I will say unless you are a direct recruiter for a huge industry like Kelly services, you work on commission. The key is to find clients that do short term jobs such as 6-12 months, when their contract is up they will come back to you for another placement. However, you are at their expense they could reach out to 50 recruiters and first one to land them the job gets paid. It’s cut throat af lol. Another aspect is you might get them a job for 54 dollars an hr and you agree to pay them 50hr. You are making 4 buck an hr for every hour they work, not to shabby if you have let’s say 20 contracts in place. Which is next to impossible as one human. Bottom line is unless you OWN the company you are working for you are splitting that 4 dollars down. He’s at the bottom of the pole, most companies unless you are in the top will pay you a set rate, find this person a job you get 800 bucks, 1500 whatever, you just never know when the next placement you will make is. It’s seriously so stressful could be another reason he’s giving himself stomach issues. If I were him with a degree in finance I’d be doing some accounting for these people not recruiting or sales.