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[toc headings="h2" title="Table of Contents"] The demand for IT sales professionals is high and growing. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, IT sales employment is projected to grow at a CAGR of 5% through 2030--and there are already more job openings in tech sales than there are professionals to fill them. This is good news for job seekers who want to grow an IT sales career but puts employers of these professionals in a trickier position. Finding and hiring the top sales talent in 2023 is a challenging task, and that challenge is only likely to grow in coming years. One solution to this problem is to partner with an IT sales recruiter. As experts in the hiring landscape, a recruiting firm can help companies hire the talent they need, even in a competitive employment market. If you need to hire onto your sales team, consider whether one of the recruitment agencies below could be a good fit for your staffing needs.
The 7 best IT Sales Recruiters
1. Redfish
As the nation's premier IT and tech recruiters, Redfish Technology is the ideal partner to find IT sales professionals for companies of all sizes. They pride themselves on bringing a personal touch to their recruitment process, building strong relationships with both technology companies and the candidates in their network. Founded in 1996, their decades of experience as tech sales recruiters means they have extensive knowledge about the industry and its job market. Since they recruit from coast to coast, businesses can count on them to find sales talent that meets their needs no matter where they're located in North America. Read more about Redfish's IT Sales Recruiting
2. Peak Sales Recruiting
Based in Austin, Peak Sales Recruiting has offices across the United States and Canada, including in major markets like San Francisco, New York, and Chicago. Along with this broad reach, Peak's main advantage is their aggressive data-driven staffing approach, with a targeted talent acquisition process that identifies hidden talent employers won't find on their own. They are particularly well-suited to handle executive searches in IT and software sales, and have a 96% client success rate in filling these roles. Read more about Peak Sales' IT Sales Recruiting
3. Stott and May
Stott and May is a technology recruiter focused on helping high-growth businesses build high-impact teams. Their clients include leading companies like Acorns, Reddit, and Workday, who trust Stott and May to deliver inclusive, high-quality hires faster. Their technology sales recruitment team connects companies with top salespeople at every level, from individual sales reps to leadership and executive talent. Read more about Stott and May's IT Sales Recruiting
4. Optimal Sales Search
Founded in 2004, Optimal Sales Search are specialized software sales recruiters, and this expertise is their main advantage. Their tight focus on tech sales gives them deeper insights into the industry and what job seekers want from an employer. While they can fill any sales team role, their primary focus is on mid to senior level candidates, and they consistently deliver impressive results in filling these jobs. They also work with companies of all sizes, from bootstrapped startups to large and established enterprises. Read more about Optimal Sales Search's IT Sales Recruiting
5. Goodwin Recruiting
Named among the Best US Professional Recruiting Firms by Forbes in 2023, Goodwin Recruiting is a trusted partner for sales recruitment solutions. Their extensive reach is one of their main advantages, offering recruitment services from coast-to-coast including major markets like Atlanta, Dallas, and Boston. Along with this broad reach, they offer clients extensive support, serving as a long-term partner for business development through hiring excellence. Read more about Goodwin Recruiting's IT Sales Recruiting
6. NextPath Career Partners
NextPath takes a candidate-focused approach to hiring, and this makes a difference in the kind of talent they source for employers. They don't just source job seekers for their clients but work with them to help them grow their careers, maintaining those connections and providing support and advice even after their successful placement. The depth of relationships they develop with people in their network is their main value as an agency, helping them to hire people who are an ideal fit for the culture and mission of your organization. Read more about NextPath Career Partners' IT Sales Recruiting
7. Porter Group
The technology sales recruiters at Porter Group are experts, and they have the certification to prove it. Not only is every recruiter on their team PSR certified, but the average tenure of a Porter Group team member is 9 years, something their competition can't boast. Along with strong individual skills, their recruiting firm has been in operation since 1977, giving them a long track record of success as a company, too. They operate across the mid-Atlantic region, including Baltimore, Philadelphia, Washington, DC, and New York. Read more about Porter Group's IT Sales Recruiting
What to look for in an IT sales recruitment firm
As you can see from this list, there are a number of highly successful recruiting firms to choose from in the area of IT sales. Choosing the right firm for your needs is the first step to building a sales team that will help you achieve your business goals. Before you reach out to recruitment firms, take the time to clarify and define your requirements for your role. This includes determining how many people you need to hire and at what level, as well as whether you need to make a permanent hire or are looking for a temp-to-hire or contract staffing solution. Along with this, decide what type of talent you're looking for, and whether they need to have any specialized skills or unique traits that could impact the way you search for and hire them. Once you're clear on what you need, the next step is to research the potential firms you could work with. Check on their website to see what types of opportunities they normally fill and if they have some data on their success rate, typical time to hire, and other key metrics that could impact your search. Many recruiting firms will also explain their recruiting methodology and process on their site, which can give you useful insights into how they source talent. Finally, after you've done this research, it's important to set up a meeting to talk with one of their recruiters about your hiring needs. Much of recruitment success comes down to relationships and communication, so you want to find a firm that you feel comfortable working with. This meeting is also a great chance to ask any questions you have about their areas of specialization, what sourcing methods they use, how they conduct interviews, and other key aspects of their recruiting process.
FAQs about IT sales recruiting agencies
How much does it cost to hire an IT sales recruiter?
That depends on the role you're filling and the type of search firm you work with. There are two primary pricing structures used by recruiting firms: retained search and contingency search. In a retained search model, the recruiter is paid a fixed amount to conduct the search. This usually ends up being around 33-38% of the candidate's salary, a portion of which is normally paid at the beginning of the search. Contingent search firms charge a percentage of the hired candidate's first-year salary, usually in the range of 20-30%. The entire fee is paid at the end, after they've made a successful placement.
What is the benefit of using a recruiting firm instead of hiring in-house?
While recruiters do charge for their services, they also mean your HR team can focus on other aspects of their job instead of searching for and hiring new employees. This is a benefit in and of itself, and for some companies also translates to lower overall costs associated with hiring. The speed and quality of hires is often improved by utilizing an agency, as well. Recruiters maintain large networks of potential candidates, some of whom are currently employed and not actively looking for opportunities on job marketplaces. Combined with their expertise about sourcing strategies and the employment landscape, this enables them to identify highly-skilled talent quickly.
How long does it take a recruiter to hire someone for a role?
This varies widely depending on the role. The more expertise or experience a position requires, the longer it typically takes to fill it. Recruiting firms generally can fill positions faster than an in-house team, however. While the average time to fill a position is 36 days, many recruiting firms can present candidates to clients within a week and fill positions in 2-3 weeks.
The demand for IT sales professionals is high and growing. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, IT sales employment is projected to grow at a CAGR of 5% through 2030–and there are already more job openings in tech sales than there are professionals to fill them.
This is good news for job seekers who want to grow an IT sales career but puts employers of these professionals in a trickier position. Finding and hiring the top sales talent in 2023 is a challenging task, and that challenge is only likely to grow in coming years.
One solution to this problem is to partner with an IT sales recruiter. As experts in the hiring landscape, a recruiting firm can help companies hire the talent they need, even in a competitive employment market. If you need to hire onto your sales team, consider whether one of the recruitment agencies below could be a good fit for your staffing needs.
The 7 best IT Sales Recruiters
1. Redfish
As the nation’s premier IT and tech recruiters, Redfish Technology is the ideal partner to find IT sales professionals for companies of all sizes. They pride themselves on bringing a personal touch to their recruitment process, building strong relationships with both technology companies and the candidates in their network. Founded in 1996, their decades of experience as tech sales recruiters means they have extensive knowledge about the industry and its job market. Since they recruit from coast to coast, businesses can count on them to find sales talent that meets their needs no matter where they’re located in North America.
Read more about Redfish’s IT Sales Recruiting
2. Peak Sales Recruiting
Based in Austin, Peak Sales Recruiting has offices across the United States and Canada, including in major markets like San Francisco, New York, and Chicago. Along with this broad reach, Peak’s main advantage is their aggressive data-driven staffing approach, with a targeted talent acquisition process that identifies hidden talent employers won’t find on their own. They are particularly well-suited to handle executive searches in IT and software sales, and have a 96% client success rate in filling these roles.
Read more about Peak Sales’ IT Sales Recruiting
3. Stott and May
Stott and May is a technology recruiter focused on helping high-growth businesses build high-impact teams. Their clients include leading companies like Acorns, Reddit, and Workday, who trust Stott and May to deliver inclusive, high-quality hires faster. Their technology sales recruitment team connects companies with top salespeople at every level, from individual sales reps to leadership and executive talent.
Read more about Stott and May’s IT Sales Recruiting
4. Optimal Sales Search
Founded in 2004, Optimal Sales Search are specialized software sales recruiters, and this expertise is their main advantage. Their tight focus on tech sales gives them deeper insights into the industry and what job seekers want from an employer. While they can fill any sales team role, their primary focus is on mid to senior level candidates, and they consistently deliver impressive results in filling these jobs. They also work with companies of all sizes, from bootstrapped startups to large and established enterprises.
Read more about Optimal Sales Search’s IT Sales Recruiting
5. Goodwin Recruiting
Named among the Best US Professional Recruiting Firms by Forbes in 2023, Goodwin Recruiting is a trusted partner for sales recruitment solutions. Their extensive reach is one of their main advantages, offering recruitment services from coast-to-coast including major markets like Atlanta, Dallas, and Boston. Along with this broad reach, they offer clients extensive support, serving as a long-term partner for business development through hiring excellence.
Read more about Goodwin Recruiting’s IT Sales Recruiting
6. NextPath Career Partners
NextPath takes a candidate-focused approach to hiring, and this makes a difference in the kind of talent they source for employers. They don’t just source job seekers for their clients but work with them to help them grow their careers, maintaining those connections and providing support and advice even after their successful placement. The depth of relationships they develop with people in their network is their main value as an agency, helping them to hire people who are an ideal fit for the culture and mission of your organization.
Read more about NextPath Career Partners’ IT Sales Recruiting
7. Porter Group
The technology sales recruiters at Porter Group are experts, and they have the certification to prove it. Not only is every recruiter on their team PSR certified, but the average tenure of a Porter Group team member is 9 years, something their competition can’t boast. Along with strong individual skills, their recruiting firm has been in operation since 1977, giving them a long track record of success as a company, too. They operate across the mid-Atlantic region, including Baltimore, Philadelphia, Washington, DC, and New York.
Read more about Porter Group’s IT Sales Recruiting
What to look for in an IT sales recruitment firm
As you can see from this list, there are a number of highly successful recruiting firms to choose from in the area of IT sales. Choosing the right firm for your needs is the first step to building a sales team that will help you achieve your business goals.
Before you reach out to recruitment firms, take the time to clarify and define your requirements for your role. This includes determining how many people you need to hire and at what level, as well as whether you need to make a permanent hire or are looking for a temp-to-hire or contract staffing solution. Along with this, decide what type of talent you’re looking for, and whether they need to have any specialized skills or unique traits that could impact the way you search for and hire them.
Once you’re clear on what you need, the next step is to research the potential firms you could work with. Check on their website to see what types of opportunities they normally fill and if they have some data on their success rate, typical time to hire, and other key metrics that could impact your search. Many recruiting firms will also explain their recruiting methodology and process on their site, which can give you useful insights into how they source talent.
Finally, after you’ve done this research, it’s important to set up a meeting to talk with one of their recruiters about your hiring needs. Much of recruitment success comes down to relationships and communication, so you want to find a firm that you feel comfortable working with. This meeting is also a great chance to ask any questions you have about their areas of specialization, what sourcing methods they use, how they conduct interviews, and other key aspects of their recruiting process.
FAQs about IT sales recruiting agencies
How much does it cost to hire an IT sales recruiter?
That depends on the role you’re filling and the type of search firm you work with. There are two primary pricing structures used by recruiting firms: retained search and contingency search.
In a retained search model, the recruiter is paid a fixed amount to conduct the search. This usually ends up being around 33-38% of the candidate’s salary, a portion of which is normally paid at the beginning of the search.
Contingent search firms charge a percentage of the hired candidate’s first-year salary, usually in the range of 20-30%. The entire fee is paid at the end, after they’ve made a successful placement.
What is the benefit of using a recruiting firm instead of hiring in-house?
While recruiters do charge for their services, they also mean your HR team can focus on other aspects of their job instead of searching for and hiring new employees. This is a benefit in and of itself, and for some companies also translates to lower overall costs associated with hiring.
The speed and quality of hires is often improved by utilizing an agency, as well. Recruiters maintain large networks of potential candidates, some of whom are currently employed and not actively looking for opportunities on job marketplaces. Combined with their expertise about sourcing strategies and the employment landscape, this enables them to identify highly-skilled talent quickly.
How long does it take a recruiter to hire someone for a role?
This varies widely depending on the role. The more expertise or experience a position requires, the longer it typically takes to fill it. Recruiting firms generally can fill positions faster than an in-house team, however. While the average time to fill a position is 36 days, many recruiting firms can present candidates to clients within a week and fill positions in 2-3 weeks.