Bypassing a Recruitment Agent after receiving a job offer?

Bypassing a Recruitment Agent after receiving a job offer?

Author
Discussion

soulkid555

Original Poster:

126 posts

172 months

Monday 24th September 2012
quotequote all
I recevied a verbal offer today for a contract job I was interviewed for last week. They interviewed 6 people who all came from different recruitment agencies.

The guy who interviewed me is one of my LinkedIn contacts.

I would like to deal with him directly rather than going through the agency. The reason being that I will get a better deal financially and so will he. Is there any problem (legal?) or otherwise in cotacting the company and trying to deal with them directly given that the agency sent me for the inteview etc?

They are a large multi national so maybe they only deal with agencies?

The upshot is that the role I was interviewed for is a different role than what I went for and much more senior and I would need more money as a result. I have been told that they are finding it hard to fill the job also.


Timmy35

12,915 posts

197 months

Monday 24th September 2012
quotequote all
soulkid555 said:
Is there any problem (legal?) or otherwise in cotacting the company and trying to deal with them directly given that the agency sent me for the inteview etc?
The agency sent you for the interview, so you are their candidate. In all fairness to them they have provided you with a sevice which you are now trying not to pay for. nono

The companies HR team will/should tell you the same thing, and will have a legal agreement in place to prevent you doing what your trying to.

I've worked directly for co before but only where there was no involvement what so ever with an agency.

mattnunn

14,041 posts

160 months

Monday 24th September 2012
quotequote all
Don't do it, don't contact the client to suggest it, don't even think about it.

soulkid555

Original Poster:

126 posts

172 months

Monday 24th September 2012
quotequote all
Thanks for the replies.

I'm going to go through the agency as I don't want to risk losing the role.

grahamw48

9,944 posts

237 months

Thursday 27th September 2012
quotequote all
There seem to be as many recruitment agencies as potential recruits these days.

Nothing more than damned parasites, a lot of them.

Agencies here. Agencies there...'consulting', 'solutions'.

Does anyone actually go out and do some productive work anymore, or just live by feeding off the skills and qualifications of others ? rolleyes

burriana

16,556 posts

253 months

Thursday 27th September 2012
quotequote all
By offering to bypass the agency you would be showing yourself to be unscrupulous. Do you want to give this impression to a potential employer?

Frustrating I know given the current attitude of a lot of agencies. I have had two interviews with fingers crossed to make it through to the third and final stage, for job that I want very much. It is through an agency that, until I trawled through their website and found the job spec, they would not have put me forward for it, even though they have my CV, only spoke to me a week earlier and the job title was a perfect match for my search criteria. They did nothing yet will take a chunk of commission which might affect my salary offer should I get that far.

But rules are rules and, I suppose, if it wasn't for their website, I wouldn't have seen the job.

PugwasHDJ80

7,522 posts

220 months

Thursday 27th September 2012
quotequote all
Had a specific problem with the last recruiter who found me my current role- didn't mind the company but the agent was dreadful.

Agreed wit the HR department that i would deal with them direct but the agent would still take their cut.

Worked out well for everyone.

Anubis

1,029 posts

178 months

Thursday 27th September 2012
quotequote all
grahamw48 said:
There seem to be as many recruitment agencies as potential recruits these days.

Nothing more than damned parasites, a lot of them.

Agencies here. Agencies there...'consulting', 'solutions'.

Does anyone actually go out and do some productive work anymore, or just live by feeding off the skills and qualifications of others ? rolleyes
clap could not have said it any better

grahamw48

9,944 posts

237 months

Thursday 27th September 2012
quotequote all
Anubis said:
grahamw48 said:
There seem to be as many recruitment agencies as potential recruits these days.

Nothing more than damned parasites, a lot of them.

Agencies here. Agencies there...'consulting', 'solutions'.

Does anyone actually go out and do some productive work anymore, or just live by feeding off the skills and qualifications of others ? rolleyes
clap could not have said it any better
That's a surprise.

I'd just donned my flame-proof overalls. rofl

topless_mx5

2,763 posts

217 months

Friday 28th September 2012
quotequote all
grahamw48 said:
There seem to be as many recruitment agencies as potential recruits these days.

Nothing more than damned parasites, a lot of them.

Agencies here. Agencies there...'consulting', 'solutions'.

Does anyone actually go out and do some productive work anymore, or just live by feeding off the skills and qualifications of others ? rolleyes
I am fairly surprised and shocked at the attitude shown above and by the OP.

If an estate agent sells your house, do you try and bypass them to avoid paying them a fee? If you buy a car from the auction, do you try and bypass the auction house to avoid paying their cut? Why should recruitment services be treated any differently?

The fact is the agent has provided his/her client with a service in that they have found the right candidate for the role, and he/she has provided the OP with a service by finding him work that he may not have otherwise found.

If you wanted to avoid the recruitment agent getting paid then why did you not apply for the job directly?

It seems there are bad consultants out there who seem to give us all a bad name, but please, don't tar us with the same brush.

tyrewrecker

6,419 posts

153 months

Friday 28th September 2012
quotequote all
I am especially grateful to the last two...changed my life

grahamw48

9,944 posts

237 months

Friday 28th September 2012
quotequote all
topless_mx5 said:
grahamw48 said:
There seem to be as many recruitment agencies as potential recruits these days.

Nothing more than damned parasites, a lot of them.

Agencies here. Agencies there...'consulting', 'solutions'.

Does anyone actually go out and do some productive work anymore, or just live by feeding off the skills and qualifications of others ? rolleyes
I am fairly surprised and shocked at the attitude shown above and by the OP.

If an estate agent sells your house, do you try and bypass them to avoid paying them a fee? If you buy a car from the auction, do you try and bypass the auction house to avoid paying their cut? Why should recruitment services be treated any differently?

The fact is the agent has provided his/her client with a service in that they have found the right candidate for the role, and he/she has provided the OP with a service by finding him work that he may not have otherwise found.

If you wanted to avoid the recruitment agent getting paid then why did you not apply for the job directly?

It seems there are bad consultants out there who seem to give us all a bad name, but please, don't tar us with the same brush.
I don't recall suggesting that anyone should bypass their 'services', but I was certainly commenting on their proliferation in recent years...always a sign that there is easy money to be made. Rather like double glazing, care homes etc.

Yes, of course there will be some decent agencies, as always was the case, and yes I would suggest everyone would probably be as well off making a personal approach to companies they are interested in, as a starting point. smile

bucksmanuk

2,311 posts

169 months

Saturday 29th September 2012
quotequote all
I know some recruitment agencies are OK, but I find too many of them are just standard HR rejects - who don’t know anything about my area of engineering what so ever. This is despite listing that they are specialists in engineering recruitment. Well they are now. as its one area of work which is growing rapidly.
I have just had a phone call from a recruitment agency - Saturday afternoon FFS!
I had my CV listed on “just engineers” and jobsite.co.uk after being made redundant at the end of July. I started work on 20th August in a motorsport spin off company - so took my CV off it. Well… the sites tell me I have and my profile has now gone (or has it?). I have updated LinkedIn with the new job role and title. I don’t want to change job – I have a great role in front of me…
Phone rings – Mr Recruitment Agent “Company are looking for an engineering manager for a motorsports company wanting to diversify… What experience have you had in design?”
Me: err yes – hello to you as well - It’s listed on the CV – (thinks - 20+ years of it – if you had read the CV Muppet!)
Agent: Ah yes I have it up here on the screen…..
Me: Well what does it say then?
Agent: “Ermm… I’m reading it now…” (thinks…shouldn’t you have done that before ringing me…?)
Agent: So can you tell me what experience you have had of bringing R&D products to the market?
Me: Read the CV – it’s all there mate….
Agent: Well I always find it easy to talk to candidates to find out what they actually did
Me: Well if it’s different from what’s on the CV, they are lying then aren’t they?
Agent: Yes I suppose they are – but it’s always good to know what they did with extra questions
Me: Where is this company based? – I may not want to commute that far…
Agent: Sorry I can’t tell you that. But they would be interested in your motor sports experience…
Me: Strewth mate I have worked there on a non-motor sport application for 6 weeks, how relevant do you think my experience will be?
Agent: Well if you update your CV with your (insert name of F1 Company) experience, and alter the dates a bit - I am sure it will be useful. Have you used CAD?”
Me: (annoyed now…) HAVE YOU ACTUALLY READ THE CV?? (This has CAD design experience listed for the last 20 years…). I give up, you are ringing people up and not even reading the CV – you’re hopeless – good bye.

And relax…
This cretin is by no means unusual….

To answer the OP, don’t try and bypass the agency, they get very nasty very quickly. It’s a line of work (I refuse to use the word industry) that has plenty of sharp characters in it. For some of them it’s easy money. There was a thread on here some time ago about a Han bloke involved in accountancy recruitment. An extreme example maybe – but it goes on….

0a

23,879 posts

193 months

Saturday 29th September 2012
quotequote all
grahamw48 said:
I don't recall suggesting that anyone should bypass their 'services', but I was certainly commenting on their proliferation in recent years...always a sign that there is easy money to be made. Rather like double glazing, care homes etc.

Yes, of course there will be some decent agencies, as always was the case, and yes I would suggest everyone would probably be as well off making a personal approach to companies they are interested in, as a starting point. smile
Quick suggestion: politely state you don't need their services.

Rushmore

1,223 posts

141 months

Sunday 30th September 2012
quotequote all
Search firms are

1. pay by the hiring company, not you
2. rewarded based on 25-33% of the compensation package of the successful candidate - the higher the salary, the higher their fee

I dont understand what it is that you worry about??


soulkid555 said:
I recevied a verbal offer today for a contract job I was interviewed for last week. They interviewed 6 people who all came from different recruitment agencies.

The guy who interviewed me is one of my LinkedIn contacts.

I would like to deal with him directly rather than going through the agency. The reason being that I will get a better deal financially and so will he. Is there any problem (legal?) or otherwise in cotacting the company and trying to deal with them directly given that the agency sent me for the inteview etc?

They are a large multi national so maybe they only deal with agencies?

The upshot is that the role I was interviewed for is a different role than what I went for and much more senior and I would need more money as a result. I have been told that they are finding it hard to fill the job also.

wax lyrical

881 posts

240 months

Monday 1st October 2012
quotequote all
...but for a contract role, where the employing company has a maximum budget, the daily rate on offer to the candidate will be directly affected by the 'commission' the Agency charges - typically 15% to 25%. So bypassing the Agency becomes tempting for the candidate. Not legal however, so don't do it! smile


Rushmore said:
Search firms are

1. pay by the hiring company, not you
2. rewarded based on 25-33% of the compensation package of the successful candidate - the higher the salary, the higher their fee

I dont understand what it is that you worry about??


soulkid555 said:
I recevied a verbal offer today for a contract job I was interviewed for last week. They interviewed 6 people who all came from different recruitment agencies.

The guy who interviewed me is one of my LinkedIn contacts.

I would like to deal with him directly rather than going through the agency. The reason being that I will get a better deal financially and so will he. Is there any problem (legal?) or otherwise in cotacting the company and trying to deal with them directly given that the agency sent me for the inteview etc?

They are a large multi national so maybe they only deal with agencies?

The upshot is that the role I was interviewed for is a different role than what I went for and much more senior and I would need more money as a result. I have been told that they are finding it hard to fill the job also.

vxr8mate

1,654 posts

188 months

Tuesday 2nd October 2012
quotequote all
The legal agreement will almost certainly be with the client (i.e. the fee payer) and not with the candidate.

Clients can try to bypass the cost of the agency for obvious gains; however, I have witnessed many try this only to re-appear (after having been caught red handed) 'cap in hand' asking if they can pay the original fee and not the penalty which is often higher.

Besides, if it was so easy to find the right candidates then surly the client wouldn't bother to hire an agency in the first place.

Salgar

3,283 posts

183 months

Wednesday 3rd October 2012
quotequote all
I have met a lot of really truly awful agents in the past (Job, Estate, etc)

However some of them are very good. I am currently working with one who is really putting in a lot of effort, he is only sending me places that he knows I'm going to want, and have a chance of getting. He started with a few jobs that were slightly out of my league on the off chance I would get them, and if I didn't then I would gain some interview XP.

I want to buy him all the beer for the work he's done and he definitely deserves whatever the company I'm going to work for are going to pay him. I couldn't have done it (found the jobs, or passed the interviews) without him.

AJS-

15,366 posts

235 months

Friday 5th October 2012
quotequote all
In those circumstances your new employer would still be liable to the invoice from the agent anyway. You'd just be showing yourself to be cynical and dishonest.

IT1GTR

554 posts

154 months

Friday 5th October 2012
quotequote all
My experience has been very good as a Candidate.

Had been looking for a while, got contacted by 2 agencies for 2 separate roles. Got interviews and offered one of the roles.

Not bad for 2 weeks work.