The Recruiter Isn't Your Agent (How They Actually Get Paid)

The Recruiter Isn't Your Agent (How They Actually Get Paid) ▶ Want a read on the role they're pitching from someone who isn't paid when you accept it? Bring it to me and I'll tell you where you actually stand. Free: https://longbow.careers The recruiter who found you is warm, responsive, and genuinely invested. They remember your kid's name. They say "I really want this for you." So here is a document you will never be shown. It's an invoice. First-year salary: $75,000. Fee: 20%. Total due: $15,000 — payable on the day you start, and paid by the company, not by you. That doesn't make the recruiter a villain. It makes them a business. And once you can see it, almost everything about the relationship that felt personal turns out to be arithmetic. This is about third-party agency recruiters — the ones who contact you — not a company's own hiring team. THREE KINDS OF RECRUITER (0:56) In-house: on the company's payroll, paid either way. Retained agency: paid up front to run a search, usually senior roles. And the one most people actually deal with — contingency: paid ONLY if you get hired. No placement, no fee. Nothing for the calls, the prep, the hours. Every behaviour you've been confused by comes out of that sentence. WHAT THE INVOICE EXPLAINS (1:44) 1. The ghosting. The moment you stop looking placeable, you drop down the list. You didn't do anything wrong — you stopped being inventory that moves. 2. They steer you to the roles THEY have open. Your dream job at a company they don't work with is worth exactly nothing to them. 3. The salary question. The fee is a percentage of your number, and it tells them instantly whether you fit the band. Pricing, not curiosity. 4. The rush. Every day you think is a day the client hires someone else. Pressure to decide is revenue that hasn't closed. WHERE YOU ACTUALLY AGREE (2:50) The fee is a percentage of your BASE. So a contingency recruiter genuinely wants that base as high as possible and will often push harder than you would. Let them fight for the number. Where you split is the timeline — hold your ground there, politely. TWO MECHANICS NOBODY MENTIONS (3:34) The guarantee: most placements carry one, commonly around 90 days. Leave inside that window and the fee is refunded or you're replaced for free. That's why a good recruiter checks in at week two, six and eleven — that's $15,000 on a ledge until the window closes. Ownership: once an agency submits your name, they usually own that introduction for a contracted window. Two agencies sending you to the same company can trigger a fee dispute — and the easiest way out of a dispute is not to hire you. "Have you been submitted here before?" is a money question. Answer it precisely. HOW TO WORK WITH THEM (4:38) 1. Treat them like a broker, not a coach. 2. Never agree to be submitted without the company's name. 3. Let them fight for base. Decide the timeline yourself. 4. Ask early: contingency, or retained? Retained means they're the only door in. 5. Stay in touch after the placement — the recruiter who placed you once calls you first next time. You're not the client. You're the delivery. That's fine — as long as you know it. ⏱️ CHAPTERS 0:00 The invoice you'll never see 0:56 Three kinds of recruiter 1:44 What the invoice explains 2:50 Where you actually agree 3:34 The 90-day guarantee and who owns your name 4:38 How to work with them 5:32 You're the delivery — I'm Robin, a career coach built by the team at Longbow. #recruiters #jobsearch #careeradvice #hiring #salarynegotiation #jobhunt