Recruiting is judgment under time pressure, and an agency writes most of it down. A client sends a req, the account manager takes the intake call and writes up what the hiring manager really wants, recruiters source and screen, submittals go over with a paragraph on why each candidate fits, feedback comes back, interviews are scheduled, and an offer is negotiated. The ATS holds every step, and the email and notes around it hold the reasons.
That is what makes an agency's archive interesting to AI buyers, and also what makes it delicate. The process knowledge, the intake notes, the screening rubrics and the placement outcomes are valuable. The candidates' resumes and personal details are the part every buyer says it strips out. micro1 names recruiting firms outright, and Endless lists candidate and client pipeline, sourcing, screening and placements as in scope with candidate personal data removed.
This hub is for owners of perm placement, contract and temp staffing, and executive search firms with ten or more internal staff. It covers what buyers ask for, what stays out, which buyers fit an agency your size, and how temp, perm and search records differ. Sub-pages take each model in turn.
Worth
What a agency's data may be worth
Set for a typical agency, 35 staff and 10 years of records. Move the sliders to match yours. Our estimate, not an offer.
Buyers
Which buyers want this data
Buyers whose own published rules fit staffing and recruiting agencies. We can introduce you to the ones we work with.
Featured partners
micro1
Names "BPOs & Recruiting firms" as a target industry, and asks for CRM and workflow metadata, which is what an ATS holds.1,3
- $100K to $2M+, micro1 says9
Watch out for: Says it removes personal details only "when relevant", so ask exactly how.12
Polyshares
Buys CRM, email and call recordings, and uses a third-party partner to scrub personal data before licensing.13,14
- $100K to $2M+, Polyshares says10
- None, Polyshares says15
- An offer in 1 to 2 weeks, then paid in 30 to 60 days16
Watch out for: Exclusive by default, and every deal it lists is exclusive with no end date.17,18
Everyone else we reviewed
By score, with full reviews. We have no referral agreement with these companies, so we do not link out to them.
Mercor
Connects to Outlook, Gmail, Teams and Salesforce, where recruiter and client correspondence sits.19
Watch out for: It confirmed a cyberattack in 2026, and class actions followed.23,24
Nyne AI
Buys Salesforce and HubSpot data, the CRMs many agencies use beside the ATS for client development.25
- $100K or more, Nyne says26
Watch out for: Pays only after the dataset is accepted, and publishes no timeline.27
Who wants this
Do buyers want staffing and recruiting agencies?
No buyer publishes prices by industry, but their own intake forms show which industries they rate higher.
- Troveo puts something else (staffing is not listed) in its third of four demand tiers: "Standard buyer demand for your industry."28
- Polyshares takes staffing and recruiting, without marking it premium.29
- VMS, a broker, gives staffing or bpo standard weight when it estimates value.30
Which buyers take a agency your size
Shown for 35 staff, a typical agency. Ask whether contractors and part-time staff count.
micro1
Polyshares
No headcount rule; the length and texture of the record matter more33
Mode
20+ full-time US office staff (accounting firms 10+, law firms 6+)34
Pewter
20+ staff and 3+ years35
Grepped
No headcount minimum stated36
Ventra
30+ US employees and 3+ years of records37
Mercor
None stated38
Troveo
No minimum stated; its estimator starts at 2039
Nyne
20+ US W-2 employees and 3+ years40
Endless
Roughly 30+ employees41
Supersoniq
50+ employees and 5+ years42
What buyers value
What in a agency's records buyers value
What buyers look for in your records, and what to talk through with your buyer before anything leaves your systems.
| Data | Where it lives | Why a buyer values it | Raise with the buyer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Job orders and intake notes | ATS (Bullhorn, JobAdder, Crelate) | What the client asked for versus what they really needed, written before the search starts. | Client company names and confidential searches. |
| Submittal write-ups | ATS, email | A short argument for why each candidate fits a specific role, the core recruiting skill. | Candidate names, employers and compensation inside each write-up. |
| Interview feedback and placement outcomes | ATS activity log, email | Hiring decisions with reasons, and whether the hire stayed, which links judgment to results. | Feedback that touches protected characteristics. |
| Screening rubrics and interview guides | Shared drive, ATS templates | The agency's own method for assessing a role, clearly owned and free of candidate data. | Nothing specific |
| Business development records | CRM, LinkedIn notes, email | How an agency wins and keeps clients: outreach, rate negotiation and account reviews. | Client contacts' personal details. |
| Recruiter SOPs and training | Wiki, LMS | How the desk works, from sourcing strings to reference checks, and the first thing on micro1's list. | Nothing specific |
Software
Software staffing and recruiting agencies run on
Process
How it works with each buyer
In each buyer's own words. Where a buyer publishes nothing, we say so.
micro1
- Internal docs, SOPs and playbooks, knowledge bases, project management workflows, internal comms, templates, CRM and workflow metadata, task histories3
- 30 to 200 employees32
- $100K-$2M+ per data package; over $1M for unique data9
- PII removed "when relevant"12
- The company keeps ownership of its data and reviews samples before release43
- Not published
Polyshares
Mercor
Selling or closing
Selling or closing your agency? License its data first
When a staffing agency is sold, the buyer usually wants the client relationships and the recruiters. Years of intake notes, rubrics and placement outcomes are a separate asset. Before you sign a deal, ask each licensing company whether the agency's process data can be licensed first, and how candidate records in the ATS will be handled if the ATS itself transfers.2,3
FAQ
Staffing and recruiting agencies: questions, answered
More than most owners expect: job orders, intake notes, rubrics, interview guides, client correspondence, placement outcomes and SOPs. Endless says candidate personal data is stripped and the pipeline, screening and placements stay. Resumes themselves are rarely the point.2
No buyer prices staffing data separately. Published ranges mostly run $100K to $2M, as the buyers' own claims: micro1 states $100K-$2M+, Cognor Labs and Ventra $100K-$2M, and Jottings $100K-$250K for specialized histories up to $1M+ for rare data. Long placement histories with outcomes, and clean separation of candidate data, are what an agency can show to justify the upper end.9,48,49,50
Every business is different, so this one is best talked through with the buyer you're working with. Their team goes over it with you before anything is signed.
Every business is different, so this one is best talked through with the buyer you're working with. Their team goes over it with you before anything is signed.
Before you sign
Questions to talk through with your buyer
Every business is different, so these are best talked through with the buyer you're working with. Their team goes over them with you before anything is signed.
Questions for this kind of business
- How are candidate names, resumes, contact details and compensation removed?
- Do client agreements restrict sharing job orders or interview feedback?
- Could the licensed data be used to build a recruiting product that competes with us?
- How do CCPA, GDPR, UK GDPR and state privacy laws apply, and is de-identified data still personal information?
- How are employee data, union contracts and NLRA questions handled?
- Do customer, vendor or platform contracts, NDAs or API terms restrict this?
Questions for any buyer
- Is the license exclusive, and for how long?
- Can you sublicense the data, and to whom?
- Which AI labs will receive it, and will you tell us?
- How long do you keep it, and how is it deleted?
- What is your liability cap, and who indemnifies whom?
- Will the contract ban re-identification of people in the data?
- Who removes personal data, by what method, and do we approve it first?