# Recruitment Agency Charge for Sourcing Candidates



## cousin_borat (2 May 2008)

I was onto a large Recruitment agency in Dublin for a Business Development/Sales candidate. Basic salary between 30-40k depending on experience + Performance related Bonus.

The agency is looking for 6k finders fee for the candidate. They sent 2 CV's including this chap in question!

Is this the normal charge from recruitment agencies. Have they honestly done
60 hours @ 100 Euros per hour
or even
30 hours @ 200 Euros per hour
to justify 6000 Euros?


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## Satanta (2 May 2008)

cousin_borat said:


> Is this the normal charge from recruitment agencies.


Assuming the upper end of the salary scale (€40k), this is roughly a 15% finders fee. 

This would be pretty standard, although from discussing this with friends fees can vary quite a bit (10% - 20%).

I assume that the fees were clearly laid out at the start? I would have assumed they would be seeking a % of the agreed salary with the candidate in question rather than a fixed lump sum of €6k, was this mentioned at any stage in the discussions (or are you/they working off the €40k as an estimate?)?



> Have they honestly done
> 60 hours @ 100 Euros per hour
> or even
> 30 hours @ 200 Euros per hour
> to justify 6000 Euros?


This is the very reason why many companies avoid using recruitment consultants. The fees are relatively high, but it does reduce advertising costs, can provide good candidates etc etc so whether or not to use consultants is a very subjective decision.


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## Purple (2 May 2008)

Considering the salary it must be quite a junior position. It’s quite a high fee if this is the case. Is the fee paid up front or is there a clause that you don’t pay (or pay a %) if the candidate does not work out, i.e. you get rid of them within the first year? I ask because if they bugger off in three weeks they will have cost you €2’000 a week.


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## NicolaM (2 May 2008)

Hi
15% is a fairly standard fee.
There would normally be a claw back clause (ie you get money back from the agency fee paid) if the candidate leaves within a specified period of time.
This all should have been made clear to you when you engaged the agency(in the t&c).(including the claw back details)
Regards
Nicola


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## Mpsox (2 May 2008)

15% of the basic salary strikes me as high, I used to use an agency that charged 12.5% in my last employers and my current company(which is a much larger company and has a higher staff turnover) uses one that charges 10%. Remember all of these charges are ex VAT as well

Normally you'd get invoiced once the person starts and the contract would allow you to recover some/all of the fee if the candidate is unsuitable or leaves within in the first few weeks/months. I've not heard of an agency extending that out to a year.

Bear in mind that as an employer it is a buyers market, unemployment is rising and some of these agencies are starting to struggle to get business in, therefore you should try and negotiate


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## sandymount (2 May 2008)

If the recruiter provides a good candidate, 15% is very cheap in the long run.


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## cousin_borat (2 May 2008)

It is a small salary, the company is still small but expanding rapidly. Recruiter fee was fixed. After telling them was not interested they came back offering a Rebate of 3000 after 3 months. First time I've heard of Rebates since being in the US.


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## MandaC (2 May 2008)

thats a pretty standard charge. We recruited for a person recently on €40K with a 20% charge.  There usually is a rebate too if it does not work out, but I think it is almost nothing after 12 weeks.


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## rmelly (6 May 2008)

cousin_borat said:


> It is a small salary, the company is still small but expanding rapidly. Recruiter fee was fixed. After telling them was not interested they came back offering a Rebate of 3000 after 3 months. First time I've heard of Rebates since being in the US.


 
Is the 'rebate' payable even if it works out?


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## Satanta (6 May 2008)

cousin_borat said:


> After telling them was not interested they came back offering a Rebate of 3000 after 3 months. First time I've heard of Rebates since being in the US.


At 7.5% that seems a pretty good deal for a recruitment consultant. 

On saying that, if the consultant has no other client looking for a similiar candidate/skill set it's a case of taking the €3k or lose the candidate to another consultant/employer and get nothing.

Fully agree that it's very strange to see them offering a "rebate" rather than a discount price. Something I've never come across in the Irish market to date.


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## Flax (6 May 2008)

Some agencies are now charging 30% for junior positions.

15% is normal.


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## cousin_borat (7 May 2008)

Flax said:


> Some agencies are now charging 30% for junior positions.
> 
> 15% is normal.


Wow!


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## becky (7 May 2008)

I've paid up to 33%.  I deal with a few agencies, the better ones charge more but you do get what you pay for.


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## cousin_borat (9 May 2008)

The rebate was on the original price even if the candidate was successful, but that was after expressing how unhappy I was.

There were two candidates CV supplied. I had to arrange the interview with the candidate myself. The recruitment agancy carried out one telephone interview with the candidate. I still don't think that warrants 20%. I'm questining the value for money rather than the fee.


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## legend (9 May 2008)

did you not read the T & C's before setting up the interviews ?

if you didn't question it at the time, you'll have to adhere to the fee,

if you're unhappy still and if the agency is a member of the NRF - national recruitment federation take your complaint there...


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## Satanta (9 May 2008)

legend said:


> if you didn't question it at the time, you'll have to adhere to the fee,


Or else not hire the person in question (at least not within the time period detailed in the Ts&Cs, usually approx 6 months but I'm sure this can and does differ), as appears to be the case here.



> if you're unhappy still and if the agency is a member of the NRF - national recruitment federation take your complaint there...


I don't see any grounds for a complaint... nor do I believe the OP feels there are any, they are just questioning the value for money provided by recruitment consultants.


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## astraclub (10 May 2008)

I have a very different opinon (May be its me only) But these are very high charges for the candidate. Sometime recruitment agencies dont do a single hour homework except 1-2 call to data base and thats it.
The normal charge should be 1k or max 2 k.
These days IT positions are easy for irishjobs.ie or moster or recruitireland.
I would suggest to go online or even local print media, these are better medium,.
I would never ever give 6k for a 40k job.
thats my opinion, feeling sorry for you :-/9


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## rsob (10 May 2008)

When a company is not willing/able to publish and interview candidates themselves they give all the power to the agencies.

In my experience in the IT Sector, agencies appear to blindly fire candidates in the direction of companies like darts at a dart board hoping for a bullseye.

Both Candidates and Companies could put in more time locating one another I think, How much better do you feel having researched and found a company yourself, and how much more motivated will you be if you get hired.  Similar can be said of companies who hire directly and don't need to consider the huge unjustified placement agency charges.

Some of the unsolicited calls I used to get were unbelievable, Offering me positions without knowing the lingo... I remember one guy talking about 'C hash' rather than C sharp (C#) and they were from one of the most established agencies.


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## amtc (12 May 2008)

I got my job through a recruitment agency - 30% of salary (one of first tasks was to pay invoice!). 

v small industry, and specialised job - everyone knows everyone...I wouldn't have just applied cold to job in paper. would have been recritment sceptic but this crowd were great


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## cousin_borat (13 May 2008)

I really hope the likes of LinkedIn becomes more popular in Ireland. Would be a great way to find good candidates based on networks on contacts. Also would shake up the Recruitment companies who seem to in some cases have become uncompetitive.


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