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Recruiters don't get paid if you don't get hired. They are not incentivized to get you the highest salary, they're incentivized to get you hired.

nunez 10y ago
The bigger the salary, the bigger their commission is. So, yes, they are incentivized by salary as well. Not the case for internal recruiters.
- user5994461 10y ago
  No, they are not incentivized to get you a higher salary. It doesn't matter to them whether you make +-10k$ at the end of the year. It's about the same commission for them, they just need you to accept and move to the next candidate. If anything they are competing on price and selling you for cheaper makes it easier to place you. Not to mention that if they only have positions and companies that pay poorly in their portfolio, they're not gonna say it.
- imsofuture 10y ago
  Yes, that's technically true: You sign at 100k, they make 20% so: $20,000 You sign at 110k, they make 20% so: $22,000 No deal, they make 20% so: $0 Do you think they have much incentive to make that extra $2k, while introducing more risk, and not spending time on the other openings they're working?
  - nunez 10y ago
    Of course they do. If they can negotiate with the hiring manager to place you at the higher salary, and have a fairly good chance of doing so, then they will. Why? Two reasons: 1. Because they are salespeople. In sales, you never leave money on the table if you can avoid it. 2. Good engineers are really hard to find, which is why the companies that use external recruiters do so in the first place. Oh, and yes, external recruiters will negotiate salary on your behalf.
- gsharma 10y ago
  If you haven't watched/read about the real estate agents' incentives from Freakonomics, this[1] video will shed some light. There are a lot of parallels with the recruiters. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17jO_w6f8Ck https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17jO_w6f8Ck

nunez 10y ago

The bigger the salary, the bigger their commission is. So, yes, they are incentivized by salary as well. Not the case for internal recruiters.

user5994461 10y ago
No, they are not incentivized to get you a higher salary. It doesn't matter to them whether you make +-10k$ at the end of the year. It's about the same commission for them, they just need you to accept and move to the next candidate. If anything they are competing on price and selling you for cheaper makes it easier to place you. Not to mention that if they only have positions and companies that pay poorly in their portfolio, they're not gonna say it.
imsofuture 10y ago
Yes, that's technically true: You sign at 100k, they make 20% so: $20,000 You sign at 110k, they make 20% so: $22,000 No deal, they make 20% so: $0 Do you think they have much incentive to make that extra $2k, while introducing more risk, and not spending time on the other openings they're working?
- nunez 10y ago
  Of course they do. If they can negotiate with the hiring manager to place you at the higher salary, and have a fairly good chance of doing so, then they will. Why? Two reasons: 1. Because they are salespeople. In sales, you never leave money on the table if you can avoid it. 2. Good engineers are really hard to find, which is why the companies that use external recruiters do so in the first place. Oh, and yes, external recruiters will negotiate salary on your behalf.
gsharma 10y ago
If you haven't watched/read about the real estate agents' incentives from Freakonomics, this[1] video will shed some light. There are a lot of parallels with the recruiters. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17jO_w6f8Ck https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17jO_w6f8Ck