How do I fire my recruitment agent? • Hacker News Board

Re: How do I fire my recruitment agent?

#11

Post by chris_dcosta » Thu, May 09, 2013, 8:22 AM UTC

aashaykumar92 wrote: post #7

I wanted to learn more about how this works so sorry I'm not responding to your question, but when one has an agent, does the agent take 15% (or in this case, a mind blowing 52%) of the workers salary or that's just how much the hiring company pays the agent? Basically, is anything being deducted from the workers salary? And there are mentions of a contract. What would this type of contract consist of? The job candid…

This is not like the sports industry is today. It is however like the sports industry used to be.

In the past sports agents worked both for the team and the player. This lead to exactly this situation, players and clubs getting shafted by the agents.

It changed when some smart person decided that the clubs and the players should have their own agents, and that if a club wanted a player because of their talent - which is the main reason - they had to engage their own agent 1) to attract the player 2) negotiate a price with the play's agent. The pplayer paid their agent 10%, and it was their job to defend the interests of the players against the interest of the club.

Hence today we have players paid huge amounts based on their talent.

Re: How do I fire my recruitment agent?

#12

Post by chris_dcosta » Thu, May 09, 2013, 8:29 AM UTC

lifeisstillgood wrote: post #4

Holy cow. I cannot imagine how desperate the hiring company must have been to pay 52%. That is an indicator of very bad things I suspect. Unless you have a contract with your agent (highly unlikely - people like 10x are starting this idea) then just do not use them. An agency who is getting 50% out of a client company has photos of the CEO and two shameful-looking-sheep somewhere.

I suspect you are right about the desperation thing, on the ground the client is under some pressure.

But look at it this way, if the client was asking for a small reduction in the rate the agent would be on the phone right away asking me to take a cut. They would also be getting a cut as their %age is based on my rate.

To be fair and honest, if the client is offering more to get you - for whatever reason - then that must filter down.

That just didn't happen here. The client therefore has also been mislead because they think that I am being paid appropriately. Instead the agent is profiteering.

Re: How do I fire my recruitment agent?

#13

Post by gadders » Thu, May 09, 2013, 9:17 AM UTC

It depends whether you are mid-contract or not, I'd have thought.

If it's the end of the contract, that's easy - don't accept their calls, don't go on any interviews they arrange etc.

If it's mid-contract, then it's trickier. You could either:

1) Leave and find a new role 2) Tell your agent that you know what their % is, and you want a raise or you will leave 3) Explain to the company that they are being over-charged, and see if their legal department will fight the agency to buy you out so you can contract directly or via a better agency.

Not sure that any of these guarantee success...

Re: How do I fire my recruitment agent?

#14

Post by gadders » Thu, May 09, 2013, 9:24 AM UTC

aashaykumar92 wrote: post #7

I wanted to learn more about how this works so sorry I'm not responding to your question, but when one has an agent, does the agent take 15% (or in this case, a mind blowing 52%) of the workers salary or that's just how much the hiring company pays the agent? Basically, is anything being deducted from the workers salary? And there are mentions of a contract. What would this type of contract consist of? The job candid…

Normally, you (the contractor) is quoted a rate of £xxx/day, and the agency's % is on top of that and normally unknown to you.

You typically sign a contract with the recruitment agency, who has a back-to-back contract with the end employer. The contract basically just says you will be working at employer X for Z months.

There will be other legalise about intellectual property, confidentiality etc but that is the gist of it.

The flow of a job opening is normally that a hiring company will send the vacancy details to a shortlist of preferred recruitment agencies. These agencies will then submit CVs of candidates on their books back to the hiring company. Then the interview process etc starts.

To answer your specific question: agents can represent multiple candidates (a database of thousands) and a wise contractor would not rely on just one agency (my CV for example is probably with ~10 or so).

This is specific to the UK market - other markets may vary.

Re: How do I fire my recruitment agent?

#15

Post by gadders » Thu, May 09, 2013, 9:29 AM UTC

gadders wrote: post #14

aashaykumar92 wrote: post #7

I wanted to learn more about how this works so sorry I'm not responding to your question, but when one has an agent, does the agent take 15% (or in this case, a mind blowing 52%) of the workers salary or that's just how much the hiring company pays the agent? Basically, is anything being deducted from the workers salary? And there are mentions of a contract. What would this type of contract consist of? The job candid…

Normally, you (the contractor) is quoted a rate of £xxx/day, and the agency's % is on top of that and normally unknown to you. You typically sign a contract with the recruitment agency, who has a back-to-back contract with the end employer. The contract basically just says you will be working at employer X for Z months. There will be other legalise about intellectual property, confidentiality etc but that is the gist…

Also, recruitment agents are "employed" by the candidate and they will often say during negotiations "that the more you get paid, the more they make".

However, this is subject to the same issue that Freakonomics highlights vis Real Estate agents and house sales.

Re: How do I fire my recruitment agent?

#16

Post by terrykohla » Thu, May 09, 2013, 2:00 PM UTC

chris_dcosta wrote: post #10

terrykohla wrote: post #6

It seems more like you just discovered your "real" market value. Welcome to reality! The reason some people make more money than others is mainly because they posses key information that others don't have and this is part of the game. Don't fire you're recruiter because YOU didn't know your true market value. Instead, use this "new information" to negotiate yourself a substantial raise next time you sit at the negoti…

Firstly, I know my true market value, and have done for years - I always find a way to find out ;) and I haven't just got off the boat. I also know what I can get away with making in this market, so what I'm making is not the issue per se , although this is below my normal rate, and I agreed to this on the grounds that were presented to me - which turned out to be completely false. I work with many recruiters, not ju…

As long as you're happy with your rate and with the service provided by the recruiter I don't think it should matter.

Companies don't disclose their markup on their products or else people would be shocked and wouldn't buy them. It's business as usual.

I suspect my recruiter takes home 50% of my rate too, i.e my OT (1.5) rate. On the other hand I get lots of OT, hence he cashes in on my first 40h and I take home the rest. Nobody complains because we're all making good money. Customer is happy, recruiter is happy and we're happy.