Yet Another Recruiter Question

[James Barrow]

>>>Jim Barrow wrote:
>>Beth Agnew wrote:
>Gene Kim-Eng said:
>
>>>What do I care if they receive a commission or not? Are you saying that
>>>recruiters who receive a commission work harder for the candidate?
>>
>>They probably also want an idea of whether you might take yourself out of
>>the candidate pool by accepting a job for which they will not receive a
>>commission, or by turning down a job they find for you.
>
>Well, you asked what the relevance of the question was. I don't think
>anyone said anything to suggest that you ought to care. :)

<chuckle> I don't think that this recruiter question should be passed off as
small talk.  Since I've never been a recruiter, or sold used cars, I'm
guessing that it affects my bottom line (getting an interview, getting the
best rate, etc.).

>It is not so much that recruiters who work on commission "work harder" as
>it is that a recruiter who works on a commission basis who discovers that
>there is none to be had by submitting you to an employer will just not be
>interested in submitting you at all.  No recruiter works "for the
>candidate," they are all working for themselves and their client companies.

I'm not following this logic at all.  Recruiters choose to act as middlemen
for the client companies.  This isn't a task that is thrust upon them.  Are
you suggesting that when a company contacts a recruiter looking for a tech
writer, and there isn't a commission for this position, the recruiter
searches for a tech writer begrudgingly?:

Title:     Technical...somebody
Location:  Whatever
Pay rate:  As if I care 
Length:    Does it matter?