based on your stage. For pre-seed and early-stage startups they start from 12% of base salary plus super, and equity is never included in the calculation. Every search runs as an employer branding campaign, with role design, founder-led content, headhunting and assessment beyond the CV, so the fee buys the whole search. We agree the right structure for your role on a discovery call.
General information only. Fees and terms change, so check current pricing with any firm before you engage them.
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
