A third-party recruiter can work on one's own or through an agency,and acts as an independent contact between their client companies and the candidates they recruit for a position. They can specialize in client relationships only (sales or business development), in finding candidates (recruiting or sourcing), or in both areas.

Most recruiters tend to specialize in permanent or full-time, direct hire positions or contract positions, but occasionally in both. In an executive search assignment, the client hiring company, not the job seeker, pays the search firm its fee.