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Employment Agencies
Contingent fee recruiting organizations provide a valuable service to employers, primarily for clerical and experienced staff level recruiting. Most employment agencies specialize by function or industry, accumulating resume information and forwarding this information to interested employers. Although practices vary by firm, the majority "sell from the inventory" of accumulated resumes. Therefore, if a highly qualified candidate is actively seeking a new position and is known to the agency, an employer may fill an opening immediately. If not, a point of diminishing return may be reached quickly.
Clearly, at lower compensation levels (under $50,000), an agency source may be fruitful. Where positions demand more highly specified credentials and experience, a proactive search is preferable. Also, at higher levels, the cost of a tailored search is roughly equivalent to an agency placement, meaning more service is rendered for the same price.
It is important to understand that the contingent fee firm must operate on a probability philosophy. Since there is no cash flow until an employment agreement has been consummated, the agency must have "many irons in the fire." The focus is on the achievement of the accepted offer and, since agency counselors work primarily on commission, the quality of the placement can become a secondary issue. Employers and candidates alike can expect high pressure treatment because a high quality candidate is often marketed to several potential employers simultaneously. Also bear in mind that many employment agency counselors do not have professional interviewing skills and some never interview candidates at all, but merely send resumes from a file. And, unfortunately, cases of misrepresentation of both client openings and candidate qualifications are not uncommon. This latter problem requires that clients complete the screening which should have been done by the intermediary.
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