The talent market
Turkey has a large, young and well-educated workforce, concentrated heavily around Istanbul, Ankara, İzmir, Bursa and Kocaeli. Engineering, manufacturing, IT and shared-service functions are all deep. The constraint is almost never whether the people exist.
The constraint is reachability. Job boards in Turkey work reasonably well for junior and high-volume roles and poorly for everything above them. Senior candidates are employed, are not applying, and move through direct approach. If your hiring plan in Turkey consists of posting in English and waiting, you will meet a narrow and self-selected slice of the market.
Language is the second filter people apply too early. Restricting a search to candidates with an English CV removes most of the domestic pool, including people whose spoken English is perfectly adequate for the role. Test the language where the job actually needs it, not at the CV stage.
How pay is negotiated: net, gross and employer cost
Turkish candidates negotiate in net — the amount that arrives in their account. Employers budget in gross, and their actual cost is higher still. The three numbers must be converted deliberately, because the distance between them is not a fixed percentage.
Income tax is cumulative across the tax year. As an employee's cumulative base crosses each bracket, the rate applied to the remainder of the year rises. If the contract fixes gross, take-home falls through the year. If it fixes net, the employer absorbs the difference and the annual cost is higher than twelve times the January figure.
On top of gross sit employer social security and unemployment insurance contributions, at a headline rate of roughly a fifth of the social security base before any statutory incentive discount. Build the position budget on annual total employer cost, not on monthly gross — it is the single most common budgeting error we see.
Contracts, probation and notice
Indefinite-term contracts are the norm; fixed-term contracts require an objective reason and do not become a convenient way to keep someone temporary. A probation period can be agreed, and there are statutory limits on how long it may run.
Statutory notice under Labour Law No. 4857 scales with service: two weeks under six months, four weeks to eighteen months, six weeks to three years and eight weeks beyond that. Notice can be worked or paid in lieu, and pay in lieu is subject to income tax.
Annual paid leave is a statutory minimum of 14 working days after one year of service, rising to 20 days after five years and 26 after fifteen, with a floor of 20 days for employees under 18 or over 50.
What a termination costs
Severance pay is the item foreign employers most often fail to provision for. After one year of service, a qualifying termination entitles the employee to 30 days' gross pay for each year worked, pro-rated for part years, up to a statutory ceiling revised each January and July.
Severance is exempt from income tax and subject only to stamp duty; notice pay in lieu is taxed as ordinary income. Both accrue from the employment relationship itself, not from any decision you make later.
The practical consequence is simple. A hire that does not work out is not free to undo — and that is the number against which the cost of assessing properly before the offer should be compared, not against the cost of the interview process.
How long a search takes
For a specialist or mid-management role reached by direct search, we normally present the first shortlist within about fourteen days of the brief being agreed. Interviews, assessment and references typically add three to five weeks, and the candidate's own notice period adds two to eight weeks on top.
The realistic planning assumption for a manager-level hire in Turkey is therefore two to three months from brief to first day, and longer where the profile is scarce or the location is outside the main industrial regions. Roles that require relocation within Turkey are limited by persuasion, not by supply.
Working with a recruitment agency in Turkey
Fee models fall into three groups. Success-based fees are earned only when the candidate starts. Retained search is invoiced in stages regardless of outcome and is normal for confidential or very senior assignments. Hybrid models take a small engagement fee credited against the final invoice.
The percentage is rarely the important difference between two proposals. Ask instead what the fee is calculated on, how long the replacement guarantee runs and which leaving reasons it covers, how many candidates you are contractually promised and by when, whether you receive written consultant reports or only CVs, and whether assessment is included or billed separately.
We work success-based: no upfront payment, the fee falls due when the candidate starts, and the replacement guarantee runs six months or more on the terms set out in the contract.
This guide is general information for employers, not legal advice. Turkish employment law is detailed and fact-specific — take advice from Turkish counsel before drafting contracts or ending one.