That helps but doesn't necessarily solve the problem. There is a similar situation in real estate. The broker's main financial incentive is to ensure the deal

That helps but doesn't necessarily solve the problem. There is a similar situation in real estate. The broker's main financial incentive is to ensure the deal happens. Keep in mind, if you're getting paid a commission only after a deal happens, would you want to make a deal that day for 5% of $1mil, or wrangle for months and risk the deal to close at $1.1mil? Now sure, 200k vs 1mil is a big deal, but that kind of difference isn't that common. Typically a recruiter would prefer to get a higher salary for you, sure, but not if it entails far more work or risking the deal. There is, of course, reputation to consider - a real estate agent who develops a reputation of closing deals far too quickly in order to get a quick payday may start to have trouble finding clients.