Last week, I received emails from well over 20 people hoping I would be able to help them find a new role. I do my best to give advice where I can. But I have to explain to most of them that, as an executive search firm, Godliman does not help candidates to find jobs. I explain this in more detail in our guide to executive search for job seekers.
But what I don’t necessarily explain each time is that no recruitment firm is really on the job seeker’s side.
In an ideal world, job seekers could engage an agent who would actively represent them in the marketplace, securing them the best roles, negotiating their remuneration, cutting deals on their behalf, proactively curating their career moves, and so on. If you wanted to find a new job, all you would have to do is interview a few agents, decide which one you trust the most, sign up, set them to work, and sit back and wait for the opportunities to roll in.
But, sadly, outside of the sports and entertainment world, no such thing exists: it is illegal in the UK for a recruiter to engage in agency agreements with candidates. The UK Employment Agencies Act 1973 states that employment agencies ‘shall not demand or directly or indirectly receive from any person any fee for finding him [sic] employment or for seeking to find him employment’.
Why? Because the UK government decided that professional businesspeople might get taken advantage of by headhunters, whereas sportspeople and actors were deemed capable of looking after themselves. The exceptions for actors, models, and professional sportspeople exist largely by historical precedent.
Hence, the only exceptions are for actors, models, and professional sportsmen. They may sign exclusive agreements with agents who charge a set percentage of their wages. In this case, the actors, models, and sportspeople are clearly the agent’s client. It is, I suspect, a matter of historical precedent: they can do it because they have always done it. I cannot, which is a shame, as I would love to represent candidates in this way.
This means, in recruitment, it is always the hiring company that pays the fees. On the basis of the old Scottish saying that ‘he who pays the piper calls the tunes’, this also means that the recruiter is always on the hiring company’s side, as they are always the client, not the candidate.
Clearly, there is an alignment of interests between the job seeker and the client. In Godliman’s case, we want to ensure that our candidates land well and thrive in their roles. In fact, 83% of the candidates we have placed over the last ten years are still in position, as we go to great lengths to make sure they understand our clients’ culture, and that the role will satisfy their motivations and suit their personalities. But we are only indirectly on their side: this is a by-product of ensuring that our client, the hiring company, is happy.
So, even when a recruitment firm appears to be on your side, for example when agency recruiters give this impression by actively marketing you to their client base, it is important to understand that they are really working for the people who pay the bills.
This means two things:
If you would like to understand more about how Godliman approaches executive search, or to discuss a specific requirement, please contact us.
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