How many ‘million-dollar billers’ are there (really)?

Do you notice how often the phrase “million-dollar biller” is bandied about in the recruitment industry?

I know I do.

Whether it’s a LinkedIn post, a podcast episode, a trainer pitching their services as one (or promoting themselves on LinkedIn as one), a webinar revealing insights into building a million dollar desk or a training program to turn you into one, it seems to be a phrase heard about as often as “X product/service is the Uber for Y industry”.

Is the phrase “million-dollar biller” meaningful?

Does it denote a recruiter (or ex-recruiter) with a skill-set and consistency of results that’s highly uncommon, rare, even?

Maybe.

It depends up on the context of the million dollars. Are we comparing apples and apples or apples and oranges?

Here are seven context considerations worth bearing in mind the next time a recruiter drops their ‘million-dollar biller’ status into their profile or a conversation.

1. A million dollars of what?

In the recruitment world I was brought up in, the term ‘billings’ was unambiguous; it meant perm placement fees and net temporary margin (i.e., the amount left after the worker’s pay rate, superannuation, and other on-costs were deducted from the client charge rate). It’s often referred to as ‘net fee income’. Accountants call it gross profit.

2. A million dollars when?

I was never a million-dollar biller. My best result was $670k as a temp accounting consultant in Sydney (I kept the spreadsheet). However, that was thirty-one years ago, in the 1994 financial year. ChatGPT tells me that $670k in 1994 is the inflation-adjusted equivalent of $1.45 million in 2025. How many recruiters produced a million dollars in the 2023 financial year, the biggest boom year in the history of the local recruitment industry? I don’t know, but I would bet a large amount of money it was probably a multiple of between 5 and 10 of the number who billed a million dollars in the most recent financial year. A rising tide lifts all boats.

3. A million dollars in what sector?

If you’re a million-dollar biller in the business support market or industrial sector, you’re a rare commodity. If you do so in the IT sector, you’re not as rare. If you’re in a global search firm, you’re in the bottom third compared to your peers.

4. A million dollars in what service line?

A perm recruiter starts each month or quarter on $0. A temp or contract recruiter has recurring revenue from ongoing assignments. A perm recruitment desk can start on a high with one or two clients providing multiple jobs. Even if a client did that with temp/contract assignments, it takes many more months for a temp/contract recruiter to build a high monthly gross profit to the equivalent of, say, three perm fees. A perm placement goes credit – that’s potentially a big hole in the period’s billings. A temp/contract bomb-out is just as disappointing but rarely as costly in dollar terms. Whether it’s ‘easier’ to bill a million dollars in perm compared to temp/contract depends on many things – mainly on who you ask.

5. A million dollars from what starting point?

A million dollars from scratch? A million dollars built from a somewhat developed desk? Or a million dollars built from a well-developed desk? I am sure almost every million-dollar biller will regard their seven-figure result, at its core, as a testament to their skills and hard work. That’s fair enough. How many of those same recruiters would accurately assess their desk’s starting point, selecting from the three options above, is much more debatable. Acquiring a significant PSA compared to starting a cold desk is a very different starting point. A lot of placements still have to be made in each case to bill a million dollars, but ask any owner or leader which category of ‘big biller’ is more valuable, and I suspect the answer would be almost unanimous.

6. A million dollars with a little bit (or a lot) of direct help?

Last month, I was talking to an owner who mentioned their million-dollar biller. Upon further inquiry, I discovered that person had three (!) support staff whose various contributions toward the recruiter’s fees were deemed ‘non-fee earning’ (i.e., were not eligible for commission). This amount of help is an outlier, however, I suspect a careful review of each million-dollar biller would uncover an array of para/candidate consultants, researchers, re/sourcers, and similar colleagues who are all making significant (and largely uncredited) contributions towards the million-dollar result. When I was a consultant, each filled job was split 50-50 between the client consultant and the consultant who interviewed or referred the candidate. We had to ‘pay our way’ with each placement. How much did the highly efficient and customer-focused payroll team at Recruitment Solutions contribute to my performance in terms of temp worker satisfaction? I couldn’t put a dollar value on it, but I know it wasn’t nothing, and I appreciated it. Greg Savage introduced me to a contact (Ron Scott) at Bankers Trust. Within six months, they were my largest client. Greg also accepted my invitation to attend my first meeting with a new prospect (David Cohen) at Ansett Air Freight. Within 12 months, they were my second-largest client. Greg didn’t fill any jobs at either client, but he played a significant role in winning the hiring manager’s trust on each visit.

7. A million dollars with a little bit (or a lot) of indirect help?

The amount of money invested in databases (and other tech), marketing staff, and marketing and sales resources is vastly greater and more important than when I was running a desk. I suspect most ‘million dollar billers’ give little, if any, thought to how these various indirect resources help them produce their results.

Let’s get to the question I suspect most of you want to know – how common is a ‘million dollar biller’ in the current market?

To get some handle on the answer, yesterday I conducted a highly unscientific poll to find out.

I messaged 15 recruitment agency owners or CEOs/MDs of a selection of medium-to-large agencies you would almost certainly know, asking them if they would be willing to share some basic information on their ‘million dollar billers’. All who responded were willing to do so. I received an additional, unsolicited response.

From my 15 responses (updated if I receive other responses*) representing approximately 800 income-producing consultants, covering Sydney-based, Melbourne-based, Canberra-based, and Brisbane-based agencies, here’s what I was told about their million-dollar billers (for FY2025 i.e. July 2024 – June 2025).

• 8 reported they had none
• 3 reported they had 2
• 1 reported they had 3
• 1 reported they had 4
• 1 reported they had 5
• 1 reported they had more than 40 (in easily the largest agency of the sample)

Global CEO, Mark Nielsen, was happy for Talent to be identified as the agency with more than forty million-dollar billers.

Two of the other agencies that had million-dollar billers last year are also IT recruitment agencies that typically run dual desks (the consultant fills both contract and perm jobs). Of the other three agencies reporting million-dollar billers, two are mid-market white collar recruiters (1 predominantly private sector, the other predominantly government sector), and one is mostly search with a strong market in both the private and public sectors and the seventh agency is a healthcare specialist.

Other information offered by the respondents includes the following:

“We had two $1 m billers in FY 2024, but none in FY 2025”

“We had one in the 2024 calendar year doing just perm”

“We had two in FY2025, down one from the previous year.”

“We’ve never had a million-dollar biller, unfortunately!”

“$850k was out best in FY2025. In previous years we have had 2 x $1 billers. All in perm.”

“Actually, at the close FY24 we had 2 x 2 million dollar billers. We have seen a softening of the market (since then).”

“It’s not our business goal to have $1 m billers. It’s happened in the past but our focus is building teams of consultants delivering $500k-$600k each v 2 x $1m billers. For context our average p/h was $360k across 75 consultants. Top performer sitting around $800k and lowest circa $240k. A much healthier position.”

So there you have it, for what such a small sample size is worth, the million-dollar biller is not rare, but certainly uncommon.

*denotes updated 12.58 pm and 4.12 pm on 31 July 2025 to reflect two additional responses, on 3 August at 10.16 am and on 12 August at 5.26 pm to reflect another two responses.

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