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Headhunting Laws?
Headhunting Headhunters asks: "I was wondering if anyone knew what the laws surrounding third-party, recruiters and headhunters are? As with a lot of tech workers now looking for a job, I've submitted my resume to a bunch or headhunters with the explicit understanding that they will not represent me to a company without my approval. I also have my resume on my personal website (with a watermark denoting copyright on it and forbidding distribution). I was waiting for a written offer from a company which I had applied to directly on my own. After an interview with the techs, they were sure they wanted me, but the HR department suddenly put a stop to the process a week later, claiming that I had been previously represented by a third party firm -- call them 'X Solutions, Inc.'; I had never given 'X Solutions, Inc' my resume, to my knowledge, nor had I ever talked to them by phone or e-mail. I certainly never gave them permission to represent me at this one company, and now I was out of luck: this company's policy was that they couldn't accept my resume since it had come through a third party before."
"So now I need to get a lawyer and have them write a 'Cease-and-desist', because God only knows how many other companies 'X Solutions, Inc.' spammed with my resume. What are my rights, and what are the rights that recruiters can rely on? What are the laws, or experiences, you've all dealt with? Now that the market has declined so rapidly, I imagine there are a lot of recruiters out there who'll do anything for a nibble... but this just isn't right."
I think it's something to do with exclusivity. Headhunting agencies send out Resumes with the intent that the company then hires the prospective employee THROUGH the agency. Thus giving the agency a nice bonus, as they claim a 'finding fee'
If a company approaches the prospect directly, then they don't have to pay the agency anything. If the agency has sent the resume previously, they can sue the company for leaving them out of the loop.
"Why did they cancel my favorite Sci-Fi show? I downloaded ALL the episodes!"
I regret every signing up with a headhunter.
:-)
The way people use the term "headhunter" is misleading. I have a friend who is one, and she explained to me that there are 3 species in the industry.
Type 1 are the spammers that you hate. They will get a resume by any means available, soliciting on web sites, mass emailings, downloading from personal homepages, and they will send them all to huge lists of "hr@company.com" or "recruiting@company.com" generic email imboxes. If you are lucky, they might do some keyword filtering, on very simple terms like "Java" or "Oracle". They are generally held in contempt by types 2 and 3. They work in volume; commissions they will be paid are very small, because the roles are quite junior or at cash-strapped companies, so they need to make up numbers. The people employed by these companies are very aggressive to meet their targets, and they will lie, cheat or steal to do it.
Type 2 are outsourcers who take on the recruiting function of HR to help a company cope with expansion. They will advertise in the press (think Computer Weekly or Computing in the UK) and conduct screening interviews, and handle all the administration to do with the hiring process. They aren't technical experts, but they are usually quite well briefed - they will know the difference between someone who knows VC++ and someone who knows Motif, for example. These are the people who you most want to get in contact with when you are looking for a job. They work on commission, a percentage of your starting salary, so while they want to make a sale, they are on your side.
Type 3 are the elite. They are knowledgeable about technology and about their industry. You will not be able to contact them; they will find you. They are very expensive to the companies that use them, and they are exclusively used for "rifle shot" recruiting - getting key people, poaching them if necessary. Until you reach godlike prowess as a multi-million dollar project manager, technical architect or mastery of a very obscure but vital technology, you are unlikely to encounter one - these are the only people who are truly referred to as "headhunters". They are paid on retainer whether or not the client needs anyone at the moment - they will not have your best interests at heart per se, but the risks to their client of putting forward the wrong candidate are high, so they will be disconcertingly honest with you.
Don't confuse the 3 types, and especially don't call a type 1 or a type 2 a "headhunter" in the company of a type 3, because you'll get a slap!
back in 1999, 2 recruiting agencies had my resume when I moved out to the bay area. they each had different contacts/jobs, and I figured that they wouldn't send my resume anywhere without my knowing it, seeing how I asked/warned/screamed that wish to them almost everyday. but it still made no difference. I was told by a potential employer that I had been represented by 2 recruiters, and that they would no longer consider me a candidate, although I was basically overqualified (it was for a sysadmin position). I was told that the HR dept didn't want to get into a pissing contest between the recruiters, arguing who got my resume there first, who had consent to send it, etc.
I think this happens all the time, and all I could do was scream at the top of my lungs and threaten the recruiter who sent it without my knowledge.