Spotlight for Recruiting Professionals
While the overall average recruiting budget for the 2016-17 recruiting year was $491,303, the way employers reported their budget numbers had a significant impact on the budget data, according to NACE’s 2018 Recruiting Benchmarks Survey Report.
Nearly three-quarters (73.7 percent) of employers did not include personnel costs—staff salaries and benefits—in their reported budget. The overall average budget for respondents that included personnel costs was $1,088,783, while the average recruiting budget for respondents that did not was $272,813. (See Figure 1.)
Recruiting budgets fluctuated by company size and region. Not surprisingly, larger companies—which were more likely to include personnel costs in their reported figures—reported larger recruiting budgets.
By region, employers in New England reported the largest average budget at $1,201,364. The driver for this is the fact that the New England region is home to several larger companies that reported recruiting budgets in the millions of dollars. On the other hand, the Great Lakes region—where even the larger companies reported budgets that were much lower than those of similar size in the other regions—had the lowest average budget at $177,043.
Data collection for NACE’s 2018 Recruiting Benchmarks Survey Report took place from June 20, 2018, to September 10, 2018; 218 firms participated. The 2018 Recruiting Benchmarks Survey Report is available free to members through MyNACE. An executive summary of the report is available through the NACE Store.
Figure 1: Budget for 2016-17 recruiting year, by company size and region
| |
Mean |
Percentile 25 |
Median |
Percentile 75 |
Respondents |
| Overall |
$491,303 |
$50,000 |
$150,000 |
$427,000 |
85 |
| Company size |
|
| 500 or less-1,000 |
$79,167 |
$20,000 |
$45,000 |
$100,000 |
6 |
| 1,001-2,500 |
$266,875 |
$27,500 |
$125,000 |
$422,500 |
8 |
| 2,501-5,000 |
$319,118 |
$30,000 |
$50,000 |
$180,000 |
17 |
| 5,001-10,000 |
$272,204 |
$70,000 |
$80,000 |
$427,000 |
13 |
| 10,001-20,000 |
$542,941 |
$100,000 |
$250,000 |
$500,000 |
17 |
| >20,000 |
$873,214 |
$100,000 |
$225,000 |
$1,100,000 |
24 |
| Region |
|
| New England |
$1,201,364 |
$175,000 |
$250,000 |
$600,000 |
11 |
| Mid-Atlantic |
$454,000 |
$25,000 |
$100,000 |
$1,075,000 |
15 |
| Great Lakes |
$177,043 |
$30,000 |
$90,000 |
$300,000 |
18 |
| Plains |
$679,286 |
$100,000 |
$250,000 |
$1,000,000 |
7 |
| Southeast |
$251,214 |
$20,000 |
$120,000 |
$200,000 |
14 |
| Southwest |
$532,462 |
$50,000 |
$140,000 |
$345,000 |
13 |
| Rocky Mountains/Far West |
$479,286 |
$85,000 |
$150,000 |
$500,000 |
7 |
Source: 2018 Recruiting Benchmarks Survey Report, National Association of Colleges and Employers