Agencies (clarification)

[doc at edwordsmith.com]

On Sunday 04 June 2006 04:42, Jobs at ProSpring wrote:

> OTOH, ProSpring makes a point to tell the candidate who the client is
> (The client is XYZ, have you already sent them your resume?) --- no
> sense wasting everyone's time if we can't represent you if you or
> another agency already submitted you for the position.....

As a long-time contractor, I appreciate ths openess on the part of the 
recruiting agency.  

In recent years, this richer information sharing between recruiter and recruit 
seems to be more normal, made possible without exposing the recruiter or 
agency to predatory contractor practices, because the hiring company's HR has 
partitioned all openings into either contract or staff positions.  IOW, HR 
doesn't handle contract opportunities, so a recruiter can tell me the company 
name and I can learn or share more with the recruiter about the opportunity 
with that information, but I can't go to their HR office and apply for the 
contract.  RARELY would a recruiter volunteer the name of the hiring manager, 
but if I know the company I will ask who the hiring manager is, and the 
recruiter will tell me (or say it isn't given in the description). The 
recruiter will WANT to know if I know the manager--it can be a weighty factor 
when the recruiter decides who to send for interviews..   

Such is the security built into the recruiter-employer relationship, at least 
that's the way I see and work it.  There isn't actually any room for a 
predator or free-rider contractor to benefit from the rich information except 
within the relationship with the recruiter. Perhaps another recruiting agency 
would be interested in it, but with preferred vendors and so forth, even that 
risk is low and probably worth assuming in the interest of more 
backfire-proof contracting decisions.. 

I may be too focused on contract work to have the big picture, but it seems to 
me that:

o  Contractors are not hired through the usual HR process.  

o Staff positions and contract positions are not recruited through the same 
agencies.  Agencies tend to specialize.  The gray area (contract to hire) is 
in the domain of contract positions.

o  Staff positions that are announced to the public are not recruited through 
recruiters.  I believe recruiters can attempt to fill publicly announced 
positions, but my sense is that it is futile for them to spend the time.

Under these circumstances, there seems to be little risk of having a recruit 
do an end run on the recruiter--recruiters still don't tell us the hiring 
manager's name, and it doesn't affect contractor hiring if the contractor 
already has a resume in with the HR epartment..

Locally, recruiters have told me (because I ask a lot of questions and pick 
their brains to understand all of the factors I can influence in seeking 
contract work) that when a candidate/resume is submitted by more than one 
agency, the client throws them all out.  The onus of keeping resumes and 
candidates straight is shifted to the contractor, primarily.  

Some hiring companies issue and then withdraw contractor requests, and then 
reiussue them at a revised pay rate, or with different requirements, or even 
with no modification. This practice makes it difficult to keep things 
straight, especially if recruiters also revise the announcements before 
emailing them to contractors. I assume that some recruiters do revise 
descriptions, because I get similar-but-different ones a lot.  I generally 
avoid applying for opportunities with companies that issue/withdraw/re-issue 
contractor requests, and recruiters who send abridged versions of a contract 
description.. 

I do provide feedback to recruiters who contact me with opportunities of these 
types, and I think it is a good practice--recruiters and contractors should 
encourage each other to engage in any such dialogue.  It establishes some of 
the groundwork for cooperation and long-term productive contracting 
relationships.