
Recruiter fee agreement? - ChristianMarks
I received a call from a recruiter, who mentioned that his firm wanted me to sign an agreement that should I be placed in some firm and do not stay the minimum 90 to 120 days, I would be liable to them for "a percentage of the percentage" of their fee, which is between 20% to 30% of the salary. I haven't seen this agreement yet (I'm not sure that I want to). Is this standard?
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brudgers
Any recruiter who wants money to place you is incompetent at best and a
scammer at worst.

To put this agreement in perspective, this recruiter has reduced their direct
financial incentive to match you to the right company.

For a $80,000 a year job, they're looking at $16,000 for placing you. If they
charge you 20% of that if you don't work out, that's $3200. If they spend 40
hours placing you, that's not a bad yearly income - if they just shotgun your
resume, they can make real money.

And if the salary, fee, and your percentage are significantly higher, they can
make really good money.

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spacemanaki
Run very far away from that. I've dealt with a bunch cold-calls from
recruiters and I've never heard of anything like that. It's possible that it's
even illegal (I don't think you can charge job seekers but this might skirt
that) but IANAL.

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daveyl
I agree. It may be in a legal gray area.

Even if it was legal, I would run as fast as I could in the other direction.
Think of it this way: what happens if you start the job and come to find out
the company is into some shady business and you wanted to quit?

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ChristianMarks
They emailed me the agreement, which they wanted back with my signature before
an "in depth" discussion with them (another odd sign). It turned out to be
worse than they let on: liability for the entire amount, with an additional
20% in case the fee has to be turned over to a collection agency. I replied in
email that I was not interested in doing business with them and would not
enter into any agreement.

One thing I neglected to mention to this recruiter: I free-lance as an expert
witness in computer forensics cases. I've done this for a labor lawyer in the
state where this firm operates. I will forward this "agreement" to the lawyer.

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ChristianMarks
I'll answer my own question: a modicum of research shows that this is indeed a
nonstandard practice. There must be a need for such a service, however. There
probably are workplaces that benefit from coercive recruiting agreements that
punish employee turnover.

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veguss
No it is not standard

