Becoming an independent recruiter in Belgium: the complete guide

Becoming an independent recruiter in Belgium comes down to a few clear steps: you choose your route, you run the numbers, you make a clean exit from your employer, you set up a BV (private limited company) and you sort out your social contributions and insurance. If you bill solidly, you’ll soon keep a good deal more than you would as an employee. And you don’t have to do it alone.

Almost every week, I get the same questions from a senior recruiter who’s on the fence. Is this my moment? What will I keep? Am I even allowed to, with my contract? And where do I start? In this guide, you’ll find the answers, step by step, and with each step the piece that goes deeper.

Is it for you?

Going independent isn’t a question of nerve. If you’re ready, you can usually already see it in your own work. Vince and I look at five signs:

• You’re your own driving force. You pick up the phone on a Monday in August too, when nobody’s watching.
• You’ve got miles on the clock. You’ve been through a bad quarter before, and you know how you react to it.
• You know every part of the trade. From winning clients and defending your fee to the counteroffer and the first day at work.
• Your billing already proves it. Steady, even in a tougher year.
• Your clients call you, not your agency. They have a relationship with you, not just with your employer’s logo.

If you recognise yourself in most of them, you’re well on your way. If you don’t recognise yourself in all of them yet, that’s not a no, but a reason to prepare properly. All the signs, and when you’re better off waiting a little longer, are in When is the right time to go independent?

Choose your route

If you want to go independent, you usually see two options: start alone or set up your own agency. There’s a third.

• Freelance, completely on your own. Everything you bill comes into your own BV, and you decide everything yourself. But everything falls on you too: your clients, your invoices, your tools and the client who goes around you.
• Your own agency with staff. You build a team and earn on their work too. But it’s a different job: you become a manager, and salaries and rent keep running every month. If that’s the road you want to take, we’ll point you to Greystone Partners.
• A platform like Shortlist. You work as an independent through your own BV, with your own clients and your own diary, but on a sales floor, with your tools and a back office that handles everything but the calls. In return, you give up part of your margin.

To find out which one fits you, read Freelance, your own agency or a platform: which route suits you?

What do you keep?

It’s the first question in every conversation, and the answer is no black box. Take Lotte, a senior recruiter. Today she’s an employee, on €3,000 gross a month, around €18,000 commission a year and a package with a car, a phone, hospitalisation insurance and group insurance. She bills €240,000 a year.

Through her own BV at Shortlist, she keeps around €6,550 net a month, compared with €3,140 today. She still has her car, her phone, her hospitalisation insurance and her pension, because her BV pays for them.

At Shortlist, it works per bracket: you keep 50% of your first €100,000 billing, 60% of the next €100,000 and 75% of everything above that. The more you bill, the smaller the share you give up. With Lotte’s salary and package, from around €150,000 billing you keep more than you would as an employee.

You’ll see how that gets from billing to your bank account in How much does an independent recruiter earn? How to take money out of your BV smartly, with your salary, dividend and VVPR-⁠bis, is covered in Director’s pay or dividend. And you can work out your own figure in a minute in the calculator.

Your exit: notice and non-⁠compete

Before you do anything else, read your contract. Two things determine your timing: your notice period and any non-⁠compete clause.

If you resign, you give notice: from one week in your first months to thirteen weeks at most once you have eight years’ service. During your notice, you can prepare, but not compete.

A non-⁠compete clause only applies if it meets strict conditions, and it depends on your salary: if you earn €44,447 or less a year in 2026, it doesn’t apply. In our trade, your contract often contains a non-⁠solicitation clause too. And one rule always holds: you never take your employer’s client lists and CVs with you.

Everything about your notice, the salary thresholds and what you can and can’t do is in Non-⁠compete clause and notice. This is general information, not legal advice: have your contract checked before you resign.

Setting up your BV

Almost every independent recruiter works through their own BV, and at Shortlist it’s the rule. If you bill solidly, you pay a good deal less tax that way than as a sole trader.

You need a financial plan, starting capital in an account in your BV’s name and a notarial deed. Then come your enterprise number, the UBO register, your social insurance fund and invoicing via Peppol. Count on around €2,700 and a few weeks. Contribute your capital in cash: then you can later pay out dividends at 18% instead of 30%.

In Flanders, you don’t need a licence for recruitment and selection. In Brussels and Wallonia, you do need to register.

You’ll find how to set up your BV step by step in Setting up a BV as a recruiter. What each region requires is covered in Do you need a licence for recruitment and selection?

At Shortlist, you set up your BV through our regular partner Baker Tilly, in your first weeks. Still looking for an accountant? We’ll introduce you to one. And we send your invoices to clients, via Peppol.

Social contributions, pension and insurance

As an employee, you could count on your employer for your safety net. As an independent, you sort it out yourself, and that’s where most of the surprises lie.

• Social contributions. You pay 20.5% on your income up to around €75,000 and 14.16% on the part up to around €110,500. Watch out in your first years: you first pay provisional contributions, and the adjustment follows two years later. Pay on your real income from the start and you won’t get a surprise.
• Your pension. As an independent, you build up less statutory pension. You top it up yourself, with a VAPZ (supplementary pension for the self-⁠employed) and a pension through your BV.
• Falling ill. Your health insurance fund pays a fixed amount that’s far below your income. Guaranteed income insurance covers the gap, and it’s the most important one you’ll take out.
• Hospitalisation. You can take your employer’s policy with you. When you leave, you have 30 days to say so.

What you pay and what you build up is in Social contributions and pension when you’re self-⁠employed. Which insurance you really need is in What insurance do you need when you’re self-⁠employed?

At Shortlist, you’ll find our regular broker in your member portal, and they’ll sort it out with you.

Your first months

Your first fee won’t come in the first week. Your candidates often have weeks or months of notice, and your client only pays after your invoice. So build a buffer of three to six months of fixed costs. And feel free to leave the profit from your first years in your BV: as soon as VVPR-⁠bis applies, you pay it out at 18%.

The most important thing is to start calling straight away. Anyone who spends their first weeks on admin is only pushing back their first fee.

At Shortlist, we organise your start together: your market defined, your database filled, Bullhorn and LinkedIn Recruiter set up on day one. On average, you’re already billing after four weeks.

Independent, but not alone

Vince and I started Shortlist because a route was missing: being independent without having to go it alone. You work through your own BV, with your own clients, with no manager and no targets. What you get on top:

• A sales floor in Antwerp, Ghent, Brussels or Amsterdam, among other seniors who bill. With a leaderboard, competition and energy.
• Your tools on day one: your database, Bullhorn and LinkedIn Recruiter.
• A back office. We send your invoices and chase them until your client pays, and your terms are ready to go.
• Backdoors. An automated system tracks them down. If we find one, we decide on the approach together, and we take the legal step.
• Mentoring. Vince and me, with 25 years of recruitment and selection between us, peer sessions with other seniors and a knowledge base full of scripts and market knowledge.
• Support when things get tough. In a dispute with a client, we stand by you until it’s resolved.
• No fixed costs. You give up a share of what you bill. Bill nothing for a month and you pay nothing either.
• Everything in one place. In your member portal, you see your fees and invoices and find our regular partners for your insurance, your car and your accountant.

Let’s not be naive about it: in return, you give up part of your margin. In the end, Shortlist keeps around 25 to 30%. But you win it back: in time that goes into calling instead of admin, in backdoors you’d never spot on your own and through a floor that keeps you sharp. You’ll find exactly how that works in Why work with Shortlist?

Becoming an independent recruiter in eight steps

1. Test yourself against the five signs. Read When is the right time to go independent?
2. Choose your route: alone, with your own agency or through Shortlist.
3. Run the numbers in the calculator.
4. Read your contract and have your non-⁠compete clause checked if you’re unsure.
5. Build a buffer of three to six months of fixed costs.
6. Hand in your notice in writing, stating the start date and the length.
7. Set up your BV during your notice, with capital in cash.
8. Sort out your safety net: your social insurance fund, guaranteed income insurance and your hospitalisation insurance.

At Shortlist, we do steps 7 and 8 with you, and you’re on a floor as soon as your notice ends.

Let’s not be naive about it

Going independent isn’t for everyone. Your security changes: there’s no employer to keep paying you when you’re ill, your statutory pension is lower and your net income moves with what you bill. You feel a strong year straight away, and a lean year too.

But if you recognise the signs, have a buffer and sort out your safety net, you make the leap with your eyes open. And if you don’t want to carry everything alone, you don’t have to.

Frequently asked questions

How much does an independent recruiter earn?

That depends on what you bill and how you pay yourself. Lotte bills €240,000 a year and keeps around €6,550 net a month through her BV at Shortlist. You can see your own figure in the calculator.

Do you need a BV?

Working as a sole trader is possible too, and simpler to start. But if you bill solidly, you usually keep more through a BV. At Shortlist, you work through your own BV.

Do you need a licence?

Not in Flanders, for recruitment and selection. In Brussels and Wallonia you do need to register, and for temporary agency work you need a licence everywhere.

Can I take my clients with me?

Your experience and what you know go with you. Your employer’s client lists, CVs and notes don’t. Whether you can approach their clients depends on your contract: a valid non-⁠compete or non-⁠solicitation clause can restrict that for a while.

What’s the difference between a freelance and an independent recruiter?

Either way, you work on your own account. By a freelance recruiter, people often mean someone who handles hiring for a single company on a day rate. As an independent recruiter in recruitment and selection, you earn from the fees on your placements. This guide is about the latter.

This is general information, not personal legal or tax advice.

Curious what you’d keep? Work it out in the calculator, or have a chat with me about it via Join us.

Sources

• Your notice and the non-⁠compete clause, with the 2026 salary thresholds: FPS Employment, termination with notice (in Dutch) and the non-⁠compete clause (in Dutch).
• Setting up a BV, steps and costs: VLAIO (in Dutch) and Partena Professional (in Dutch).
• No licence for recruitment and selection in Flanders: Vlaanderen.be.
• Social contributions for the self-⁠employed in 2026: FPS Social Security (in Dutch).
• VVPR-⁠bis rising to 18%: KPMG.
• Continuing your hospitalisation insurance: Vanbreda.

Lotte’s figures are calculated with the model behind our calculator. Amounts rounded.