Let me do my best to clarify the situation for you. Practically speaking, there is almost no difference between a personnel agency and a company that describes what it does as "recruiting," "searching," "placing," or anything similar. Everybody is doing basically the same thing: getting job openings from companies and looking for candidates to send on interviews. In certain instances, a company looking to fill a specialized or very high level job will pay a placement firm an advance fee; but usually the fee in a placement situation gets paid (by the company getting the new candidate) once the job has been filled.
The chief difference between recruiters (also known as "head-hunters") and agencies is that the recruiters, on the average, confine their attention to jobs in the higher salary ranges. Recruiters are more likely than personnel agencies to have jobs in the $100,000 a year range. On the other hand, recruiters are less likely to specialize in a particular occupation or industry than personnel agencies, which is why they will generally charge a client company a higher fee. Each new assignment obliges them to start their search from the beginning.
There are, of course, exceptions: recruiters who specialize in a particular field. And, all things being equal, you should go to someone-be it a personnel agency or a recruiter-who specializes in your particular occupation or industry. This isn't to say ignore an opening simply because it doesn't originate from a firm that specializes; never ignore any lead. But you'll do better, all in all, by concentrating your attention on the firms who know your field.
Knowing Which to Choose
Like any profession, the placement business has its good apples and its bad apples. In the better companies, you'll find men and women who are well connected to the various fields they work in, who have experience, and who have earned the confidence and respect of the people to whom they send candidates for interviews. These companies won't waste your time. They won't pressure you into jobs you shouldn't be taking.
The not-so-good recruiters and agencies are staffed with high-pressure salespeople who may not understand the personnel business, who may have no special experience in it, and who have little regard for either the companies they work with or the candidates they seek to attract.
Being able to differentiate the good from the not so good isn't as difficult as you might think. It's a matter of keeping your eyes open and trusting your instincts.
To begin with, the better recruiters and agencies didn't go into business yesterday. They've usually been around for a few years. They have established reputations. They're not plagued by constant employee turnover themselves.
Secondly, the better recruiters and agencies, as I've already mentioned, often specialize in one particular field or fields, be it advertising, the service industry, computers, financial, sales, or whatever. It's easy to find out which agencies and recruiters specialize in your particular field. Read the want ads to see which ones are advertising the most positions in your field. Ask business friends which agency or recruiter they would suggest.
Once you get a lead on one or several that look as if they can help you, it's up to you-your judgment and your instincts -to decide whether working with them is in your best interests. You can usually tell after your first interview with a placement person (if you're working with a recruiter) or an agency whether it's in your best interest to work with them. You will want to deal with people who are pleasant and reassuring but also businesslike. You deserve to be treated with respect, but be wary of anybody who seems overly complimentary, who guarantees that you've come to the right place, and who goes out of his or her way to convince you not to go anywhere else.
Trust your judgment. If you find one or two agencies or recruiters who appear to know the field you're interested in and you feel comfortable with them, there may not be a need to spread yourself any thinner. Limiting your search to one or two firms is an especially good idea if you're currently employed.
Still, there is nothing to prevent you from contacting as many agencies and recruiters as you want. Working with several agencies or recruiters instead of one or two may complicate your job search somewhat, but it also increases your chances for agency-generated job leads. If you're looking in more than one city, you have little choice but to use services in each city unless they have multiple offices.
Getting the Most out of Agencies and Recruiters
Be honest and reasonable with agencies and recruiters, but keep your self-interest in mind, and don't let yourself be pressured into making decisions that don't serve your best interests. Some agencies or recruiters may ask for an "exclusive" on your search. If you're convinced that they are reputable, and your situation isn't desperate, consider it, but only for a limited period of time. Otherwise, keep your options open.
If you're working with more than one agency, you might run into the problem of overlap: two agencies offering you the same position. Should an agency or recruiter talk to you about a job you've previously discussed with somebody else (or a job that sounds like one you've previously discussed) here's what to do: inform them that you've already been spoken to about that job. An ethical agency or recruiter in this situation will back off politely. An unethical one will try to work it out so that that placement fee will be all theirs-or else creates enough of a fuss that the client will either pay two fees or split the fee between the two services. If you sense pressure from the second recruiter, hold your ground and defend the first one. Then tell the first agency or recruiter what has happened and don't deal with the second one again.
Obviously, no agency or recruiter can do a good job for you if you don't cooperate, or if you are not able to communicate to them your qualifications, skills, and goals. Your initial interview is very important. Be cooperative and honest. Get some feedback from the person you're meeting with. Make sure the two of you are on the same track, and that the placement person knows what you're looking for.
You don't necessarily have to be the best of friends, but you should respect the judgment of the person who's handling your search. If there's a personality clash, see about having somebody else in the firm handle your situation. In all of your dealings with an agency or recruiter, be courteous and reasonable. Being difficult and demanding won't help your cause at all. Theoretically, agency personnel and executive recruiters have to divorce their personal feelings about a client from the client's job qualifications. But if you were a recruiter or somebody working for a personnel agency, and you had two similarly qualified job candidates, one of them pleasant and cooperative, the other a constant bother, who would you, offer the opening to first?
The Forms You Should and Shouldn't Sign
Most agencies and recruiters will ask you to sign certain forms. Some of these are in your interests to sign, others are not. One form you may be asked to sign gives the agency or recruiter the right to check your references. Without your signature, agencies and recruiters are forbidden by federal law to check out references. Refusing to sign this form will cut down on the opportunities you'll have a chance to explore. If you're currently employed and your employer doesn't know you're looking, you should sign this form with the understanding that no current references can be checked at this time. As far as standard application forms go, fill them out as completely as possible, even if the information is covered in a resume. And it's not a bad idea to have a "dummy" application with you when you visit agencies, so you don't have to spend extra time looking up numbers or addresses, or trying to remember dates.
References can be a touchy matter, particularly if you're conducting a job search without the knowledge of your current employer. But don't take too rigid a position. As good as you are, as reliable and as competent as you are, you will arouse suspicion if you list references but prevent an agency or recruiter from checking on them.
Forms regarding fees are a different matter. Most agencies and recruiters these days get all of their fees from the company once they've placed a candidate. But a few might ask you to sign a contract that would make you responsible for the fee in the event you accept a job and then later change your mind, or in the event you join the company and quit a month or two later. I'm not saying you should never sign any forms relating to the payment of a fee. Just make sure you read the form first and understand exactly what you're signing.
One final word No recruiter or agency has the right to know where else you have been interviewed before coming to them, so there's no need to tell them. Some will ask you this question routinely and tell you that by letting they know where you've already been, you're helping them to prevent overlap. You could also be told that most of the companies in their field are their clients and that the agency or recruiter doesn't want to cover ground that's already been covered.
That's what you're told. The trouble is that most agencies and recruiters ask these kinds of questions for no other reason than to get a line on jobs so that they can send out other candidates. So why increase the competition?
Employment Career Counselors
Watch your step here. Undoubtedly, there are experienced employments counseling specialists (many of them with degrees in psychology and counseling) who can enable you to clarify your career goals, understand your own potential better, and perhaps help you put together a good resume. My personal feeling is that most people are able to do these things for themselves, but this is not to say that these counselors can't be of help in some instances.
The companies you should be wary of are the ones that ask you for an upfront fee of as much as $8,000, for which they promise not only to put together a winning resume and to give guidance, but imply that they'll virtually "place" you. Don't bet on it. Investigations into many of these firms show that the exclusive "leads" you get are no more than names from a list that you could get by yourself for a good deal less money. As a general rule, you should be wary of any employment service that charges an upfront fee. Be particularly suspicious if they promise you the moon.
