External job recruiter question

Klein

I have been talking with an external recruiter for a job at a nearby company. They informed me a position at a company will be opening later this week and I sent them my resume. As part of this request they asked that I do not apply for any other positions at the company as if I apply they won't be able to represent me for this first position per the policy of the company I am applying to.

Does this sound normal and is there anything I should look out for when talking to this recruiter? We've discussed pay and the recruiter is only obtaining a commission from the company for finding candidates. Obviously they would want to represent me for the position we discussed so they receive a commission rather than I apply myself, but I am wondering if working through this recruiter will help when applying. Any advice or experience working with an external recruiter is welcome!

Aldo

Have you signed any paperwork with this recruiter preventing you from applying to other jobs? So far this recruiter isn't actually doing anything for you, they told you about a position that will be posted some time in the future, but nothing has come of it yet.

Also: is this recruiter officially affiliated with this company, or are they just a 3rd party who are trying to make a dime off of any candidates they get placed with this company? Sounds to me like the recruiter is trying to hamper your chances of landing a good job just so they can make some profit off of you.

Klein

Aldo wrote: »

Have you signed any paperwork with this recruiter preventing you from applying to other jobs? So far this recruiter isn't actually doing anything for you, they told you about a position that will be posted some time in the future, but nothing has come of it yet.

Also: is this recruiter officially affiliated with this company, or are they just a 3rd party who are trying to make a dime off of any candidates they get placed with this company? Sounds to me like the recruiter is trying to hamper your chances of landing a good job just so they can make some profit off of you.

Thanks for the reply, I have not signed any paperwork with this recruiter. What the recruiter has done with me thus far is coordinated an interview with a manager for a position that is in the process of being created, but is going through HR and not been posted.

As far as the recruiter, they do not work for the company I am trying to get into, they are a 3rd party external recruiter. The recruiter said if I apply for other positions directly they can not represent me for this current position per an agreement the recruiter has with the company. How much of this is true? I don't know, this is what has been communicated to me.

You are right that it would be in the recruiter's best interest to go through them to apply for this position rather than the other ones myself. Does this seem like a standard practice for an external/3rd party recruiter? I've never gone through one before and it seems advantageous if they are hearing about positions and talking with the manager before the posting has been made. This is for a full time position too if that adds some clarity, I would be working for the company I am applying for, not the recruiter's company.

dispatch.o

Why would you need a representative to apply for a job?

They're not doing anything for you. I suppose having contacts who offer positions before they're posted is nice, but the conflict of interest is real.

Aldo

It is not standard practice in my field (government, GIS) or my area (The Netherlands). Perhaps it is different elsewhere, but it sure does sound scummy.

zepherin

It depends. A company I worked for that used a recruiter service. And that was something they did, but it was a fixed fee for the recruiter, but they only recruited for niche positions.

If I were you I’d take the interview, bring copies of your resume with your phone number on it. But here’s the dirty business. Unless it’s a large company, if they want you for another position they’ll encourage you to apply or ask. If it’s a company of less than 500 employees, the same folks look at all the resumes. So if you’ve allied to 5 positions with the company, it doesn’t look great.

Darkewolfe

This is a recruiter competing to staff you to a third party company. They're trying to make sure they don't get skated. Completely ignore them if you want, this is their problem not yours.

Basically, the company has terms that if you come to them as a candidate independent of that recruiter, the recruiter doesn't get paid for headhunting you.

manwiththemachinegun

Klein wrote: »

I have been talking with an external recruiter for a job at a nearby company. They informed me a position at a company will be opening later this week and I sent them my resume. As part of this request they asked that I do not apply for any other positions at the company as if I apply they won't be able to represent me for this first position per the policy of the company I am applying to.

Does this sound normal and is there anything I should look out for when talking to this recruiter? We've discussed pay and the recruiter is only obtaining a commission from the company for finding candidates. Obviously they would want to represent me for the position we discussed so they receive a commission rather than I apply myself, but I am wondering if working through this recruiter will help when applying. Any advice or experience working with an external recruiter is welcome!

Having been a skilled trades recruiter, he's trying to ensure that the company doesn't undercut him and his fee that he gets by presenting them with your information.

That said, it can be useful to work with a recruiter, because they can function as your personal hype man. And can open doors that would otherwise not be, because the average resume read time is about 30 seconds to 1 minute by your average HR hiring lackey. Having another person's voice, and another person's recommendation that, "hey you should really take a look at this guy" can be far more impactful than sending in 100 resumes. Networking gets jobs, not a slip of paper. Unless you're an engineer or something.

That said, you have no obligation to be loyal specifically to him, other than to wait and see if his pitch on your behalf is successful. If it's not, feel free to apply away for that company or any other. In general, recruiters get pissed if after the introduction they make, the company or you, tried to go outside their billing system. It's treated as scalping essentially.

Use recruiters as resources and at times useful business partners, but don't trust your livelihood to them.

Darkewolfe

What manwith said. Recruiters are ultimately sales people. They sell the idea of working for a company to you, and they sell you to the company. Their payment terms are all basically sales terms, and they have the same mentalities. This isn't a bad thing! They can help you get jobs, and they're good contacts to have. Just recognize that they're financially incentivized to get butts in seats and not, like, actually your partner in some way.

Klein

Thank you all for the comments on this, I appreciate the various perspectives. I interviewed with the manager at the company earlier this week and it went well! I am hoping to hear back in the next few days. Currently, I am interviewing at a few places, but this company I talked with is well known in my industry and my first choice for a job. Fingers crossed this works out; I communicated to my recruiter that other companies are starting to move forward in interviews so I hope there is a response soon.

Simpsonia

I got my current job working with a 3rd party recruiter and this is fairly normal. Actually seems less restrictive. When I was working with the recruiter, the moment my company saw my resume they couldn't hire me at all for any position without the recruiter getting his cut.

Also agree with Manwith's comments. The recruiter can be a great resource. Before every interview I had a call with the recruiter where he gave me the rundown on positions of the people interviewing me, and their skillsets. Things like this interviewer is really technical so you can get in the weeds with them, but with this one stay higher level. When I made it to the final round gave me a lot of tips and strategy about interviewing with the VP, such as "he likes to throw a lot of hypotheticals at you, but don't be afraid to take a second to think about your answer, he doesn't mind that."

Smurph

I've worked with external recruiters to hire people. Generally they get hired for specific jobs, not for any opening the company has. So them asking you not to apply to other jobs might just be them making sure that you don't end up getting an offer for an opening they aren't hired to recruit for. I guess there's a possibility that since the job wasn't posted yet, and you applied for some other job that already was posted, it might look like you were just browsing their openings on your own and the recruiter didn't actually bring you in. It would be a hard argument for them to make in retrospect. Basically the recruiter is trying not to get stiffed for finding you.

manwiththemachinegun

Klein wrote: »

Thank you all for the comments on this, I appreciate the various perspectives. I interviewed with the manager at the company earlier this week and it went well! I am hoping to hear back in the next few days. Currently, I am interviewing at a few places, but this company I talked with is well known in my industry and my first choice for a job. Fingers crossed this works out; I communicated to my recruiter that other companies are starting to move forward in interviews so I hope there is a response soon.

If you have an in demand skill set, one of the best outcomes is to get companies in bidding wars over them. A good recruiter will use the pitch, "I thought you might want to take one last look , he just got x offer at this company, if you want to make a counter bid now's the Time."

That said, I'm glad it's good news for you!

spool32

This is totally common with outside recruiters. The reason they're asking you not to apply to other jobs with the company is that they won't get paid if the company hires you directly. You don't have to listen to them, but also you'll be communicating to the hiring manager that you're fine screwing someone over in order to get a job, and the hiring manager will know that if the recruiter finds out, they won't offer any more candidates to the company. It's in everyone's best interest for you to refrain from applying to other positions at that company.

However, recruiters can fuck off forever if they're asking you to stop your entire job search. If they ask you to, just lie to them unless you're actually under some employment contract that prevents you from taking other work. Literally ignore that shit, lie if the recruiter asks, and continue job hunting.

lots of recruiters won't bother their ass to try and place you if they believe you're gonna vanish into another role while they're halfway through getting you hired somewhere. So fuck them, lie about it.