Every day I get the question from at least one person, “How do I hire you to be my recruiter?”
As much as I’d like to help you and be your personal “talent agent”, it just doesn’t work that way.
To clarify, there are very few recruiters out there, if any, that are hired by an individual. If you want to hire someone who can help you position yourself to find your next job, you can hire a career coach and pay them a fee. Most recruiters are hired by the client to find people to fill a specific position in a company, not hired by an individual looking for a job.
There are several types of recruiters out there; the three main types of recruiting firms are categorized as:
Staffing Firms
A Staffing Firm hires individuals for a client company’s temporary or contract needs. In this type of firm, the candidate is actually employed by the staffing firm who is then responsible for paying all salaries, taxes and sometimes benefits.
Many times the staffing firm has options for a contract to hire for the employer to hire the employee after a certain amount of time in the contract. The client pays an hourly rate for the contract employee that also includes in it the fee for the staffing firm. The candidate does not pay anything out of pocket for this service.
Contingency Recruiting Firms
A Contingency Recruiting Firm does a specific search on a contingency basis for a specified role for a company, such as an accountant or a sales rep. The recruiter is ONLY paid upon a successful placement.
The recruiter does all the initial recruiting, screening and interviewing. The contingency recruiter then works with the hiring manager to set up the interviews with the candidates for the client company. The company typically pays a 25 percent fee of the employee’s estimated first year’s compensation package. Once again, the candidate does not pay a fee for this, only the client.
Retained Recruiting Firms
A Retained Recruiting Firm is a higher end type of firm. The biggest difference between a contingency and a retained firm is that the client company pays a retainer fee to have that company perform a search.
Typically this is a 33 percent fee, paid out in thirds, one third at the time of engagement, one third halfway through the search and one third upon offer. The initial retainer fee is paid whether or not a hire is made. Companies use retained search firms for higher level positions ranging from Director Level to CEO. Typically in a salary range of 200k and higher. Once again the candidate does not pay for any of these fees, they are all paid by the client.
In addition to these three, there are now firms that are popping up using the term “Container” which, due to client needs and demand is a hybrid of both contingency and retained.
So the reality is, recruiters are working for the client company not for you. That being said, it is still in your best interest to develop relationships with several recruiters that you can trust and hope that they keep you in mind as positions from clients come across their desk.
Most good recruiters are relationship builders and want to get to know you before an open position crosses their desk, you never know where it will lead, for either the recruiter or the candidate.
Stay in touch and keep the recruiters updated on your employment status and desires for your next role. This way, if the recruiter has a client need that fits your skill set, you will hear about it.
Mary Olson-Menzel mary@mvpexec.com Managing Partner of MVP Executive Search & Development, 20+ years of experience working in corporate America and executive search consulting. She specializes in senior level recruitment across digital, print, broadcast and cable media.
Questions from our Readers
Answered by Mary Olson-Menzel
How does one develop a relationship with a recruiter if recruiters work for companies and not individuals?
It is important to try to develop relationships with recruiters in your industry and to try to stay top of mind with them. If you can do this in a pure networking fashion, it is best. You will see, that some recruiters are more open to this than others.
Introducing yourself and your background to them, and letting them know what kind of position would be of interest to you is a good start, but also offer to help them. Maybe you might know people to refer to them for certain positions they are currently working on.
If you can refer a friend and help the recruiter without expecting anything in return, the recruiter will not forget you. They will definitely remember you if a search comes up where your skill set is a good fit.
My company provides us with a smart phone and allows us to have access to our personal email on the phone. Does this mean they can read those emails along with the professional emails on my company’s email account?
Your personal email account is your personal email account. There should not be a way for your company to access that data unless they have your phone.
I would be very careful about looking for a job using any company resources or on company time, but what you do from your personal account after hours is your own business.
If you want to be extra careful, purchase your own personal phone and conduct your personal business from there, many people do that as well.
Posted on: Cynopsis Media