

How do I fire my recruitment agent? - chris_dcosta

It is accepted industry norm that a recruitment agent takes 15% give or take a few %age points. Last 20 years I've never had an issue, and I got to see all the rates my agents were paid. Until now.<p>I just found out my current one has been taking 52% and they negotiated down my price "due to market conditions" after the job offer.<p>These scumbags don't do freelancers any justice, and sure enough if the client had asked for a drop in rate they'd be on the phone asking you to suck it up.
======
tptacek
You just stop working with them (which you should probably have done many
years ago, given the market).

Incidentally, what your employer paid your recruiter is their problem, not
yours: if you're underpaid, demand a raise or leave.

------
aashaykumar92
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 candidate-agent relationship...is it like sports where agents can
represent multiple job seekers but a job seeker usually only has one agent?
And is there a legal side to this?

Sorry for all the questions, just trying to learn!

~~~
gadders
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.

~~~
gadders
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.

------
terrykohla
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 negotiation table.

The recruiter's markup is not disclosed to the contractor in my industry and
it's not really important to me. What matters is "are you happy with what
you're making?".

Fire your recruiter if he is incompetent, not if he's doing well.

~~~
chris_dcosta
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 just this one. This one happened to have a
job available at the time I was available...

Lastly, they point blank refused to negotiate, at all. Hence the need to fire
them.

~~~
terrykohla
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.

------
gadders
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...

------
adamccc
I guess the only way to fire them is stay completely clear of them and id
that's not enough maybe write a blog post exposing this behaviour.

~~~
hga
"Stay completely clear of them" ... tell them at the appropriate time that
they are fired and that if they ignore this and find you a job, you're not
taking it, no matter what.

------
orangethirty
Depends on the contract.

------
lifeisstillgood
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.

~~~
chris_dcosta
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.

