A client calls with a role outside your niche. Or outside your geography. Or your desk is already full. Most recruiters say no, and the opportunity disappears for good.
Three recruiters from NPA Worldwide explain why they stopped saying no. Heather Gardner made six splits in her first year with the network. Jeff McGraw has been doing split placements since 1994. Jenn Anderson has made over 55 in the last decade. Together, they explain how split fees work and how the right partner can help you fill searches you would otherwise decline.
Episode Outline and Highlights
- [02:45] Heather, Jeff, and Jenn introduce their firms, niches, and history with NPA Worldwide
- [07:45] How split fees actually work: bylaws, vetting, and the 50/50 structure
- [10:43] Heather’s story: six splits in her first year after relationships made at a conference
- [16:13] The biggest misconception about split partnerships, according to Jenn
- [18:57] How partners divide information when one owns the candidate and the other owns the client
- [22:16] Jeff brings a partner onto an intake call for an optics engineer search and lands the placement
- [25:05] How many splits each recruiter closes in a typical year
- [26:10] How to assess whether a partner’s job order is real before you commit time to it
- [28:57] Three success stories: a UK placement, a three-month contract search, and a university client won through a partner-led intake call
- [37:39] Making the mental shift from seeing other recruiters as competitors to collaborators
- [45:57] What makes someone a great split partner
- [50:46] How to handle it when more than one NPA partner is working the same role
How Split Fees Actually Work
Most recruiters know the term “split fee.” Fewer have actually worked one. Jenn broke down the structure: a 50/50 fee split, with each partner contributing 2.5% of their share back to the network to fund operations. NPA Worldwide is member-owned, governed by bylaws, and overseen by a global board.
The structure is designed to protect members when they work together. As Jenn explained, trusting someone you’ve never worked with is the hardest part of any split. “If something were to happen, there would be some consequences, or I would be protected as a member.” Jeff added that the cooperative model matters too: “Decisions are made based upon what’s in the best interest of our owners. It’s not a for-profit entity owned by some corporation.”
Splits aren’t limited to direct hire, either. Heather also works contract and interim placements through the network, sharing recurring revenue with a partner for the life of the contract.
For recruiters considering a split fee network, the protection comes from the rules, not blind trust.
Treat Your Trading Partner Like Your Best Client
Jeff’s advice for anyone navigating a split surfaced more than once: “Treat your trading partner as if they are your best client.” That single rule resolves most of the friction recruiters expect from sharing a deal with someone outside their company.
Jenn put it into practice by blind copying her partners on every email with the client and candidate. “I trust them to know that they’re not going to go after my client. I want them to continue to be informed about it.” She learned the habit from a partner who did it for her early on, and adopted it permanently.
Heather works it the same way when she’s filling one of Jenn’s roles: “Think of us as the same company. Both of us will be in contact with you.” The two recruiters communicate on the side as needed, but to the candidate and client, the partnership is invisible.
Jeff shared one story that summed it up perfectly. A client needed an optics engineer, a specialty completely outside his expertise. He brought a partner onto the intake call instead of trying to fake fluency. “At the end of a 45-minute call, he said, ‘Jeff, I got the guy.’ I said, ‘Really?’ He replied, ‘I got the guy.’ Guess what? That’s who they hired.”
Vetting a Partner Before You Commit
Not every split is worth working. Heather described what she asks before agreeing to take on someone else’s job order: how long this person has worked with the client, how many placements they have made for them, and how many other agencies or partners are already on the role. “Every time you get a new client, there are bumps in the way. That’s a risk you’re taking on.”
Jenn applies the same filter from the other direction. When a new partner calls offering to help, she wants to know they understand the role and the industry before she hands over any client information. “It’s tough to feel like you’re helping someone get a start in NPA if they haven’t worked a certain industry or position.”
All three recruiters approached it the same way. They qualified both the opportunity and the partner just as carefully as they would a direct client relationship.
Our Sponsor
This episode is sponsored by NPAworldwide. NPAworldwide is the world’s leading recruiting community, connecting independent recruiting firms across industries and continents to exchange ideas, support one another, and team up to place people together.
