Working with recruiters
 

All,

I'm currently looking for a job in IT in NC. (I wouldn't normally recommend moving here without a job -- my circumstances are unusual.)

A few questions about working with recruiters:

- How are they typically paid? I know it's by the employer, but is it a percentage of my salary, or a flat fee, or some other way?
- How upfront should I be about salary expectations? Do I pretend I'm talking to a potential employer, or can I be more open?
- Is there anything else I should know about recruitment that's different from the UK, or is it basically the same game?

Thanks,
CF

Re: Working with recruiters
 

Recruiters can be paid in either way. The best are those who specialize in a particular industry sector, and those in my experience usually paid as a percentage of salary but really not much concern for the job-seeker. My own advice is to be very open with the recruiter on salary expectations (a) first because they will be able to give you a good idea of current market (b) they get paid when the place someone- so it is in their interest to get someone placed. Often I fond indirectly the recruiter gets involved in salary issues- trying to get the job-seeker to be more reasonable or employer more reasonable. If you are seeking sponsorship sometimes that is a factor to consider- the extra cost the employer may incur.

Good luck !

Re: Working with recruiters
 

IT recruiter will likely be payed a % of your salary, but they may have some other arrangement. Likely having a higher salary is win win for both of you.

My experience of recruiter was same here as it was in UK.

Re: Working with recruiters
 

I found that when I used recruiters as an employer, simply the recruiter made their own calculation of (a) probability of hire (b)salary offered vs fees. A good recruiter was really worth paying their fees, though most were flexible in there fees if necessary. I only had one situation where a recruiter offered to lower his fees- without asking- to get someone hired, but in the reverse case I did often in some instances ask the recruiter to lower his fees so I could offer more to the person I wished to hire. But the best advice I can give is find a recruiter who specializes in your industry.

Re: Working with recruiters
 

My experience of recruiters has been exactly the same as back in the UK. Either fantastic or absolutely useless - definitely no middle ground.

Some of the larger tech firms will have their own in house recruiters. The company I work for do and some of the other software firms I applied to all had in house recruitment.

Re: Working with recruiters
 

As a former IT Director responsible for working with HR in finding IT staff, I can offer a little insight. Typically the employer pays a percentage, 20% to 50% of annual salary was the norm for the recruiters who contacted me (in DFW, TX). We were about 150 full-time and 200 part-time employee media entertainment company.
Our company policy at that time was not to use a recruitment agency because of the high cost associated with them. Not a policy I agreed with, but one mandated by the C level team. Given the policy, recruiters (and hence the candidates using them) were not even given a cursory glance. Just something to consider.

Re: Working with recruiters
 

Yes, there are a not insignificant number of employers (particularly, but not exclusively, large companies) who as a matter of policy simply don't accept applications that come through external recruiters. Of course, if you happen to be interested in any of those companies there is nothing to stop you from applying to them directly, but the recruiter isn't going to be of any help in those cases.

Re: Working with recruiters
 

Thanks all for the replies.

Re: Working with recruiters
 

Problem with that, if you have a rubbish recruiter, who carpet bombs your resume to everyone so those companies won't touch you to avoid conflict with fee's. This tends to be more of a issue if you have more than one recruiter.

Re: Working with recruiters
 

In my work we encountered exactly that problem. We found if a recruiter specialized in an industry or particular sector of an industry, generally they were aware of the problem and communicated it to the job-seeker but still job-seekers through the ease of the internet still would sometime send out resumes to us.

Actually we also had issues with contract workers found through a recruiter or agency : telling supervisors under no circumstances would we bypass the rules when hiring such workers full time not to meet the original contract, while workers sometimes would seek to engage in an elaborate subterfuge to meet terms of contract so we didn't have to pay a fee for hiring them.

We saved a ton on HR costs by finding a reputable recruiter and forging a close relationship with them.

Re: Working with recruiters
 

Thanks, I hadn't thought of that. It makes sense, though. I was going to contact every recruiter in town, but I'll limit myself to two (plus direct and and speculative applications of course).