What to Put in Your Contract With a Recruiter (Strategic Alliances/Partnerships)

Developing the wrong kind of relationships with recruiters can put your resume writing business at significant risk. They can make promises to you about providing a volume of clients that can be enticing — but can they deliver? And at what cost (both in terms of finances and the commitment it will require from you)?

Going into these relationships armed with the right knowledge and information can help assure you pick the right recruiters to work with — and negotiate an agreement that works for you — and for them. 

Questions: 

• Will you (the firm) be the “client” or will I be working with (and billing) the job seeker directly?

• What kinds of clients do you work with? Any specialties? What salary ranges do you usually work with? Remember that “generalist” firms in particular might send you some clients you don’t usually work with. If this is the case, you might want to make arrangements ahead of time with a subcontract writer to handle those clients.

• Do you anticipate these project to be resumes only, resumes and cover letters, or other types of materials (bios, portfolios, LinkedIn profiles, etc.). Would you be interested in offering any other services to your clients — i.e., career workshops, interview coaching, salary negotiation advising?

• How many projects do you think you will be sending me (per week, or per month)?

• How do you anticipate the client management process being handled (how I normally conduct business, or do you have something else in mind — i.e., meeting the client at your offices, or representing myself as your agent?)

• How will referrals be made? Online? Will you email me the client information and I make contact? Will you set up a formal affiliate page and/or link? Or will you give the client my contact information, and the client will contact me?

• How will sales be tracked? Are you responsible for tracking leads and clients, or am I?

• How will payment be handled? Will the client pay you, or me?


Issues to address when structuring an agreement (these are addressed in detail in the special report, but here is an overview):

• Tracking referrals

• Compensation

• Scope of commissionable work

• Reporting requirements

• Pricing

• Contact details

• Clients you don’t/won’t work with

• Client ownership and ownership of work (copyright)

• Nondisclosure/confidentiality

• Payment details

• Expense reimbursement

• Defining the nature of the relationship (“status”) – i.e., independent contractor, employee, or agent

• Responsibilities of each party

• How default/breeches are resolved

• Limits of liability

• Term of the contract

• Contract termination


Excerpted from: “Developing Strategic Alliances and Partnerships With Recruiters” by Bridget (Weide) Brooks.

Affiliate Relationships with Recruiters - Compensation

As I am researching my new Special Report for resume writers on developing strategic alliances with recruiters and headhunters, I'm learning there is a wide variety of compensation strategies --- from NONE (the most frequently asked question I hear from resume writers: "So why would they refer someone to me, if they're not getting a referral fee or commission?") to 15%, on average.

I hope to have the Special Report done by the end of the month!! More details to follow...

Reaching Recruiters

Another source for reaching recruiters is "The Best Directory of Recruiters" offered by The Original Resume company. Version 6.0 offers contact information for up to 250 elite recruiters for just $99 (Word, Excel, or Access database format).

Resume Writer, Career Coach, Recruiter, Executive Agent?

There are many types of professionals in the careers industry. While there can be some overlap, I thought it would be useful to clarify the jobs and roles of each professional.

Resume writers generally work for individual clients and are paid by the client to develop (and sometimes distribute) their job search documents. Resume writers may refer clients to recruiters, and may be paid a "finder's fee" for those clients, if they are placed. Resume writers may provide career coaching (either paid or unpaid). Some resume writers also do recruiting, although most do it in a "staffing agency" capacity, not as a "recruiter" per se.

Career coaches may also write resumes, although there is a definite subset of the profession that believes the client should write his/her own resume, and the coach will help "guide" them in this process. Very few career coaches that I know of function as either recruiters or executive agents.

Recruiters, in the traditional model, are paid by employers to find candidates to fill job openings. Some recruiters (also sometimes called "headhunters") will not accept unsolicited resumes from candidates; it is a "badge of honor" for some top-level recruiters to source the really-hard-to-find-candidates -- and these recruiters will find you; you don't find them. Some recruiters will work with resume writers; others see no need for resume writers ("we have our own format we use"). Most legitimate "recruiters" will not charge the candidate a fee; instead, they are paid by the employer.

The Executive Agent is the newest type of careers professional. Modeled on the professional sports agent, or entertainment industry agent, these individuals are paid by the job seeker (often a fee of $1000-$5000). The best known in the careers industry is Debra Feldman, although it could be argued that any of the top careers professionals that offer comprehensive resume writing/career coaching/job search assistance/resume distribution services fall into this category. The Executive Agent is not to be confused with the Bernard Haldane model, where job seekers pay a large fee to gain "exclusive access to the hidden job market." Instead, the Executive Agent model is much more proactive and directed, and relies heavily on the agent's network of contacts.

I wanted to define these different roles because of a question on one of the professional association listservs about the Top Gun Executive Group. From the website description, it appears the owner, Craig Chrest, is an Executive Agent, although he calls himself a recruiter. It's unclear from the site whether he also collects a fee from the hiring employer, which would put him in a sort of "dual agency" model.

In the same way that recruiters are sometimes dismissive of the services of resume writers and career coaches ("If the job seeker was any good, they wouldn't need someone to write their resume; we'd find them on our own"), resume writers (and career coaches) have to be careful not to be too dismissive of "executive agents" just because they charge clients a lot of money.

However, I foresee a time in the future when Executive Agents will be compensated like sports agents or entertainment agents ... with a percentage of the client's salary (similar to how recruiters are currently paid). Except, instead of the employer paying, it will be the job searcher. I'm not sure if the sports/entertainment industry standard of 15% will fly in this instance, but Executive Agents can expect to be well compensated for the role they make in helping highly compensated professionals and executives effectively find their next job.

Recruiters: "Competition" for Resume Writers?

I wrote the following in 2002:

There was a comment made in the Recruiter's Panel at the CMI Conference (now the Career Management Alliance) in San Diego in 2002 that sometime in the future, recruiters may get into the résumé-writing business. I would argue, some already have.

For the sake of argument, permit me to comment on this.

POSITIVES:
• Most recruiters already make 100K and don't need the income from resume writing to make a living. Therefore, they probably won't troll in the same "waters" we do for clients. (However, they might employ staff for this role, as it might not be a task they want to offer THEMSELVES but want to offer as a firm.)
• Two can play that game. What keeps resume writers from taking on recruitment roles? (There are already several resume writers who are excellent role models for this within the industry.)
• There might be an opportunity for resume writers to more closely affiliate with recruiters who want to offer this service, but don't want to take on staff or do it themselves.
• Recruiters might increase their appreciation of resume writers as they see how difficult our part of the job is. (I certainly have a respect for how difficult THEIR job can be.)

NEGATIVES:
• It's easier for recruiters to find the prospects -- people are always sending resumes to recruiters; if they're bad, they're in a perfect position to recommend that their resume needs to be redone.
• Recruiters don't need to make money off the resumes they do; their primary profit centers are the fees paid to them by employers. Ergo, they can/will underprice most resume writers.
• Unlike most resume writers, recruiters know the target EXACTLY. (Resume writers can usually get it about 98% right *grin*). When they create the resume, they also know what to emphasize to get that particular job. Almost every time.

Keep an eye on this topic -- it's going to be hot in the next couple of years.

All right, it's five years later. What's the reality?

I know of several resume writers who subcontract write for recruiting firms. I know of a few resume writers who also do recruiting. For the most part, the status quo has reigned. But that's not to say that things won't change in the next five years. Stay tuned. I'll have more for you on this topic.

Finding Recruiters For Your Clients

The Riley Guide has compiled a list of links to free online directories of search firms and recruiters, including:

• Association of Executive Search Consultants (AESC)
  
• AESC also offers a service called "Bluesteps" that includes access to "SearchConnect" for conducting searches of recruiters by their specialty. Fees for a "lifetime" membership range from $219 to $299.
  
• The Career Portal Online Recruiters Directory
• Oya's Directory-of-Recruiters
• RecruiterLink.com (powered by Hunt-Scanlon)
• National Association of Personnel Services Member Directory
• Searchfirm.com
  

Also, try Top Echelon's "Recommended Recruiter" search.

Directories of recruiters are also available for purchase. Kennedy Information has contact information for thousands of recruiters, both in book form and online! Select by function area (sales, for example) and industry (manufacturing) and it returns the number of results. Purchase online -- and resell the information to your client.