There are three types of recruiters used to hire business professionals:
Corporate Recruiter – They are on the payroll of an organization most often in the HR department. They do not get paid extra to find assess, and present viable candidates to the hiring manager – it’s their job. Even though these folks know a lot about the organization, that particular department, and likely the hiring manager and his or her style, they aren’t going to give you inside information, unless of course they are an old friend or former colleague. In that case the inside info will be shared via personal cell phone, certainly not in an email from their work address.
Independent Retained Search Firm Recruiter – These tend to be used more for executive level C suite positions. They will carefully vet candidates and present several. They get paid a flat fee whether their client, the employer, hires any of them. Their only risk is that they won’t retained by that organization again if they don’t come up with viable candidates or miss a critical negative in their background that disqualifies them from consideration.
Independent Contingency Recruiter – These folks only get paid if they place someone and that payment comes from the employer, not the job candidate. Their fee is often about 30% of the first year salary. This is a highly competitive environment as other independent contingency recruiters are vying for the placement fee.
I have worked with all three types as a candidate, as a hiring manager, and as a career coach. Most are very good at what they do and operate with great integrity. One thing you need to know, they do not work for you the candidate. They are ethically and contractually bound to represent the employer who is paying their fee. Some do a good job of helping their candidates with resume and interview preparation, but most do not.
If a candidate has any experience in the industry and job area they are applying for it’s generally expected they have had a professional help create their resume and coach them through and after the interview, including evaluating and negotiating the offer. Again, the recruiter works for the employer, so she is not going to negotiate on your behalf, it would be a conflict of interest.
Bottom Line: With the amount of money at stake, and the time you devote to conducting a thorough job search, the ROI derived from hiring an experienced career coach at the start of your search is excellent. Landing a job is one thing; landing your ideal job is quite another - don’t settle.
Frank Manfre
Job Search Sherpa
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