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Some Recruiters will hate me for what I’m about to tell you!

16 Sep 12:00 By Vicki Anne

Va Recruiters

This week we met with a candidate that had been struggling to find freelance work for 12 months. 

At first we wondered what was wrong because he has highly sought after skills, he is a really nice guy and he’s been in the industry for a long time. 

Then we started to talk to him about the live jobs we had on that our clients needed to be filled asap. 

Each job he said that another Recruiter had represented him there. It made no sense to us that he wasn’t working if our clients already knew about him. Then it dawned on us. 

Does he think he has been represented there because a Recruiter got him to sign a permission to represent form? The answer was Yes. 

We asked him what clients were on that form and he showed us. 

There were 21 clients on there and he had never heard from that Recruiter again. How can there be no work for him from 21 clients?!! 

Further investigation revealed he’d never been represented to many of the clients on that list. This really talented Designer has been missing out on work for months and months, during a Pandemic!!, because a Recruiter made a promise and didn’t keep it. 

This practice of blocking candidates from work has to stop, so I’m going to give you the inside scoop. 

There are Recruiters out there, who I can name but I won’t (for now) who’s sole goal it is to block other Recruiters from representing you to the market. It’s as simple a that! They will put a long list together, you will sign it and from that moment you won’t be able to go directly to those companies, based on a promise that the Recruiter will work tirelessly to get you work within them. 

An ethical Recruiter, will talk to you about the live roles they have on or show you proof that they have a preferred supplier agreement with an organisation. 

If you then agree that the Recruiter will put you forward for a job or make an introduction to one of their preferred suppliers then sure, sign their permission to represent form. But your obligations to adhere to the agreement only commences, in my opinion, when the Recruiter can show you emailed feedback from their client. If the client has ignored them or told them they have preferred relationships with other Recruiters, why should you miss out on job opportunities?! Seriously, you shouldn’t. 

So, if your Recruiter can’t show you proof that their client has engaged in a conversation with them about you, then your obligation to that Recruiter ends there. Don’t let them tell you otherwise. 

My advice is this, only sign the permission to represent form, if the form clearly states that you have a ‘get out clause’. Something along the lines like we have which is if we can’t get any traction for you within 4 weeks then you’re free to try another avenue. 

This post won’t make me popular but my hope is that it will go some way towards killing off this practice so a whole world of job opportunities open up for you again. 

If you’re having this type of experience at the moment feel free to call me, perhaps there’s something I can do to help.