How to Become a Freelance Recruiter in 2024

Did you know that freelance HR consultants earn anywhere from under $30.000 to over $110.000 a year, while the average annual compensation for these professionals is approximately $65,000? [1] Since over 70.4 million American professionals are freelancers and looks like the volume will increase to 90.1 million by 2028 [2], safe to say that this is the best time to out as a freelance recruiter if you ever thought about becoming one. But the world has changed so much after the pandemic. How can you make it sustainable and navigate your way through the new challenges? Don’t worry, we got you covered…

Working as a Freelance Recruiter

A freelance recruiter sells their skills, expertise, and services as a headhunter or a recruitment consultant to an agency or company with hiring needs. They perform similar jobs for recruitment agencies but individually.

However, the job isn’t always easy and takes time and patience. A freelance recruitment consultant should develop a relevant portfolio and support their clients in building their strategies. Stellar freelance recruiters understand their clients’ hiring needs, expectations, and objectives. They can source the most suitable candidate and work independently on achieving that.

Before you jump ahead and start a staffing agency, you need to keep in mind that it is important that you have a recruitment tool like an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) at your disposal and that you understand how it works. Why? It will help make your life way easier and smoothen your process within a few clicks, which goes a long way. Also, there are a few steps that you need to take to ensure a solid freelance recruiter journey. Let’s see what they are.  

{{cta}}

Steps to Become a Freelance Recruiter in 2024 and Beyond

1. Knowledge Check

First thing first, let’s go through a knowledge check and see what you need to know before starting your freelance recruiter journey. If you're already an experienced recruiter or HR consultant transitioning to freelancing, you likely already have what it takes to get the first clients. But if you're starting, ensure that your education aligns with human resources.

Consider also completing an HR-related course or training. For example, you can join LinkedIn’s recruiting foundations and niche recruiting courses to get yourself ready.  

2. Register Your Business

Next, it’s time to register your business. This will help you establish your credibility, protect your liability, and comply with the tax and legal regulations in your country or state. Although tricky, it’s essential. So, follow these steps:

• Choose the right business entity: Select the appropriate business entity, such as a sole proprietorship or a limited liability company (LLC), based on your needs and goals as a freelance recruiter.
• Name your business: Choose a unique, memorable, and professional business name that reflects your niche, and ensure it is available. It’s a good idea to research through the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and your state's business database to ensure the name you come up with hasn’t been used by anyone else.
• Register your Business: File the necessary documents, such as Articles of Organization, with your state's business filing agency for an LLC. Also, don’t forget to get an Employer Identification Number (EIN) from the IRS for tax purposes.
• Set Up your finances: Open a dedicated business bank account to separate your personal and business finances. This simplifies tax management and enhances your professional image. Consulting a tax professional for guidance on self-employment taxes and insurance options.

3. Choose Your Niche

Once you’ve successfully registered your business, choose your niche or specialization. Focusing on a specific industry or role. This will help you narrow down your target market and make you stand out from other generalist recruiters. You can start by assessing your skills and interests. What is the area of your expertise based on your experience, education, and personal interest? After you get the answer, research the market demand. Use industry insights, job boards, and labor market analytics to identify industries and roles with high demand for talent.

4. Build Your Brand

This is one of the key factors that will make or break your business as a freelance recruiter. Keep in mind that a strong brand attracts and retains clients. It draws candidates to your front door as well. You can start forging a strong brand by:

• Defining your brand identity. Find out what your unique value proposition is and set up a tone of voice for your brand. Make sure it goes in line with your target market.
• Then come up with a brand visual. Design a memorable logo. Try to use a consistent color scheme and typography.
• Next, create a professional website. You can use a tool like Manatal’s ATS to craft a fully customizable career site that showcases your services, testimonials, and contact information.
• Also, be active on social media. Pick the appropriate platforms for your target audience and regularly share valuable content related to recruitment and industry insights to highlight your expertise. Engage with your audience to build relationships and expand your network.
• Another way to forge a strong brand is to attend industry events and collaborate with complementary businesses or professionals.

5. Find Clients

Now, it’s time to find clients for your recruitment business. Once you’ve set your eyes on the target clients, develop a marketing strategy that covers online and offline routes. Use digital marketing methods like content marketing, social media advertising, and search engine optimization to ensure a successful reach out to potential clients. Check out our guide on how to find clients for recruitment agencies to learn more detailed strategies.

Typical Assignments of a Freelance Recruiter

Now that we’ve gone through how to set yourself up as a freelance recruiter, let’s check out what you have to do daily.

• Pre-Recruitment Suggestions and Advice: A company or recruitment agency rarely hires a freelance recruiter before providing their HR consultancy services. That highlights whether they’re the right fit and can complete the job successfully. Thus, it helps to set up a job description, determine the best match, and agree on the follow-up recruitment strategy. However, a freelance recruiter may have to perform operational assignments as well.
• Candidate Sourcing: A freelance recruiter must be skilled in finding job applicants for a specific industry and understand the job market fluctuations and trends. They should also determine a sustainable sourcing strategy, helping them to decide where to start and how to approach potential candidates.
  For instance, they might look for top talents manually, leverage their network, research the job boards, or directly approach people with adequate skills and capabilities. Besides, a freelance recruiter should be an active listener and understand their clients’ recruiting needs and goals.
  These professionals should decide whether to pay for premium job boards or have their clients do it. They should also determine the technology and tools they’ll use to find the most suitable candidates and maintain communication with a company. ‍
• Candidate Assessment and Shortlisting: The next step for a freelance recruiter is to sort the incoming job applications, evaluate them, and perform candidate screening. They must ensure that the talents they’ll forward to their clients are vetted, trusted, and meet the job requirements.
  However, these professionals should also be sure the shortlisted candidates won’t change their minds after receiving a job proposal. Otherwise, they risk losing their clients’ trust and endangering future collaboration. Most companies perform job interviews independently, but some may ask a freelance recruiter to assist them. Therefore, they should be ready to participate in this recruitment stage and help clients identify the candidate they want to hire.‍
• Hiring Follow-Up: In most cases, freelance recruiters don’t participate in decision-making regarding the chosen candidate. However, sometimes companies wish to extend the collaboration and involve the recruiter in the onboarding process.
  The freelance recruiter may also repeat their job if the candidate they helped choose quits the company in a predefined time frame. The name for that process is the replacement guarantee, which helps clients build trust and feel more comfortable with the collaboration.

The Perks of Being a Freelance Recruiter

Freelance recruiter is a great career choice if you want to have more control over your work and life. Here are some key benefits that you’ll get.

• More freedom: Without any bosses monitoring your activities, you’ll get to choose your own working hours, schedule, and work environment.
• Ability to choose clients and projects: You’ll have the freedom to select the clients and projects that suit your interests, skills, and values. You’ll also have options to work on different types of projects and industries, depending on your expertise and goals.
• Work from anywhere: As a freelance recruiter, you’re not tied to a specific location or office. You can work from anywhere in the world. Free from geographical boundaries, you can also access a larger and more diverse talent pool and client base.

Conclusion

Freelance recruiting is a rewarding and challenging career choice that can offer many benefits and opportunities to people who want to work independently and flexibly. However, it also requires a lot of skills, knowledge, and preparation to succeed in this field. By going through the steps and tips we have shared, it won’t be hard work for you to start your journey as a freelance recruiter and achieve your professional and personal goals.

—

Citations

1. Zippia

2. Statista