Members Renfield Posted August 28, 2008 Members Share Posted August 28, 2008 What's the deal with these? How does it work? Do you pay for their services up front? Do they take commision from you once they get you work? Sign over your first born son? Has anyone had experience using one to get a new job? Success? Fail? Advice? Tips? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SA Rios Posted August 28, 2008 Members Share Posted August 28, 2008 The agencies are paid by the companies that are looking for employees, not the other way around. I used one to find my current job earlier this year and it was free. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members chunky-b Posted August 28, 2008 Members Share Posted August 28, 2008 Most of the time the firm hiring you pays the fees for you, but often then gives you a lower starting salary to make up for it. Sometimes the headhunter takes a percentage of your salaray for the first year... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Rowka Posted August 28, 2008 Members Share Posted August 28, 2008 All three of my post college "professional" jobs have been found through headhunters. Contact several. They are salespeople. The hiring companies are their customers. YOU are their product. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members catphish Posted August 28, 2008 Members Share Posted August 28, 2008 They're vultures. I get calls from them daily AT MY OFFICE. I love my job and I'm not looking to leave. Luckily my office is super laid back and knows I'm not looking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Renfield Posted August 28, 2008 Author Members Share Posted August 28, 2008 They're vultures. I get calls from them daily AT MY OFFICE. I love my job and I'm not looking to leave. Luckily my office is super laid back and knows I'm not looking. Agencies call you to try and steal you away from the job you are presently sitting at? Messed up. Why won't one call me? Heck, I did an install for the president of an employment agency once. I went WAY above and beyond for him, modifying his speakers with extra hardware to fly them and the like. A job that was quoted as needing about 2 hours to do ended up taking 9, on a Sunday no less. I still only charged him for 2 hours work. He was thrilled, called me weeks later to rave how great they sounded in his club and so on. A couple weeks after that I phoned him (from home) and asked how his business works, I am interested in moving on and think that going through an agency is the right way to start. He said that he doesn't personally place people these days, but would pass my info to an agent of his. They never called and a week alter when I followed up, he wouldn't return my calls either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Super_Donut_Man Posted August 28, 2008 Members Share Posted August 28, 2008 Until I got promoted, I was looking with 3 or 4 agencies. They all know eachother, and don't mind (atleast from my experience) that they are working against another company. Got to watch out though, there are some that will rip you off, as one of my friends did. Took a portion of his paycheck each month for the first half year. Most are not like this. Also, make sure you know what they offer, like temp-to-hire, or direct hire. both are fine, but if it is temp to hire, make sure you know/negotiate benefits and the pay at the company you are temping for. Also, they tend to loose steam if you don't get picked up right away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members hammer744 Posted August 28, 2008 Members Share Posted August 28, 2008 All three of my post college "professional" jobs have been found through headhunters.Contact several. They are salespeople. The hiring companies are their customers. YOU are their product. +1 - do a search for headhunters local to you - I'd have to think there would be a ton in Calgary (not sure if you're in the Calgary area or not). Get your resume's to them, and if possible get a face-to-face with them (like a mini-interview) - it helps them learn about you, and thus 'sell' you to prospective employers. You can deal with as many headhunters as you like, but make sure they contact you before sending a resume to a prospective employer so you don't get represented twice - hiring companies tend to not like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Renfield Posted August 28, 2008 Author Members Share Posted August 28, 2008 +1 - do a search for headhunters local to you - I'd have to think there would be a ton in Calgary (not sure if you're in the Calgary area or not). Get your resume's to them, and if possible get a face-to-face with them (like a mini-interview) - it helps them learn about you, and thus 'sell' you to prospective employers. You can deal with as many headhunters as you like, but make sure they contact you before sending a resume to a prospective employer so you don't get represented twice - hiring companies tend to not like that. I'm just east of Toronto actually. Looking for work from central Toronto to Durham (here) primarily. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members catphish Posted August 28, 2008 Members Share Posted August 28, 2008 Agencies call you to try and steal you away from the job you are presently sitting at? Messed up. Why won't one call me? About every other day I get a call straight to my desk, through the receptionist. The work I do is in very high demand in my area, and I kind of rock at my job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members hammer744 Posted August 28, 2008 Members Share Posted August 28, 2008 I'm just east of Toronto actually. Looking for work from central Toronto to Durham (here) primarily. Ah - I thought you were in Alberta (weren't you at one time?) Anyway - PM Sent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Renfield Posted August 28, 2008 Author Members Share Posted August 28, 2008 Ah - I thought you were in Alberta (weren't you at one time?)Anyway - PM Sent. Was considering moving there for some time. It fell through, long story, PM me if you want the deets on that, but suffice to stay, I am stuck here for now, like it or not (not). Getting the PM now, thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members boseengineer Posted August 28, 2008 Members Share Posted August 28, 2008 A word of caution: some companies have a strict "no agency" policy. When your resume arrives through an agency you will end up directly on the "do never hire" list and will never be able to work for this company (I can explain why, but it's a little lengthy). If you work with a headhunter, make absolutely sure that they only forward your resume to companies with your explicit permission for this company. Before you let them submit, check the companies website and/or job postings to make sure they do accept agencies referals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Hearafter Posted August 28, 2008 Members Share Posted August 28, 2008 I went thru an agency several years ago. The company that I was working at paid them a percentage of my hourly wage, so the agency wanted me to get paid as much as possible, and I got a lot of raises. They took me out to lunch periodically, too.There are a few negatives when you're a 'contract employee' though:1) I didn't get company insurance.2) No paid holidays.3) No paid vacation/sick time. The company I am at now, i tried to get on thru an agency. Since it was an 1100 mile move, the company just hired me directly... but they still had to pay fees to the agency. I don't know why they did it, but I'm glad they did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMS Author Craig Vecchione Posted August 28, 2008 CMS Author Share Posted August 28, 2008 Agencies call you to try and steal you away from the job you are presently sitting at? Messed up. Why won't one call me? Apparently your resume isn't on Careerbuilder. Put it there, on Monster, on any of the local job boards. If you know of a recruiting firm (the real name for "headhunters") locally, send your resume, and then call and ask to speak with someone about your situation. The online boards have impersonalized the job hunt and that hurts a lot of people who sound better than their resume might indicate. After a while you'll be getting calls from firms in India, offering you jobs in Montreal, Toronto, Newfoundland, etc. I swear the dothead firms don't issue their people maps.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMS Author Craig Vecchione Posted August 28, 2008 CMS Author Share Posted August 28, 2008 A word of caution: some companies have a strict "no agency" policy. When your resume arrives through an agency you will end up directly on the "do never hire" list and will never be able to work for this company (I can explain why, but it's a little lengthy).If you work with a headhunter, make absolutely sure that they only forward your resume to companies with your explicit permission for this company. Before you let them submit, check the companies website and/or job postings to make sure they do accept agencies referals. It's rare for an agency to contact a company directly. All of the firms I work with gets job req's from the companies, and work them from there. Any company that doesn't have a firm recruiting for them is very unlikely to want to pay fees in addition to a comp package, so it's a real fishing trip for an agency to submit anyone to them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members King Kashue Posted August 28, 2008 Members Share Posted August 28, 2008 Agencies call you to try and steal you away from the job you are presently sitting at? Messed up. Why won't one call me? Easy: Catphish > Joo... On a serious note, I know of corps with the same policy Boseengineer mentioned, make sure who ever is representing/presenting you, does it in a way that makes you look good and that you're aware of what they're doing/how they're doing it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members boseengineer Posted August 29, 2008 Members Share Posted August 29, 2008 It's rare for an agency to contact a company directly. All of the firms I work with gets job req's from the companies, and work them from there. Any company that doesn't have a firm recruiting for them is very unlikely to want to pay fees in addition to a comp package, so it's a real fishing trip for an agency to submit anyone to them. Not so rare in my experience. I worked in startup that went belly up and they wer nice enough to engage an outplacement agency. Thisagency was trying to submit my resume to a specifc company. Since I had private connections, I refused to let them do it and used my private contact. As it turns out the company had a strict "no agency" policy and the submission through the agency would have prevented me from ever working there. As stupid as this sounds, it does make some sense for the agency. They only get paid if they make a match. Disqualifying me from a likely employer (where they wouldn't get paid no matter what) keeps them in the game. Certainly this is not very ethical behavior, but at least they honored my request to not submit without my explicit approval. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members KoaFreak Posted September 2, 2008 Members Share Posted September 2, 2008 Be careful with headhunters, they can tempt you to leave a job for unseen "greener pastures". Worst of all, they cost your new employer at least 15% of your starting salary, so if you make say $60,000 (I know that's a bit much for HC ), they would demand at least $9,000 just for the service of discovering you, whereas if you contact the employer yourself, you can save your boss $9,000. Which would YOU rather do? On the other hand, they can be very useful, but in times like these, I think most employers wouldn't want to blow the extra 15+%. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMS Author Craig Vecchione Posted September 2, 2008 CMS Author Share Posted September 2, 2008 Be careful with headhunters, they can tempt you to leave a job for unseen "greener pastures". Worst of all, they cost your new employer at least 15% of your starting salary, so if you make say $60,000 (I know that's a bit much for HC ), they would demand at least $9,000 just for the service of discovering you, whereas if you contact the employer yourself, you can save your boss $9,000. Which would YOU rather do? On the other hand, they can be very useful, but in times like these, I think most employers wouldn't want to blow the extra 15+%. Oddly, it makes sense to employers, who may not have an HR dept with the resources to conduct a hiring search as effectively as an agency. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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