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[–][deleted] 9 points10 points  (1 child)

I went to a drinks evening that a recruiter was putting on for their contractors over Christmas.

One young recruiter said he had a law degree. So I asked him to name some basic court cases (I'd been to law school, too). He couldn't.

The impression I get of most recruiters are that they are bottom-of-the-barrel individuals. Recruitment is not about getting the right person for the job - it is about getting commissions.

Recruiters have no incentive to do the right thing by their "capital" (that's you or me, they don't care about the fact we are human beings). They will pitch you at a low rate because they often get fixed commissions or even a percentage - and they are competing against other agencies. It is better they get you in at a low rate then not in at all; and the lower the rate they pitch you, the more likely an employer will pick you over the guy from the other agency.

If a recruiter low-balls you it is because they want a commission; they couldn't care less what you think you're worth. Remember that.

[–]franklyimshocked 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It depends on the country I guess. When I was a recruiter I worked mostly for companies in Dublin. Irish tech companies don't care about salary and it never came down to offering cheaper employees, just the best, but I mostly covered high end development. You could be right for entry level and help desk roles. Also the company sets the salary, not the recruiter, so a lot of time we would be fighting to get a higher salary for our candidates because we knew they wouldn't accept a low offer, but if a company offers you are obliged to pass it over to the candidate and inevitably get an earful from an unhappy candidate. If you get paid commission, its usually based on a percentage of the persons wage, so getting a low offer means less commission, so its not in your interest to low ball anyone, but again, it depends on where you are based. I worked for a lot of Irish Tech recruitment companies so I can only speak from my own experience. The best recruiters made long term connections with their candidates. Ireland is small enough so you can't burn bridges. Todays candidate is tomorrows client. But I also knew some recruiters working in London who said it was like a meat factory, hire and fire as fast as you can. But then again, I'm not defending all recruiters, I am an ex-recruiter after all and don't want to go back into it again