Why Fill Rates Deserve More Attention in Your Agency
Most agencies take the easy way out when looking at metrics, it's easy to focus on surface-level activity: jobs on, CVs sent, interviews booked. Quantity metrics that old school recruiters feel if you do enough you will get the results. But when that doesn't happen or it takes more than usual to achieve targets, little more is looked at to understand why.
The one metric every agency needs to put to the top of the list is Fill Rate (%). Fill rates are a clear measure of effectiveness. It shows whether consultants are managing the process well, whether your clients are engaged, and whether your agency is delivering outcomes, not just effort.
Recent analysis across Recruiter Insider data uncovered something crucial: consultants with higher fill rates aren’t taking on more jobs they’re simply working smarter. In fact, they often manage fewer roles but fill significantly more.
This isn't a theory. It’s backed by real numbers.
What does a low fill rate actually mean?
If roles aren’t converting, something is off. Is the brief unclear? Is the client slow? Or is the consultant missing key skills that drive a job to placement?
Across thousands of placements, Recruiter Insider data shows that consultants in the top quartile of fill rate performance score:
- 22% higher on client-rated communication
- 19% higher on managing candidate expectations
- And most notably, 38% higher on “explained the interview process and timeframes” the single strongest predictor of candidate engagement and job fill success
Low fill rates often point to avoidable breakdowns in process and communication. Recruiter Insider captures candidate and client feedback at every stage of the hiring process, so you can pinpoint where a consultant is underperforming and why.
High fill rates don’t require higher workloads
Here’s where the numbers challenge a common assumption: top performers aren’t the ones with the most jobs.
In fact, our data showed that:
- Consultants in the bottom quartile often worked 1.6x more roles than those in the top quartile
- Yet they delivered fewer fills overall
- Their time was spread thin across too many low-probability roles, reducing control and conversion
This is a workload problem and a productivity one.
High performers work fewer roles, but with more structure, clarity, and control. They choose better jobs, ask better questions, and manage the process more effectively from start to finish.
Recruiter Insider helps you surface this contrast highlighting who’s spinning wheels and who’s converting effort into outcome.
The commercial impact of improved fill rates
Raising fill rates doesn’t require more clients or more consultants, it requires better decisions and sharper execution.
A team with an average fill rate of 35% moving to 45% can generate hundreds of thousands in additional revenue from the same amount of jobs.
Better fill rates also drive:
- Higher revenue per consultant
- Reduced time-to-fill and client frustration
- Less wasted effort on low-potential work
- Clearer coaching opportunities based on real feedback
And because Recruiter Insider ties skill-level feedback directly to fill outcomes, you can quantify what improving a single behaviour like explaining timeframes actually does for a consultant’s placement rate. In many cases, a single skill improvement lifted fill rate by 7 to 11 percentage points.
How Recruiter Insider helps solve it
To improve fill rates, you need clarity on consultant performance, client behaviour, and the process itself.
Recruiter Insider delivers this through:
- Real-time feedback from candidates and clients, linked to every job
- Consultant-level performance dashboards, showing where individuals excel and where they lose ground
- Fill rate breakdowns by consultants, teams and clients
- Uplift modelling, so you can see which behavioural improvements lead to tangible fill gains
Instead of guessing why a role wasn’t filled or why a consultant is falling behind, you can act with confidence.
And with clear evidence, it becomes easier to coach, prioritise jobs, and manage consultant workload more effectively.
Finally…
Fill rates are more than a number; it's a direct reflection of consultant capability, process quality, and how well time is being used.
Recruiter Insider gives you the data to act on that. You’ll see where your consultants are strong, where they need support, and how to shift focus from activity to outcomes.
If you want to lift performance, protect revenue, and reduce wasted effort, improving fill rates is the most effective place to start.
Come talk to us and we will show you how focusing we provide the data insights you need to lift fill rates and be more profitable.
Book a demo here - https://bit.ly/4ghiMOy
