The biggest difference between executive recruiters and employment agencies is that the latter do not work on a retainer basis. They make their money by introducing you to the company that hires you (up to 25 percent of your first year's salary).So if you earn forty thousand dollars annually, employment agencies probably won't be as helpful as executive recruiters. Don't overlook them, even if you do make a lot. They can still help on occasion. Employment agencies rarely have an exclusive contract to fill a job opening. Many seem to learn about the same job openings at the same time, and competition is fierce to be first to introduce a logical candidate. What does this mean to you? If you send your resume to a large number of employment agencies, you run the distinct risk of having it sent by several different agencies to the company seeking to fill a position for which you are qualified. Overexposure can make you look as if you are desperately seeking a job, an impression you don't want to convey even if you are desperately seeking a job.
The fact that employment agencies only get paid if they place an individual results in another problem, too. Many job-seekers complain that they are sent out by employment agencies to interview for jobs that are really not matched to their level of experience. Naturally the candidate is resentful of the time and effort wasted in going to see a prospective employer about what he thought was a legitimate job only to discover later it was a job he wouldn't have crossed the street to interview for. Why do the employment agencies sometimes send job-seekers on a wild goose chase? The most logical answer is that they hope if the candidate is hard up enough, he will take the job even though it's not right for him, and the agent will be that much richer. So ask specifically about any position the agent wants to send you on. Don't let him suggest you see such and such a company without knowing exactly what your interview is about. It will take your time and your money to get there.
A decade ago an employment agency made its money from the employee, who paid a fee to the agency that landed him his job. Today things have changed. Prospective employees balked at paying fees, since they were obviously less well-heeled than the corporations that sought to hire them. Employment agencies realized this, and today virtually all feature "fee paid" positions, in which the hiring company agrees to pay the agency's fee. It should come as no surprise that fees are higher now that companies are paying them. You should keep a wary eye out nonetheless, since in some fields-education, for example-agencies still charge the employee a fee. If you are not sure, your best bet is to ask. No sense paying to get a job when so many companies are willing to pay for the privilege of finding you. With these generalizations in mind, let's look at three types of agencies you will probably run across.
AGENCIES THAT REPRESENT CANDIDATES AS WELL AS COMPANIES
Some smart professional agencies today represent candidates as well as companies. In addition to "filling job orders" (the industry jargon for finding people for positions the agencies have scrambled to learn about), a small number of agencies aggressively promote candidates that they believe have exceptional backgrounds and should be placed easily. One way it works is like this: A job-seeker submits a resume that impresses the agency. The agency invites the candidate to look up the names of the fifty or so companies he would like to work for, and the names of the persons at these companies the person might report to. The agency then phones these companies, singing the praises of the candidate in question. (As a third party it can do this. You can't.) Naturally the candidate has to have some special qualifications that make the agency think he's particularly sale able. In instances where the agency represents the candidate, the agency tries to get a verbal commitment from him that he will deal with it on an exclusive basis while it is promoting his cause. This is because the agency gets paid by the hiring company and wants to be sure that its candidate lands at one of the companies it puts him in contact with. The exclusive arrangement assures the agency that it will be paid a fee from some company or other making the time and expense associated with promoting a particular candidate worthwhile.
Getting an agency to act as a third-party endorser for you at the companies you'd like to work for may in some cases be beneficial in your job search. On the other hand, it's not a sure thing. The aggressive agency that promotes you may get you interviews with companies that have no immediate openings but are willing to meet you-if for no other reason than to get the agency off the phone. In these instances the interview may be a total waste of time. But, since you know how to sell yourself in person, you may well convince a company with no opening that it should make one just to get you. If you think you are exceptional, and you run across an agency that wants to act as your spokesman with the companies you'd like to work for, by all means give them a week or two to try to open some doors for you. But no more time than that! Their interest in you will undoubtedly wane in this period if you're not placed by then. Don't rely on them any longer. Get on with the job yourself and see other agencies.
Some agencies promote candidates without their knowledge. One nationally franchised firm with headquarters in Chicago, for example, regularly floods the mails with reprints of the resumes received from candidates they think are particularly appealing. The agency theorizes that if every major company gets a copy, maybe one will have an opening for the candidate and they'll be richer. They're not concerned that it can weaken the candidate's desirability (and negotiating position) if the second resume arrives while the candidate is already meeting with one of the companies they mail resumes to. If, in your own case, an agency asks for a good copy of your resume to reproduce or asks if they can mail out a few copies of your resume, ask them: "How many and to which companies?" Don't risk overexposure; don't work with this type of outfit.
MULTI-INDUSTRY AGENCIES
If an agency limits its sights to a single industry, it obviously limits the number of candidates it will appeal to, and the number of companies it can service. It follows, therefore, that the biggest, most profitable agencies deal with a multitude of industries. Typically, when agencies are large and successful, the staff is broken down by industry, with one person concerning himself exclusively with the potential openings in one or more industries, depending on the size of the industry. Why should this concern you? Because frequently the owners of large and successful agencies hire young, inexperienced, low-cost staffers to serve as industry specialists. How does that affect you? Very directly. Young, inexperienced, industry specialists are less likely to have high-level contacts than mature, experienced professional recruiters who have spent a lifetime developing contacts and are now in senior positions within the organizational ranks. The young industry specialist is not necessarily inadequate to the task. But, let's face it, more often than not the young specialist has contacts with personnel directors, not vice-presidents, and he might thwart your introduction to the right person, despite his good intentions. What should you do with this piece of information? When you talk to employment agencies, evaluate the person who is the intermediary between you and a successful job. If you don't think he can get you an introduction at the highest possible level, ask him specifically not to make contacts for you with any company without previously calling you. Tell him you want to decide on each company yourself before exposing your resume. Remember, more often than not several employment agencies will be trying to fill the same job slot. It's likely that you will meet someone from another employment agency who knows of the same opening, and in whom you have greater confidence. It would pay you, therefore, to have personal interviews with the large multi-industry agencies. See who in the organization is promoting your cause before you have your resume sent out to the wrong person.
INDUSTRY SPECIALISTS
Some smaller, one- or two-person agencies specialize in a single industry. More often than not, the proprietor spent a few years in the industry prior to entering the professional recruiting business. He has an idea of the industry jargon. He knows the industry pulse, the good-to-work-for companies and the bad. He doesn't have to look up Dun and Bradstreet to talk about the key people in his field. He knows the cast of characters by heart. Obviously, this type of professional agent can bring more pressure to bear to get you interviews with hiring officials than can the younger, less experienced agency representatives. Your friends should know the names of these industry-specializing agents, since they are the ones who usually get results. Ask them first. If your friends can't help you, you can probably spot these agencies by their ads. Go over eight or so back issues of the Sunday classified section, which you can pick up in your local library. Look through them. Note those agencies that consistently advertise for specific positions in your field. Be wary of those agencies that advertise for general positions in your field, or whose ads are the same week after week (e.g., "Senior purchasing jobs-$40-70M"). This type of ad could be placed by agencies trying to lock up potential candidates without really having positions for them to fill. Send your resume only to those agencies that consistently have specific jobs in your area to fill, and follow up with a personal interview. In person, you'll sense whether or not the agent is capable of making high-level contacts.
Don't send your resume out to several dozen agencies at one time. Limit your contacts to those that appear able to help you most. See a half-dozen initially. If they aren't producing interviews after two or three weeks, see a few more. You'll save yourself postage and overexposure. Spacing out agency contacts will help you even out the number of company interviews you have each week in your job campaign. If you contact too many agencies at once, you'll end up with exhaustion in the first two weeks, and have too few company interviews in the weeks that follow, which is bad for your ego, if nothing else.
