Recruiters

HavocXphere

Honorary Master
Joined
Oct 19, 2007
Messages
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Location
Europe
Any tips for dealing with them?

I kinda landed in my first job without much hunting so this whole recruiting thing is new to me.

Anything specific I need to watch out for?
 
Recruiters get paid by the company hiring you (something like 15-25% of your for the first year).

Only deal with one at a time. When I used two the one women went behind the other recruiter's back and sent my CV to the same company which caused a bit of havoc (on their side).

Other than that nothing much really. You phone them, send them your CV and they arrange interviews for you. Simple.

If you are in IT I'd go e-merge.co.za. There are people that will disagree with me but the dude there, Jason, and his team was quick, efficient and I've never met him. Never had to drive to his office or anything - all done over the phone.
 
Probably the most important thing to know is that like a real estate agent, they work for commission. What they will tell you this means, is that they will try get you the highest salary possible, so that they get higher commission. What they won't tell you is that their commission on a marginal increase to your salary is next to nothing in comparison to the effort it would take them to get it. They will try to talk down your pay requirements, while simultaneously trying to talk you up to the employer(s) they are working with, with the hope that you will settle for what the employer is willing to pay. All they're trying to get is a match - they're not working for you, or the employer, they're working for themselves.

The above doesn't mean that you're necessarily going to get screwed - in essence, if they find such a match, it means that situation has likely improved on all sides, however, you should be aware of what the motivations are, and be very skeptical of promises of future pay, or career growth (especially if taking on a risky job, or a negligible increase (or decrease) in pay). Similarly, from an employers perspective - you should interview them properly, since the candidate might just be a dud.
 
Working with these people daily, you get them in flavors like most things.

Some get a once-off placement fee, possibly a percentage if your annum.
These generally get you into the door, and handle you like a once-off transaction as well.

Other follow the above structure, which makes them more eager for after service care and such.

Your beat bet is to have them contact you. They love scraping PNet, so put your CV on there and they'll call you.
You can even use multiple recruitment companies at the same time for more opportunities(employer wise).
 
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