Comments on: Temp to perm fees. Are we absolutely stark raving mad?

By: P Thomas

P Thomas — Sun, 06 May 2012 13:40:55 +0000

In 2007 I was able to accomplish a relocation by moving from a temporary position with one division of the firm to a permanent job with another division in the area I wanted to move to, 100 miles away. My CV at the time clearly stated that this was my goal, and the agency placed me in the temp role knowing that I would, likely as not, leave as soon as I found a permanent job in my new area.

The vacancy was advertised both externally and internally, and I chose to apply externally, so that it couldn’t be said that I’d only heard about the vacancy because I was working within the firm already. The fallout from the agency wanting a fee for placing me in the permanent role rumbled on for over 6 months and almost caused my new boss to fire me rather than pay up.

This despite the fact that the agency had nothing whatsoever to do with me getting the permanent role, as I had seen it advertised and applied externally. The firm was already on my list of targeted employers for the area I was moving to as it was one of the biggest employers there and the temp position had nothing to do with the area of expertise I subsequently moved into. Nevertheless, the agency chose to spin it that I would not have been successful in my application if they hadn’t placed me in the temp role to start with…

No wonder there is such friction between agencies and employers!

By: Steve Bulman

Steve Bulman — Sun, 06 May 2012 08:19:00 +0000

Greg. I could not agree more. However, the rise and rise of RPO’s in the UK is driving agencies into a cul de sac from where we cannot return.

Even smaller clients that hire direct recruitment managers are implementing draconian terms with ZERO conversion fees after 9 months. It is ridiculous but they say ‘walk away if you don’t like it’. These are the same organisations that do NOT allow hiring manager contact and expect us to do recruitment by psychic means.

We have been recruiting tech into investment banking for 19 years and the changes to terms in the last 5 years is so heavily weighted in favour of the client, it is almost making it untenable to work with them.

So, although I like and agree with your argument Greg, what are we to do?

By: Nathan

Nathan — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 05:52:21 +0000

My favorite analogy on this is, If you sell an investment property to your tenants that had been living in there for 12 months do you sell it at a reduced rate??

By: MSChemist

MSChemist — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 20:08:52 +0000

Or you can end up with nothing. I am currently working a contract gig as a chemist with a major food and beverage company. My contract says they want 25k about 1/2 my annual salary to be made perm. There is no way on gods green earth they will get that much. If they insist I will take a perm gig elsewhere and they will end up with $0 and a rather disenchanted contractor.