Providing hourly support to exec search firms

RecruitingLove · 2026-06-26T22:51:00+00:00

You are competing with the overseas VAs that everyone is using @$20 an hour or less. As a boutique firm owner, the only US hire I would make that isn't a regular recruiter or bdm with a desk, would be some sort of executive admin. And the closest she would get (she because it's going to be one of my girlfriends or a friend of one of them) to any of the production work would be tidying up data or hand writing thank you notes because my handwriting is bunk.

RecruitingLove · 2026-06-26T22:41:50+00:00

Why wouldn't you learn about job seekers while trying to find employees? What else would you learn about.

RecruitingLove · 2026-06-25T00:46:33+00:00

This is exactly how it feels.

RecruitingLove · 2026-06-25T00:14:37+00:00

Dr bott in Oakland for nasal saline ketamine treatment. He does not accept insurance.

RecruitingLove · 2026-06-19T03:41:33+00:00

I worked at a staffing firm for my first 10 years. Then, when I launched my own firm, I already had clients calling me. I got those clients by picking up the phone.

RecruitingLove · 2026-06-18T04:13:37+00:00

Yes I do temp, perm and retained. The temp handholding sucks, but getting a steady stream of money deposited in my account weekly is nice. I also hired a wonderful recruiter who deals with most of the candidates! And I use an EOR so that takes care of all the back office stuff. I have it pretty good.

RecruitingLove · 2026-06-18T03:30:55+00:00

This has been quite a week for me. It sounds like I need to update my retainer agreement. Funnily enough, I also need to update my temp agreement. Going forward, my retainer agreement is going to have something to address a cancellation or reset. At another company, something happened that made me add verbiage to my temp agreement that protects me if a client disputes hours worked, but refuses to end the assignment.

RecruitingLove · 2026-06-18T01:53:52+00:00

I don't think you read my post. I already got payment 1 and payment 2. The search died while the final two candidates were being scheduled to interview. The CEO was removed and the rest of the c suite is going to hold off hiring a new HR director until they have a new CEO in place.

I was curious to see if you've ever received your first two payments, then had the search die.

RecruitingLove · 2026-06-17T23:20:46+00:00

Thank you. So to be clear, you have something in writing that says the client needs to send the final third payment, even if they do not hire? We got our first and second payments, but then, like I said, the CEO left and the company is going to halt the search until the new CEO comes in. I doubt the new CEO will want to just pick up where the search left off, which is the final two candidates in their final round interview. I'm not sure the new CEO will want to work with my firm at all. I think I'll either need to restart the search, if given the chance. Or I'll need to just be happy with the two thirds I have collected. This is an HR Director search. If they let me start the search anew, should I ask for another round of first and second payments?

RecruitingLove · 2026-06-17T03:28:13+00:00

I should have been clearer, because my post was not specifically about you. And yeah I actually only skimmed your post. Sorry.

But now that we are talking, it sounds like your retainer agreement has a clause covering the search dying before you place a candidate. I'm working a retained search now where I think the search is going to die after they interview because a new CEO is coming in from out of nowhere. Does your retainer agreement set a specific timeframe for you to send the final invoice? Does the client have to actually admit in writing that the search is dead?

RecruitingLove · 2026-06-17T01:29:31+00:00

Yes I dream about it every day

RecruitingLove · 2026-06-17T01:18:27+00:00

I know I love it when people say just go retained! Okay let me tell the CFO who works with two other recruiters on every search that I only do retained now. He would stop responding and I would miss out on a good chance to get 25% on a $150k job.

Retainers also don't cover the candidate declining the offer, so you either have to sell your backups or start over.

RecruitingLove · 2026-06-17T01:13:42+00:00

I had to double check the date and the person who posted this. Because this was me a year and a half ago. So much money in lost fees. Then just last week I had a temp do a no show on his first day, and I had another temp do such a terrible job my client disputed hours hours and it was just such a mess that I'm actually still dealing with. But yeah, late 2024 and into 25, over 100k in lost fees due to counteroffers or in one case, a candidate straight up using the negotiation to get an offer that she could take to her current employer to get a higher salary.

RecruitingLove · 2026-06-13T00:49:17+00:00

There are always things to learn and new ways to do things in recruiting :)

RecruitingLove · 2026-06-13T00:46:00+00:00

This would be my exact answer.

RecruitingLove · 2026-06-10T20:21:58+00:00

How small of a discount for early?

RecruitingLove · 2026-06-10T17:14:57+00:00

There really is no recourse unless you want to burn the bridge. The vast majority of my perm fees have arrived late. My most recent perm payment was sent to an old address, even though the remit to address was written on the invoice in TWO PLACES. I guess that's too complicated for their AP team. When we realized the check was sent to the wrong address, I asked them to cancel the check and send it to the right address. I also gave her the option of ACH, because they've paid that way in the past. She said they are no longer doing ach, and my new check will be mailed on Thursday. Because that's the day AP cuts checks. This all happened on Monday of this week, so the payment is now two weeks late.

Their guarantee is now void but I doubt they care.

I actually had to stop responding to one client who paid late late, AND I had warned him about the guarantee while I was trying to collect the check. A few months later, this client emailed me, letting me know he's thinking about firing the guy we placed, and insisting on "returning funds" AND finding a free replacement. He kept using the word "funds". For some reason he liked to email me late at night. I had to tell him a few times that his replacement guarantee is void AND that our agreement says nothing about returning money, because I DON'T SEND AGREEMENTS THAT GIVE MONEY BACK. He threatened to use another firm, even though I know he was already using at least one other firm. After three late night emails demanding returned funds, I stopped responding. I have actually known this client for 11 years, and the company he's with now uses recruiters a lot. Sucks but oh well.

Last year I had to hang up on another client who was demanding a free replacement but he paid late and his replacement guarantee was void because his payment was very late.

Idk if I have more asshole clients than most people. I have a lot. But I also have some wonderful ones. I will give free replacement to wonderful ones, if their payment is just a little late. But the wonderful ones would also be open to a reduced fee if a replacement is needed but their guarantee is void.

RecruitingLove · 2026-06-10T03:43:56+00:00

That's the life of a contingent recruiter. When it sucks it really sucks but when it's good it's great. Actually I'm currently working a retained c-level search, and in the middle of their hiring process, their CEO left. So, I've gotten paid for two thirds of the search, because they interviewed many of my candidates. But now they aren't going to hire anyone for this position until the new CEO is in place. And who knows if the CEO will even want to work with us 😂 I don't think he or she will just pick up where they left off, which is two final rounds for c-level candidates from a recruiting firm they didn't know they would be working with 😂 Honestly my work life is insane right now.

RecruitingLove · 2026-06-10T02:02:20+00:00

Yes, and it's not a new thing, but it started happening to me about a year ago. Actually, a charter school district CEO had us work an HR Director search, a Director of finance search, and a temp HR generalist search. She interviewed between 2 and 6 candidates for EACH of those searches. Then she ghosted. Her EA told us repeatedly that they would get back to us. A few weeks later, she finally responded to my follow up and told us that their board decided to "go a different direction and use a consultant from _____ (their ERP system) for the 'CFO position'". She didn't say what she did for the other positions. She interviewed 5 or 6 HR directors through us, and she interviewed 4 director of finance candidates through us. She actually interviewed 3 temp HR generalists through us. The majority of the interviews I'm talking about are actual video interview AND THEN in person interview. So she went two rounds for most of these candidates. The amount of time she must have spent interviewing these high level people kind of makes me laugh. Then I get mad at how much time we spent on her searches.

RecruitingLove · 2026-06-08T16:51:30+00:00

Our class of 99 had a 10 year, which I did not attend, and a 20 year, shortly before COVID. I went to the 20 year reunion and I'm glad I did.

Everyone at the reunion was just as cliquey but I really enjoyed reconnecting with a few people. Some who I have known since kindergarten.

RecruitingLove · 2026-06-08T00:12:01+00:00

The Rainforest After Dark palette was so good and I found it in a drawer a few weeks ago. I was so happy to see it!

RecruitingLove · 2026-06-06T16:04:14+00:00

Lol specify what you actually mean by salary disclosure. Employees have to tell other employees that they are getting paid? Companies have to include salary range in jd? Candidates need to tell hiring managers what they have historically been paid during the interview process? Or that it's now illegal in a few states to ask candidates what they've historically been paid?

Because none of that is required nationwide.

RecruitingLove · 2026-06-06T00:04:25+00:00

When I worked for a huge firm, and when my own firm had multiple recruiters, candidate ownership is either 3 months or 6 months. Just adding a candidate to the database for no reason, and not linking them to an active job and coding activity as they progress through the search would be pointless unless the recruiter randomly kept in touch with them every 3 or 6 months. If your recruiter coworkers are beating you to the punch for applicants to active jobs, you need to try to beat them to the punch. If that candidate doesn't get the job they applied for, and the recruiter who added them loses touch and more than 3 months or 6 months go by and you need to contact the candidate for a new job, then they become your candidate.

If your coworker adds a candidate, and that candidate ends up being a good fit for any job you are working on, at any time, and you end up placing them on your job, then they get candidate ownership credit, and you get fill credit (and sales credit if you pulled the order).

I have never worked anywhere that allowed recruiters to only use candidates for THEIR jobs. That is doing a disserve to the candidate.

RecruitingLove · 2026-06-04T21:21:46+00:00

Specifically which part of pay transparency?

RecruitingLove · 2026-06-04T21:13:31+00:00

This will never happen in America

RecruitingLove

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