As a recruiter, it’s likely you use a whole variety of different software and tools daily to support you in doing this admin-heavy job. In fact, it’s hard to imagine how anyone did this job effectively before recruitment tech came about!
When you’re using a recruitment tool you find particularly helpful, it’s likely you’ll want to recommend it to others — maybe a client or even a fellow recruiter, for example.
And what if you could get paid for doing it?
Nowadays, a lot of recruiters use affiliate marketing as a way to earn additional income, generate new leads, and build their brand as an innovative recruiter in the know about the latest tech tools.
By partnering with the right HR and recruitment companies, you can promote innovative solutions to your network that you believe in while reaching a wider audience of potential clients.
In this guide, we’ll explore the best HR and recruitment affiliate programs available right now that will help you find the perfect partnership to boost your recruitment efforts (and your income).
But first, what exactly is a recruitment affiliate program and how does it work?
What is a recruitment affiliate program?
Essentially, affiliate programs are a marketing tactic that involves brands partnering up with people (aka ‘affiliates’) in order to reach potential new customers. In return, affiliates receive benefits like a commission or a reward for promoting the brand.
In recruitment and HR, there are lots of affiliate programs run by technology brands, where recruiters can sign up to promote the tools they use within their network. Here’s how it works:
- Companies invite recruiters and HR people to join as an affiliate
- Recruiters (affiliates) promote the company across their networks (e.g. social media, email, website) using a unique affiliate link or code
- The company tracks how many new leads come in through that unique link or code and reward the recruiter with commission.
Affiliate programs are also a great way to establish your reputation as a forward-thinking recruiter in the know. Recruitment is all about building strong partnerships — whether that’s with candidates, with clients or brands — and affiliate marketing is a great way to do this.
Here are 8 of the best affiliate programs I know of currently on the HR and recruitment market.
8 of the best affiliate programs for recruiters
1. Carv
Product category: AI-powered recruitment solution.
Affiliate program benefits: Attractive commission structure, access to marketing materials, and ongoing support.
Carv is an AI-powered recruitment solution that helps recruiters reduce admin and improve the candidate experience by taking all the admin hassle out of intake calls and interviews.
Carv rewards affiliate partners — which we call ‘Brand Ambassadors’ — with a €100 flat fee for every promotional post that generates 1k+ organic impressions. On top of this, you can also earn 20% commission on any new paying user you refer with your unique referral link.
If you were to refer 100 new customers who sign up to Carv’s Recruitment Pro plan, this would mean earning up to €1200 per month in additional income just for sharing your link with the right people.
So it’s a real win-win: you help recruiters who you know would really benefit from using Carv to reduce their admin workload, and earn some hard cash in exchange.
Join Carv’s here: https://www.carv.com/partner-program/brand-ambassador
2. Manatal
Product category: Recruitment software platform designed to streamline the recruitment process.
Affiliate program benefits: Uncapped commission, no minimum sales requirement, personal affiliate dashboard.
Manatal is an all-in-one recruitment software platform. It comes with a variety of tools and features, including a full ATS and CRM, that are designed to help recruiters and HR professionals manage their recruitment activities more efficiently and effectively.
Manatal’s affiliate program is pretty robust, with a 20% monthly payment dished out for every successful referral for the first year of their contract. You also get access to your own personal dashboard where you can keep track of the revenue you’re generating with your unique link.
It’s worth mentioning that Manatal will only pay out once you earn over $100 USD in commission. With the cheapest package costing just $15 per month, it might take a little bit of time before you can start earning.
Join here: https://www.manatal.com/affiliate-program
3. BambooHR
Product category: Human Resource Information System (HRIS).
Affiliate program benefits: Competitive commissions, ongoing training, and co-marketing opportunities.
BambooHR is a cloud-based software that simplifies HR tasks like onboarding, payroll management talent management and performance management by hosting everything on one platform.
If you’re an agency recruiter or independent recruiter, recommending software like BambooHR to your clients could become a real cash cow, as Bamboo HR’s commission rate is 30%.
Interestingly, BambooHR also offer additional benefits to any new users you refer to them, which makes it more attractive when marketing to your networks. So when you’re promoting your unique referral link, you can tell them they’ll get priority activation going through you so they get up-and-running faster than other new users and exclusive referral-only discounts too.
Join here: https://partners.bamboohr.com/referral-program/
4. JazzHR
Product category: ATS platform focused on efficiency and data analysis.
Affiliate program benefits: Tiered commission structure, product resell option, and access to webinars and training materials.
JazzHR is an ATS hiring platform that offers a user-friendly platform with powerful search and filtering tools. It’s specifically focussed on serving small businesses, and relies quite heavily on their affiliate program for generating new customers.
This is why they offer a pretty meaty program with a few additional options compared to other ATS brands.
For example, you have a tiered commission structure depending on how much revenue you’ve generated. Every affiliate starts off as a Gold Partner, where they earn 20% of the net revenue from any paying customers they refer. Once you’ve generated more than $3,000 USD in recurring revenue, you’re upgraded to Platinum Partner, where you earn 25%.
As a partner, you can also resell JazzHR products to people in your network, where you state your own price and generate a monthly revenue from their subscription.
Join here: https://www.jazzhr.com/partner-program/
5. Recruitee
Product category: Modern and mobile-friendly ATS platform for in-house recruitment and HR teams
Affiliate program benefits: Decent commissions, recurring revenue potential, and dedicated affiliate support.
Recruitee is a collaborative hiring tool that helps in-house recruitment teams streamline the process of hiring candidates by making it super easy to collaborate fully on one hiring platform.
As a SaaS product, Recruitee is known for providing a great experience for candidates and recruiters due to its simple, user-friendly interface.
By joining their partner program and promoting Recruitee amongst your network, you’ll earn 20% commission on all plan payments for the first year of contract on any new clients you refer to them.
The company runs its affiliate program through a third-party software called PartnerStack, so you need to sign up for an account in order to get access and generate your unique referral link.
Join here: https://recruitee.partnerstack.com/
6. Workable
Product category: Collaborative hiring platform
Affiliate program benefits: Access to pre-prepared marketing tools, performance tracking, brand growth opportunities.
Workable is a cloud-based collaborative hiring and employee management platform designed to help teams collaborate effectively throughout the whole hiring process.
Once you start referring new clients to Workable through their affiliate program, they’ll add you to their partner ecosystem which will help you gain more visibility for your brand. For example, you’ll be added to their partner directory, or they might publish your partner testimonial on their website.
Join here: https://www.workable.com/partnership-program/hr-consultants-partners
7. Loxo
Product category: Background screening and verification platform
Affiliate program benefits: Custom training, 2-way marketing opportunities, and generous rewards.
Loxo is a cloud-based software that simplifies the background check process for recruiters.
Rather than using an affiliate code or link when promoting Loxo to your network the process is a bit more manual. When you promote Loxo to your network and someone shows interest, you fill out the referral form to introduce your client to Loxo.
Loxo’s set-up is a bit more like a referral program than an affiliate program, but it’s worth mentioning here as it comes with some great perks. Not only can you earn 10% commision on each customer you refer (up to $500 in total and only for the first year of their contract) but you also get other benefits and rewards in exchange for your recommendation.
For example, they offer partners (what they call ‘Loxo Champions’) custom free training, branded swag and the option to exchange commission for money off your contract. They also offer partners the opportunity of free marketing by sharing their company story on the Loxo website, or being a guest on their podcast.
Join here: https://loxo.co/referrals/
8. RecruitCRM
Product category: End-to-end ATS + CRM system
Affiliate program benefits: Payout based on qualified leads, not customers, high commission rates, affiliate dashboard for tracking.
RecruitCRM is an end-to-end ATS + CRM system designed to help recruiters and executive search firms manage and hire candidates.
Their affiliate program is quite different to the other ones mentioned in this list for one pretty major reason: They pay out commission on qualified leads you refer, regardless of whether they become a customer or not.
According to their website, commission starts at $100 per referral, so working with RecruitCRM could potentially generate you a tidy side income.
As a partner, you’ll also be given marketing material to make promotion easier, a dashboard to track your links and generated income in real-time and also access to a support team member so you can ask questions as you go.
Join here: https://recruitcrm.io/affiliate-program-sign-up/
Which recruitment affiliate program should I choose?
With so many affiliate programs to choose from, which ones should you sign up to? The first deciding factor would be, which tools do you actually use?
For most of the programs mentioned in this list, you don’t technically need to be an active user of the technology to qualify as an affiliate partner. However, would you want to recommend a tool to your clients that you can’t confidently say provides a good experience?
The whole point in referrals is that you’re vouching for the technology, so promoting a tool you have no experience of using could come back to bite you if it doesn’t live up to your hype.
The good news is, most of the tools in this list come with a free trial or freemium version, which gives you time to dive in and get to know the software and its perks before you begin shouting about it to your network.
Ready to start earning from affiliate commissions? Sign up for Carv for free, try it out, and apply here when you're ready to become a partner.