different recruiters for same position?

Yesterday I received an email about a position and as i was back and forthing with the recruiter i got a phone call from another recruiter for the same job. the first had a rate of $62/hour but the second one was offering $47/hour. Not that I am going to follow up with this job but it got me thinking. if the $47/hour had contacted me first then the $62 called afterwards, what is the ethicality? i am a pretty loyal so i would normally stick with the first one i committed to but with that big of a wage difference what would you do?

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Comments

Lexluethar

Are they different companies?

Ethicality? Ha! Thanks for the good laugh, I rarely see ethical and recruiter in the same paragraph.

If they are different companies they charge / offer different rates. If you go with Robert Half or some other larger firm they are probably going to offer you less simply because they have a larger pool of potential candidates and they have higher overhead so they have to take a larger piece of the pie. If you go with a 'mom and pop' recruiter place generally their rates are going to be higher because they don't have as many people that can 'haggle' for the job and they have less overhead.

It's not an apples to apples comparison ya know - every recruiting firm is different and there is probably even some disparity within the same recruiting firm (IE Bob may get 12% commission while Barbara gets 15%).

dhay13

thanks Lex. here is more detail. the first recruiter told me the name of the company and said they got the information Monday. the second recruiter said he was not allowed to give the name of the company but sent me the job description and it is the same job. the recruiters were from different companies. my thoughts were that the client called the first recruiting agency and said 'hey we will give you $80/hour for somebody. so the first agency decides to pay $62 and also sub-contracts with other agencies and offers them $62/hour. so the second agency calls me offering $47/hour. sound right? i have never worked a contract position but just curious how this all works?

TechGromit

dhay13 wrote: »

... so the first agency decides to pay $62 and also sub-contracts with other agencies and offers them $62/hour. so the second agency calls me offering $47/hour. sound right? i have never worked a contract position but just curious how this all works?

How it works is you try to negotiable the best rate possible. You do not have to accept there $47 a hour "offer" if you have the skills they need to fill the position, you could say you will not accept anything less then $63 a hour or more. Just remember that contractor positions usually means no benefits, not even sick days or vacation time, so factor that into compensation. half way decent medical insurance could cost you $2000 a month just for yourself, that works out to $11.50 a hour. Don't get blinded by a high contract rate, by the time you consider your costs to buy benefits (medical, dental, vision, life) for yourself and your family, it could easily knock $20 a hour off your take home pay number. What I would seriously consider doing if you have the skills in demand, would be form your own company, ABC staffing LLC, this way if you know the employer, contact them directly, your from ABC, LLC and I have the perfect candidate for you. Cut out the middleman I say, get the whole $80 an hour contract rate.

tmtex

Recruiters are used car salesmen.