Recruiting firms are popular in the corporate world. They are used to find and recruit new and established talent to corporations. This might include finding new talent fresh from graduation or seeking talent already making a name at another company. Headhunting is sometimes what this is referred to, and regardless how you feel about it; it’s a profitable business. These five recruiting firms are some of the richest in the world.
Adecco – $19.5 billion
This Swiss company is a multinational company created to find the best employees in the world. It has more than 30,000 employees worldwide and a total of 5,500 offices across the world. In 1996, two companies called Adia and Ecco merged and formed Adecco. The company has annual revenue of $19.5 billion.
Randstad Holding – $16.6 billion
This company was founded in 1960 in the Netherlands, where it is currently headquartered. The company is partially owned by Vedior, and has been since 2008. In 2012 alone, the company profited more than $36 billion. Randstad now emplys more than 29,000 people in dozens of countries.
Vedior – $7.6 billion
This international staffing and recruitment company is worth more than $7.6 billion. The company has offices located all over the world, though 60 percent of those are located in places such as Europe and North America. It’s also been a partial owner of Randstad Holding for the past 6 years, though Randstad manages to earn more revenue than Vedior each year.
USG People – $3 billion
Like most major recruiting firms, USG is not headquartered in the US. It’s a Dutch-based company with offices in 13 countries around the world. It’s a smaller company, but based on the number of people working for the company, their prices and their successes, it’s one of the richest in the world, as well as one of the most valuable in the world.
Hays PLC – $719 million
This British recruiting firm was founded in 1867. The company has offices in 33 countries, including the United States and Mexico. This is a company that doesn’t focus as much on permanent employment or headhunting, but more so in the temporary employment sector, which is why it doesn’t have quite the same earnings as other companies, but it’s not doing too badly.
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