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Salary Negotiation: The Pros & Cons of Having a Recruiter Negotiate On Your Behalf

13.07.2009

We have all had mixed experiences when it comes to dealing with recruitment agencies and search firms; from the exceptionally helpful to the time wasters.

When registering with a search firm or recruitment agency, it is important to understand their role in the process, which often differs from what most people who don't work in the recruitment industry think. They are ultimately there to serve the interest of the client. Melanie Haniph in her article, Working with Search Firms and Recruiters in Your Job Search paints a fairly accurate picture of how the process works. With this important fact in mind, we can then move onto the topic of salary negotiation.

Salary negotiation is a skill that can be learned by all. With negotiation being a skill one would expect any professional or executive to have developed during their career. Given many jobs are managed via recruitment agencies and search firms, when it comes to the salary question and salary negotiation stage, many job seekers relinquish control to the Recruiter. There are obviously pros and cons that come with doing this.

Pro Recruiter Negotiating

Recruiters are often great sales people and also with this comes having good negotiation skills, so in situations where you are not confident in your abilities they will be able to negotiate the salary on your behalf. If they are good, they tend to have a vast knowledge of the market, what salaries are being paid and how much their client will budge on the salary. Having such expertise can certainly be advantageous to those not willing, confident or prepared to enter into salary negotiations directly with the prospective employer.

Con Recruiter Negotiating

As mentioned above, once you reach a certain level of experience, having good negotiation skills is a given. Some employers would no doubt have more respect for job seekers who negotiate their salary. Even when going through a recruitment agency, there is nothing to stop you from directly speaking with the prospective employer when you reach the salary negotiation stage. The reasons are numerous:

• Similar to the book Freakonomics example, the real estate agent gains little in extra commission by working that much harder to get the vendor an extra $50K for their property. Similarly there will be a negligible difference in a recruiters commission if they get you an extra $10K – however clearly the difference to you is huge.
• You are in control and across the process from start to finish, so you have the whole picture, offering you a stronger negotiation position.
• No–one knows your strengths better than you, and clearly your case is going to be more powerful coming from you rather than a 3rd party.

If you are interested in learning more about salary negotiation Six Figures offers a free comprehensive 16 page Salary Negotiation Guide that covers areas such as:

• Handling the question "What salary are you looking for?"
• Researching and preparing to negotiate
• Four essential steps for salary negotiation success
• Managing the employment contract stage
• The characteristics of a successful negotiator
• Effectively conducting the salary negotiation process

The reality is that it is up to us to negotiate our worth in the marketplace. As Emanuel Perdis quotes, "You don't get out of life what you deserve – you get what you negotiate".

Author Details

Kelly's 12 years experience working across HR, Recruitment & Career Coaching has provided her with a solid understanding of what the job market looks like, what employers look for and the common experiences and challenges they face.

Kelly Magowan, CEO Six Figures, www.sixfigures.com.au the Jobs, News and Services site for $100K+ job seekers to connect with employers and their six figure jobs and contracts across all industries and professions.

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