Recruiters get a lot of hate. There are entire websites and internet forums dedicated to trashing recruiters and the world of recruiting. Some of this is justified due to the difficult job market that people have to navigate.
It’s dehumanizing having to send out resumes on a daily basis only to get rejection after rejection. And much of the time the interaction will be through a recruiter. So, when people are rejected from jobs or when they don’t hear back they tend to blame recruiters.
But is this a problem with recruiters or is this a myth? Does the job market in general have anything to do with the negative impression that people have about recruiters?
What I would like to do here is cover some of the more common myths surrounding recruiters and discuss if they are real or not.
Recruiters Take a Cut of Your Paycheck: Myth
This is a myth that is repeated over and over on the internet. The problem with it is that it’s not true. At least not with the majority of recruiting firms that you will deal with.
I wrote an entire article that covers the topic of recruiters and if they take money from your paycheck here.
The simple answer is that recruiters don’t take a cut of your paycheck. The people who say this are simply ignorant of how staffing agencies and recruiting firms work.
If you are hired directly by a firm, then the most common scenario is that the firm pays the recruiting agency a percentage of your salary. That fee is discussed and agreed to before they even meet you.
A common example would be a 20% fee. So, for instance, if someone was paid 100k as a starting salary then the firm who hired them would pay the recruiting agency a fee of 20k. The agency would receive this fee, not the recruiter.
The recruiter would receive anywhere from $1,500-$5k depending on the agency.
If the person is not being hired directly and is instead working as a “temp” through a staffing agency, then what happens is that the client pays the staffing agency an hourly rate for the employee.
For instance, a temporary administrative assistant might be paid $20 an hour by the staffing agency, and the agency might bill the company $29 an hour for the service.
While many people object to this and think that they’re being underpaid, what they fail to realize is that the rate the client charges includes the labor burden. This is the expense that companies undertake to employ workers—and it’s a major reason why companies want to outsource their help.
For instance, when you have an employee you have to pay FICA taxes, Unemployment Insurance, Workers Comp insurance and many other costs.
In addition to these costs, it costs money to run a payroll and handle basic administrative tasks. So, that $9 is not all profit.
People who are ignorant of corporate finances tend to oversimplify the cost of hiring and employing people.
That’s not to say that sometimes a company doesn’t charge a high rate and pay a low rate (for instance, charging $30 for an administrative assistant buy only paying the person $15) however, companies that do this are not going to find good candidates.
There are some unscrupulous companies that advertise jobs online and then take a cut of your pay, but these are not typical staffing agencies. As a rule, these companies tend to be medical facilities that staff individuals who work as Home Health Aids, Respite Worker, and other low skilled, low paid work.
Home health aid companies in particular are notorious for this sort of worker abuse.
Recruiters do not take a cut of your salary. Recruiters work for staffing agencies. The owners of staffing agencies take the profit from temp workers, but even they don’t take a cut of their salary—unless it’s specified in a contract that you will read.
Recruiters Hold Back The “Good Jobs”: Myth
This is a complete myth. There is no truth to it. People who reach out to recruiters somehow think that they have a list of good jobs and they will only give them to select people.
It’s far from the truth. Recruiters want to fill a role and make commission. They won’t hold back a job if the person is going to make them money.
Again, it’s important to realize that we are discussing agency recruiters and not internal recruiters.
In the case of internal recruiters—they do tent to “hold back” the jobs— often for friends and family and people already selected by the company.
Agency recruiters are working to fill real roles, they would never select friends or family (unless they also happened to be the perfect fit) over someone else.
Internal recruiters, on the other hand, are well known to hold back jobs or only move forward certain people who they have pre-selected.
If you have a good resume and have reached out to a staffing firm, they will try and get you an interview if they are working with a role that you would be a good fit for.
If, however, you’re reached out to a company directly or a non-profit, and you are dealing with their internal recruitment team—then the odds are that you’re going to need an “in”. Internal recruiters are not paid as well as agency recruiters, and they tend not to be as well trained or sophisticated. They will often simply hire someone they know or someone who is the first person that a colleague suggests.
Recruiters Never Respond : Myth
This one is a myth. If a recruiter isn’t responding to you, it just means that they do not have a job opening that you would be a good fit for.
Remember, recruiters are not case managers or job counselors. It’s not their job to find you work.
Again, it is important to differentiate between an agency recruiter and one who works for a company (an internal recruiter).
Agency recruiters are handed job openings from companies and are tasked with screening people, setting interviews, checking references, and many other roles. They only make money if someone is successfully hired.
Internal recruiters are paid a flat salary regardless of whether or not someone is hired. It’s arbitrary to them if anyone is hired. Oftentimes they post jobs online to company websites even though they have already been told that there is a person within the company who will fill the role.
Agency recruiters do not work on “pretend jobs”. Internal recruiters have been known to post fake jobs, which are known in the industry are “fake jobs”. You’ll see these on company websites—many city and non-profits are infamous for posting fake job ads when they have already selected someone to hire.
If a regular agency recruiter isn’t following up with you it’s because they simply don’t have a role with you.
Unless you are on a blacklist (also known as a do not call list) they would not neglect to contact you about a job that they are working on.
Do not call lists most often involve people who have exhibited unprofessional behavior (walking off of a job, no-showing to an interview, or with the case of medical personal –workplace crime.)
Hey I’m Chris . 20+ years in the industry. I’ve worked every role from Executive recrutier to Agency founder and consultant. If you want to learn more or reach me,vist the about page or use my contact form.