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Truth, Justice and the American Way of Headhunting

A Good Old-Fashioned Friday Rant

by on February 20, 2009, 10:01 am

1 comment

The proposition below in italics has apparently been sent to many people.

I guess in some sense, I might perpetuate the potential problem I am going to point out but I think a posting on this board will not be as damaging as sending this to totally random people on LinkedIn. I don’t even have a problem with the concept as long as it is discussed privately among people who might do it after some qualification is done. But to send this to random people one does not know does something much worse than the fairly inconsequential “cry of desperation” it sends about our industry.

What this does is invite every single person who ends up discussing a fee agreement with a recruiter to tell the recruiter he knows how much “fluff” is built into our fee structure if we can afford to give away 25% for not very much value.

I already take crap from about half the recruiting world for offering a 1k finder’s fee to people who originate a candidate I eventually place.

This guy (I do know it is a guy) is probably some franchise owner who can’t get his people to call or to get placements out of their calls and probably does not appreciate the value of a placement.  I guess I can stop now…this was a week ago. He is probably gone now anyway…

I’d like to invite you to partner with my company. If you are able to direct new business to my staffing company, I will pay you 25% of the total business generated for one year. Our average fees per hire are about $20,000.

The referral can involve you personally making an introduction to the client or you could simply let us know that a company is working with outside recruiters to fulfill their hiring needs. In any case, we would pay you a consulting fee of 25% of all the revenue generated from that account for one year. In ’07, we generated $460,000 from our biggest client, your take for simply pointing us in the right direction would have been $115,000.

** ANY INDUSTRY WORKS, OUR CLIENTS RANGE FROM LARGE COSMETICS COMPANIES TO HIGH TECH SOFTWARE.

Dave Staats places top executives as well as implementation consultants with software companies. He also has made more placements in Artificial Intelligence than any other headhunter. His career began during the SDI (Star Wars) years and included placement of scientists in laser, stealth, and other high-tech fields. During a short hiatus from the recruiting industry in 1994 he obtained a Private Investigator's license which he keeps as a constant reminder that a headhunter is what he really is. Dave is on the Board of Directors of The Pinnacle Society and a founder of The Tennessee Recruiters Association. He has a BA from Western Illinois University. Dave also blogs at Truth, Justice & the American Way of Headhunting
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  • Keoughan, Tom

    I can’t imagine why I would want to refer possible business to him rather than trying to fill it myself. That is even more the case since he is only offering 25% instead of the traditional 50/50 split.

    He probably doesn’t even realize that he is shouting out for other recruiting firms to hire his people. When I received this email I went to his website and it provides names, phone numbers and email addresses for his senior recruiters. Unfortunately, my firm doesn’t handle IT search.

    Another brilliant strategy backfires. Oops! A lot of people fail to think about defense and only think offense. This is a great example of how your own actions can be used against you.

    Tom Keoughan
    http://www.toyjobs.com