[The Dude]

Hi All — my first post. Nice to meet you all.

Not really looking for work — more passively putting my feelers out there. Wouldn’t mind a gig closer to my house and a healthy pay bump. Anyway, a Robert Half recruiter reached out to me and I had a harmless 30 min conversation. Gave her my location requirements, job title requirements, salary requirements. Seemed nice enough. After hanging up the phone, I started researching the recruiting agency as I have never used a recruiting agency before (always internal referral or direct hire) and the reviews by candidates are HORRENDOUS.

Definitely feeling spooked by everything I’m reading so looking to see if anyone else has used Robert Half to get placed and what their experience was like. Thanks.

[aaronmo]

Honestly – I think all staffing companies are the same at the end of the day; all of them are people selling whores who are after a buck from your placement. You have to be skeptical of ALL OF THEM…and the companies that utilize them.

My advice…with ANY of them…never agree to interview with a staffing company in their office…it's almost always BS to pad their metrics and is just a waste of your time. As someone with actual skill sets, we don't need to put up with this non-sense. You interview for clients only. Recruiters at RH…and the others…are expected to maintain databases and sell their database size. Don't let yourself be a product for people that are taking money out of your pocket. Anyone who sees the staffing industry differently doesn't understand it.

Never…ever…even consider anything but direct placement for a perm position. We're licensed professionals, not caterers. No conversions. No try before you buy. We aren't cattle.

Read position descriptions carefully…research the company carefully. If it's someplace you want to work…it doesn't really matter who is getting you in the door. Every now and then a recruiter has something interesting…it happens. But…research as if you found the place on an internal board and don't listen to anything a recruiter tells you.

[The Dude]

Thanks, @aaron. Appreciate the input. Good advice. I'm pretty wary of using recruiters as well but I put a pretty aggressive comp package requirement out there and the person didn't seem fazed. Definitely intrigued me to the thought of a position with a good company and great pay. But I'm also aware that they are, as you eloquently and accurately put it, “people selling whores who are after a buck from your placement”.

[MIsconnie]

i agree with aaronmo, usually staffing companies are tasked with placing individuals in jobs that have high turnover, i.e. jobs that suck.

[Radez]

I don't entirely agree regarding recruiters. I work in industry, not public. I was placed by recruiters in two of the more serious companies in my work history. In both cases, the companies sourced most of their candidates through recruiters or internal references. I haven't been on the market in 8 years, so maybe that's changed. I'm in the MA area, and I had good experiences with Winter Wyman for both placements. I found them respectful, ethical and they dealt with me in a frank and open way, but I think the quality of a firm varies widely firm to firm. Robert Half requested that I apprise them of any opportunities other recruiters were pitching me, which didn't sit well with me. They also didn't really respect my requirements for the next job. I recall getting pitched several opportunities that involved pay cuts or a step back in terms of seniority. I definitely felt like their focus was high throughput without regard for what I was looking for.

A recruiter at another firm whose name I don't recall pitched an accounting manager job at me with competitive salary, but when I showed up to discuss it, they mentioned that position had already been filled, took my information, and then began pitching more junior roles. I found that to be manipulative and deeply offensive.

Recruiting is a sales gig to be sure, but in theory, it's a mutually beneficial arrangement. Just be sure that you are choosing an ethical person to partner with and be aware that the business model for some firms is volume over satisfaction. Have a clear idea of what you're worth and what you're willing to accept going into the relationship and it can work out for you.

[Anonymous]

I was a headhunter, placed many CPA's in public as well as roles from Staff to CFO and there are a few things I noticed:

1. Most CPA's want to leave public for a corporate role, if a company has one and needs to hire a headhunter to fill it, they are looking to pay below market or it is a terrible environment and they have lots of turnover.

2. Headhunters love to get CPA's in the door for a nice juicy corporate role, and then try to sell them on going to another CPA firm because most CPA firms are hurting for good help

3. If you want to work in public and have the experience, you should be able to get an interview at most firms just by contacting a partner. Even without an opening, firms are always looking for the 3-5 year person.

4. Some firms view the 20-25% finders fee as part of first year compensation, so they rationalize that as a way to offer below market salary. I know of a few people in management who got shafted on first year bonus because they had to pay $30k to a headhunter.

Food for thought.

[jdub]

I didn't get placed by RH but I did engage someone from that company when I moved to a new area because I didn't know anyone or companies. My experience wasn't great. The first 30 minute conversation was harmless – she told me to feel free to bounce jobs off of her since I wasn't familiar with the area, I did so with 1 company in the interview, she told me they were going out of business. Come to find out – they were not going out of business, my current company is the most significant customer of theirs and they aren't going away anytime soon. She also told me to expect to take a pay cut so I knew right away she wasn't really going to work to get me placed at something that I wanted. After the 30 minute conversation I never heard from her again. We're connected on LinkedIn and she still works there according to her profile so it wasn't a situation of her leaving.

[jdub]

It might be worth adding the expected pay cut she told me about is in an area that is a higher cost of living than where I was coming from. Spoiler alert: I ended up getting a raise.

[The Dude]

Thanks guys. Yeah, that would upset me as well (bait and switch). Maybe to clarify a couple of points. I have 8 years of experience with most recent 3 as a manager of technical accounting for a publicly-traded company. I did start w/a big 4 firm, spent about 4 years there and then moved to industry. Appreciate all the advice. I think I'm going to hold off working with a recruiter. I'm not really looking to leave my job, I just thought if I could find something closer to home that paid a significant increase, it would be worth looking into.

The point that I think resonated with me the most that a couple people mentioned is that if they need a recruiter to fill the position, it's probably garbage or the company sucks. Great great point.

[smarz]

This thread is very helpful. I have been contacted by 6 recruiters this past week on linked wanting to talk about special job opportunities. Since I only have internship experience thus far, I am assuming they view recent grads as the most gullible to their shady tactics.

[jrockroll]

I had a ton of interviews from staffing agencies. But as some have already mentioned, do not go to interview in their office because it is a waste of time. Yes at times, they do introduce you to jobs with high turnover rate because as long as they get you into the position, they will get commission. But I think it is up to you to review the company carefully before allowing them to submit your resume.

I always let the recruiters to send me the info about the salary/company name/job description to my email first so I can check them out for myself before. From my experience, some were awesome companies and some were ones with high turnover rates.

[jenpen]

I'm kind of in the same boat. I'm not actively looking right now, but I am casually perusing the ads to see what is out there. I'm working on getting my resume updated, and I'm planning on looking in the next couple of weeks. I keep getting emails from various recruiters, but once I respond that I'm not actively looking and the jobs they are pitching me sound like my current job, I don't typically hear from them again. I work in public and plan to stay in public, but I want to go to a larger firm with a more specialized role. Right now, it's a small firm so I do a little bit of everything, but I really want to get away from audits and be able to focus on learning all I can about tax. I have 4 years experience, so I am hoping that I have enough of whatever I need to be able to move up in the world. Looking to increase my salary and provide insurance for my family since my husband left his job last year to return to school.

AUD - 56 - 68 - 61 - 9/8/16
REG - 75
FAR - 7/15/16
BEC - TBD

Wiley CPAexcel and NINJA 10 Point Combo

[Nate]

From my experience, smaller recruiting firms are much better. I've worked with RH many times, and unfortunately that was at a lower staff accounting entry level type position, and because of that, I always got passed over and ignored in favor of the CPA's and people with much higher work experience that could get them way more money. So I say look for the smaller recruiting firms, they tend to build relationships better and fight harder for their candidates.

And I completely disagree with aaronmo regarding temp jobs. IF you have a full time position then yes, only accept a permanent position, but I'm thankful for a couple of the temp jobs I've gotten when times were rough and I just needed some sort of income. I moved away from my hometown for an internship at a larger firm when I was desperate, and even though the entire time they made it seem promising that I and the others would get full time offers, not a single intern did. They just wanted cheap labor during busy season and they knew the only way to get us on board for it was by lying to us. During this internship, I met someone and we fell in love, but unfortunately her father was diagnosed with cancer exactly 10 years after he mother died of brain cancer, needless to say it was a hard time with her, and because this internship was going to end without an offer (I told a couple people there about this situation, they literally told me I shouldn't talk about it and it's inappropriate to mention it), I was in jeopardy of having to go home because I couldn't afford living there. Luckily, I found a small recruiting agency with great people, and they quickly found me a temp contract position which I needed that actually paid very well and that allowed me to be with my girlfriend (now wife), and while there I met my now best friend. So I understand that for those with full time positions shouldn't accept temp positions from a recruiter, but sometimes, those temp positions are life changing and are a very great thing.

Sorry for the long post, I just wanted to post that as encouragement for those who are working with recruiter and may have hit hard times and might need temp labor. Some recruiters are fantastic people (I know some!), and sometimes temp labor is great! And you never know, temp labor could lead to a full time job.

[Anonymous]

I found my current job using a local recruiting firm and I have been in my job for 10 years. The woman in the position before me was being fired so my employer wanted to find a replacement before terminating her. Therefore, they used a recruiting firm to look for someone to fill the position. They couldn't advertise the job opening since the person didn't know they were being fired. I was hired, they fired the person and I started day after they fired the other woman. So there are reasons why good companies may use recruiting agencies.

I used RH years ago when I was trying to find employment after I moved to a new area with no job. Yes the jobs were temp but they were necessary until I found something permanent. So I feel RH does serve a purpose for those who may be unemployed and are seeking employment even if it is temporary.

[aaronmo]

I've used recruiters too…in fact, I worked for 7 years in a company that did a fair bit of staffing. I know the industry well…and if you need it, you need it…

BUT…as CPAs, we shouldn't have to go through places like this, and, as others said, you have to be skeptical of companies using recruiters to hire CPAs. We get our licenses so as not to be in this position (at least that's why I got mine).

[sallybreann]

I got my current public accounting job as an auditor through Robert Half two years ago. I love my job and would never have gotten an interview with this firm without RH. After being here about a year I asked if they always use RH to get new hires and they said almost never (I assume the recruiting fee is quite expensive to the firm). She said they have a good relationship with the recruiter there and he knows to only call when he thinks he's found a person that would be a good fit with our firm.

Every situation is different – if that recruiter talked to you for 30 minutes I assume they are interested in you. It doesn't hurt to see what they can offer you as far as opportunities and interviews.

[Author]

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