This article was initially published on our parent company's website, Trinnovo Group. Learn more about our sister brands, communities, and Broadgate's place in the wider ecosystem there: https://www.trinnovogroup.com/

When you’re deciding who to trust with your career, your workforce, or your growth strategy, the Net Promoter Score (NPS) is your inside look at how an agency truly delivers.

Recruitment is a people business. Every conversation, introduction, and outcome adds up to an overall experience, and that experience is what the Net Promoter Score (NPS) is designed to measure.

The NPS is measured by asking a simple question: how likely are you to recommend us to a friend or a colleague?

Context Matters

It’s an opportunity to learn about your service from the people who know it best.

In recruitment, experience is part of the product. A candidate might not get the job, a client might pause a search, but what sticks around is how they were treated, and in a relationship-driven industry, that’s what matters most.

Without context, however, the NPS can feel like any old number; you don’t get the ‘why,’ and that’s where the real value is.

This is one of the reasons we adopted the Talent Analytics platform last year. It helps us move beyond the score to see the patterns behind it, including the moments that create advocacy, the touchpoints that build trust, and the small gaps that, when fixed, make all the difference.

The better we understand the results, the more precise we can be when investing in our customer experience.

What is a Good Net Promoter Score?

While benchmarks vary by industry, a score above 30 is considered good, and anything over 50 is classed as excellent.

Across 676 responses this year, Trinnovo Group achieved an NPS of 54.7, placing us in the excellent category and above the typical recruitment industry benchmark of 34.

As a group, we’ve seen steady progress throughout the year as our NPS increased from the low to mid-50s. We’re maintaining that momentum by focusing on the details that make great experiences consistent.

Getting the Full Picture: How to Read a Recruiter’s NPS Score

When you’re looking at the data, you’ll start to see patterns emerge as common themes appear.

For Trinnovo Group’s NPS reporting so far this year, that’s clarity, communication, and follow-through, with promotors describing consultants who are ‘consistently proactive and timely,’ ‘knowledgeable and market-aware,’ and valued for ‘understanding complex briefs and delivering high-quality shortlists.’

Don’t be afraid to ask questions when you’re trying to paint a clearer picture of your prospective talent partner. It’s worth thinking about:

  • When the NPS request is sent out, is it immediately after a placement, or at multiple points during the process? Feedback collected only at the end will skew positive. We send the request at the initial touchpoints of the journey for the most accurate insights.

  • How often results are reviewed – The best recruiters don’t just measure once a year; they track trends and act on them regularly. At Trinnovo, we receive updates each week and a full insights report every quarter, allowing us to spot small changes before they become big issues.


  • The response rate – a strong score means little if it’s based on a handful of replies. A transparent recruiter will be able to tell you how representative their data is.

  • Read beyond the number – The comments and context that come with NPS feedback add depth to the data. It’s worth exploring case studies and testimonials for a more comprehensive understanding of service delivery and customer sentiment.

  • Consistency – A steady or improving score over several quarters shows that client and candidate experience is built into the culture, not treated as a campaign.

An NPS is a useful indicator, but trust is still built by one conversation at a time.

If a score isn’t publicly shared, ask about it. The openness of the response often says more than the number itself.

If you’d like to learn more about how we use NPS in recruitment to improve client and candidate experience, or what partnership looks like with a data-driven talent consultancy, we’d love to start a conversation: https://www.broadgatesearch.com/contact-us