Headhunter agenciesI am curious as to how these agencies work. I have never signed up for any of them, but three or four have called me, e-mail me, etc. One of them set up an interview for me with a company that I had prior knowledge of and was intending to get in touch with myself (as I worked with many of the people there, including the founder, with another company). The interview went great, but was basically told that they didnt want to hire me as they would have to pay the agency 25% of my yearly salary. I don't blame the company at all, as that is a ridiculous amount of money to pay someone who made a few phone calls and sent a few e-mails. Especially since I was going to contact the company myself anyhow (and the owner told me he heard I was in the market, and planned on getting in touch with me too). So now, thanks to this guy who claimed he wanted to help me out, I am still unemployed. Any ideas as to what can be done here, in circumventing this guy and his ridiculous 25% expectations? Is this 25% the indiustry norm?
Help please!!! Boofa_Ellie, "Is this 25% the industry norm?" I'm afraid so. This happened at the last company I worked for. I was hired as an Office Manager/Bookkeeper at $38,000 per year, so the recruiter got a whopping $9,500.00 for me. And that entailed me going in to see her, do a half hour interview (no testing, and long applications, as it was a direct hire, permanent position, not a temp). I knew I wasn't going to last there after a few days. I left that company the end of August after four months, and as odd as it may seem, the only reason I stayed that long is that I wanted the recruiter to get her fee. The two accounting/office management people hired the few months before me had only lasted two weeks, and four days respectively. The girl he had hired as Marketing Manager about two months before I started walked out a few weeks after I started, and the owner of the company threatened not to pay the recruiter's fee for her when the 90 days came up. (The amount was only a little more than mine.) This owner was the only person in my 30+ year career that I could actually not work for. I seriously think he suffered from ADDS, and would have won The Micro-Manager of the Year Award hands down. I agree that the 25% is obscene. (But then, so was the $35.00 per hour one temp agency billed the person I worked for last year, when they only paid me $20.00 per hour). In my last job, however, I feel the recruiter really worked for her fee, as she had to put up with a lot of bull from my former boss. From what I have heard transpire, I would have stopped dealing with him as a customer, period. I wish it was easier to try and get to the gatekeepers without the intervention of all the agencies, etc, but I think that's being a little too optimistic. From what I have been seeing, daily, from the various job sites I access, the agencies (temp, as well as direct hire) are the ones controlling the jobs in about 80% of the cases. Most of the time you can't even figure out the companies they are representing, or if the jobs are even legit, or just to get you in their databases. Then, if you do manage to find out who their customer is, you can't go to them directly. I wish I had an answer. Maybe someone else does...
Having worked as an in-house recruiter and arecruitment consultant I see it from both sides. The fact thatyou did not apply directly to the company and went through the headhunter leaves the firm responsible for paying the 25% fee. There is a solution - Talk with the owner of the company and explain that you really want to work for him Havethe company that wants to hire you negotiate a 15% fee with theheadhunter. 15% is better than nothing and they will usually flywith it. Good luck Personal site was removed broke Terms of Use. | |
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