Recruiters and Employment Agencies

From: Jack Chapman

What if you register with employment agencies (which place support staff) or recruiters (who work with higher-level professionals and executives)?  What do you tell them when they ask about salary?

When asked about their current earnings, some people are tempted to inflate them.  Never do that.  There are three sound reasons why I recommend 100-percent truth in stating your salary information:

1.      Frank money talk with a recruiter shows integrity and good faith;

2.      Recruiters can often sense when you are fabricating your earnings, and they’re trained in effective methods of getting at the truth, which include verifying with previous employers, a service their client, the employer, expects and is paying for;

3.      Experienced recruiters are excellent judges of value, so salary history will not prejudice them, and you can still establish your real value with facts about your performance potential.  (Side comment: I’ve learned that only some recruiters will not be prejudiced by salary history; others will still use it as a measuring stick; proceed with caution.)

Even though you’ll lack contact with the employer at the start, experienced recruiters are generally pretty accomplished, themselves, at moving an employer from budget to judgit.  Since the fee they earn for a placement—believe me, they do earn it—usually depends on the first year’s salary, they’ll try to get you the highest offer possible.  On the other hand, since they’re paid only upon placement, just getting you hired is their first priority.  Your salary is secondary.  If the employer “can’t afford you,” the recruiter will look for another candidate.  (Job-hunting tip: In such a case, ask the recruiter if there are other client companies who might want your talents.  If you are a very strong candidate, some recruiters will market you to their client base to earn extra fees.  Marketing a candidate, rather than filling a job order, is the exception, not the rule, but you’ve got nothing to lose!)

Paradoxically, recruiters’ concern for just getting you hired, which can budget you out, can also motivate recruiters to bend the budget for you.  Why?  Because they want a compensation package that will make you say yes!

Recruiters usually at least try to extend the offer on the company’s behalf.  Before they present it, they make every effort to clear all aspects of it with the hiring person.  That includes dollars, incentives, bennies, perks, relocating expenses, sign-on bonuses, and others.  Sometimes recruiters negotiate the offer; sometimes, since they have no authority to spend their clients’ money, this is precisely the time they bow out.  Often, then, the candidate is able to negotiate the offer directly with the employer during the interview.  You’ll need only to know who actually is handling the negotiations in your case.

Will your recruiter spill the beans and hurt your negotiating position with the employer?  Well, recruiters invariably tell the employer your current or past earnings when asked.  However, if the candidate earns more than the budgeted salary, but the employer is able to go higher, the recruiter may withhold the candidate’s earnings information until the employer has interviewed that person.  I know a recruiter who got a candidate $30,000 more that way.

Often, however, the employer is firm about the highest potential offer.  If that looks like a problem, the recruiter will, by asking the candidate if the range is okay, avoid putting any more time into what might be an unworkable situation.  If that happens to you, you may choose to interview, anyway, especially if you’re unemployed or the opportunity looks especially good.

However, you should know that an experienced recruiter won’t send out on an interview candidates who

»        are motivated to look at a new position because of money, only;

»        won’t reveal their earnings or are found to have exaggerated them;

»        would entertain a counteroffer from their current employers;

»        have unrealistic expectations about the salary or job they’ll accept.

During your interview with the employer, Salary-Making Rule 1 remains in effect, though you here approach it differently.  Your aim is still to establish value before discussing price.  However, since, when asked, recruiters reveal your past or current earnings to their client companies—after all, the employer pays the fee—it doesn’t matter if you, too, tell the employer.  Your recruiter should actually suggest that you do.  The recruiter should also show you how to sell your worth.

When the employer asks, “What salary are you looking for?” you can say, “I’m sure that, if you could double your current earnings with the right job, you’d jump at the chance, wouldn’t you?  So would I.  But realistically, I’m earning X dollars now, and I hope that an offer will be somewhere between that and twice that figure, based on your recognition of my true worth to your organization.”  Or: “When the recruiter described your company and opportunity, she explained that your firm was very competitive and that you typically hire top talent as a result.  That assures me that when you make me an offer it will be both fair and attractive.”

Candidates who report their earnings to the dollar without prompting get high marks for honesty, and everything else they say about their backgrounds becomes easier to accept.  So it’s acceptable to go ahead and give both the recruiter and the employer your exact salary, but make it very clear what range you think you’re qualified for.  (Side comment: Read the following example.  If you can get by without disclosing current earnings, you might come out ahead.)

Jack Chapman is a nationally know job coach and seminar speaker specializing for the last 20 years in salary negotiations and job interviews.

For more information on Salary Negotiations, please visit: http://www.breakthrough-salaries.com/

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