Jan 04 2009
Who Has Your Best Interests At Heart?
There are basically three types of recruiters. With record numbers of unemployed professionals, recruiters are being bombarded, and job seekers get confused about who they should follow up with on legitimate jobs. So, here is a breakdown of the types of recruiters out there, and which one(s) will be the most motivated to help *you* out.
- Corporate Recruiters
Employed by the company on behalf *of* the company. Can be contract or full time employees themselves.
- Retained/Direct Placement
“Headhunter” – for full time jobs. Can work for the direct placement (full-time direct hire) arm of an agency.
- Agency Recruiters
Placing contract employees on site. They are in reality the employer to the candidate.
Lets look at economics, which dictates the level of interest a recruiter will have in helping *you*.
Corporate Recruiters – salaried regardless of placements.
Headhunter/Direct Placement
Paid on a contractual fee for placements. Range varies, often between 10-25% (or more) of the anticipated first year’s salary. Sometimes work on contingency structure for very difficult to fill positions.
Contract Agencies (recruiters make bonuses in addition to base pay)
Charges a percentage over what they pay the employee to the client. For example, the employee makes $24/hour and the agency charges the company $34 for each hour the contractor works.
A direct placement/headhunter recruiter is absolutely going to look out for your best interests, because their compensation depends on *your* salary. Since they generally get a percentage of the first year’s salary, the more money they negotiate for *you*, the more money they get paid.
A corporate recruiter wants you to be a happy employee, and to that end wants to make sure that the salary they offer you is going to be fair and enticing enough for you to accept, while maintaining internal equity (existing team members) and keeping the amount within the budgeted amount. Generally there is a wide range for the pay grade and they aim for the “midpoint”, which can be loosely considered the “average” for the range.
Contract/temp agencies want to pay you fair market value, but they will try and offer you the least amount of money, since they make their profit based on the difference between what they bill the client and what they pay you.
It’s very important to understand that almost every position has a specific pay scale. This isn’t some arbitrary amount; it is carefully calculated based on factors such as industry, location, job content, the people that are in the job currently doing the same thing, cost of living changes, and issues such as relocation. Corporate recruiters have the most control over negotiating salary, and direct placement recruiters generally work directly with Corporate recruiters/HR departments. Agencies are generally given a maximum range for the amount a client is willing to pay for a contractor. How much they offer you is completely dependent on their profit margin guidelines.
Hopefully this will help you figure out the best recruiter inquiries to answer when you open your New Year’s email for all those great opportunities waiting for you.
