This post was provided by Claudia Allen, writer and editor at the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE). NACE connects campus recruiting and career services professionals, and provides best practices, trends, research, professional development, and conferences.

Average salaries for directors of college relations and recruiting rose about 11 percent in 2013 to $136,620, according to NACE’s 2013 Recruiting Benchmarks Survey.

The survey of employer-member organizations of the National Association of Colleges and Employers was conducted May 22 – July 31, 2013, and the report was released in early December.
Average salaries for the full-time staff members in respondents’ college relations and recruiting departments included:

  • Manager—$92,642
  • Recruiter—$64,264
  • Coordinator—$46,313

These average salaries continue the trend of relative flat salaries for managers, recruiters, and coordinators, and more pronounced swings for directors over the past six years. (See Figure 1.)
Interestingly, over the six years from 2008 to 2013, average salaries for managers, recruiters, and coordinators peaked in 2011. However, that same year, the average salary for directors dropped $10,000 from 2010, dipping to its second lowest amount during that six-year span.


Other highlights from the report include:

  • Organizations with more than 5,000 employees average five to 12 staff members.
  • The “average” recruiter hires about 90 new college graduates for full-time and internship positions.
  • The top two criteria used to target colleges and universities to recruit are academic majors offered and the perceived quality of the school’s programs.

Highlights from the report are available at www.naceweb.org/surveys/college-recruiting.aspx.

Learn more benchmarks in recruiting at NACEWeb, www.naceweb.org.

Did you know that if you’re a DirectEmployers Member, you have the ability to send surveys to your fellow Members? It’s a great opportunity to get benchmark data for your organization. To learn more, please email MemberServices@DirectEmployers.org.

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