A friend told me that I should be suspicions at game industry agencies and that I shouldn’t let them send out my CV to companies without asking me first. He told me that I could get into economical troubles otherwise. Is this true? Can I trust the big agencies?

As always, it depends.

Does the agency want to charge you for distributing the CV? If so, avoid them. You shouldn't have to pay to apply for jobs.

Does the agency want to charge you if they find a job for you? If so, read and understand the terms VERY carefuly, otherwise avoid them. Some types of executive headhunters will take the money from you if they find you a job, but that is rare in programming jobs.

Does the agency take its fees from the companies who use them to find talent? This is a very common model, and generally safe to give your information to. Their interest is to get their wanted positions filled as quickly as possible. If you fit the positions, they'll push you really hard.

As far as any economical troubles an agency would cause, I'd get some clarity from your friend. What exact troubles is he referring to?



If the fear is duplicate submissions to a company, don't be concerned. The company understands it, and it isn't too uncommon to see the same resume come in from both an individual and from an agency, or even come in multiple times from different job postings. Try to keep it to a minimum, but everybody knows that it happens. That's HR's concern, and not yours.

If the fear is that the agency will short you in some way by negotiating less salary than you feel you could earn, then it is a realistic concern. My experience with headhunters is that they can often negotiate better pay than inexperienced job hunters because they do it every day. If you are still concerned, ou can often correct any problem by negotiating pay yourself when the headhunter leaves the picture.


Perhaps the most realistic fear is that the agency might submit your information to your present employer. If your current employer doesn't know you were looking for a job, they might use the fact against you. This can (but usually doesn't) happen. Every agency I've worked with will attempt to keep your information from your present employer if you ask them. They can't get repeat business if they offend their talent pool.



Finally, as for trusting the agenices, the answer about trusting businesses is always yes. You can count on businesses to act exactly as businesses should. Every busines exists to make a profit. Always trust that the company will do whatever they can to maximize their near-term profit. Individuals may care for you and do a little extra work for you, but the company as a whole only considers you as a number on their bottom line.

If you help them make a profit by quickly and easily filling a job so they get a big commision for little work, then they will work hard for you. If you start to take much effort, they will drop you because you are no longer cost effective. As mentioned above, they will generally try to respect your requests because they need you to get a job in order for them to get paid.

Does that answer your question?

Quote:Original post by frob
As always, it depends.

Does the agency want to charge you for distributing the CV? If so, avoid them. You shouldn't have to pay to apply for jobs.

Does the agency want to charge you if they find a job for you? If so, read and understand the terms VERY carefuly, otherwise avoid them. Some types of executive headhunters will take the money from you if they find you a job, but that is rare in programming jobs.

Does the agency take its fees from the companies who use them to find talent? This is a very common model, and generally safe to give your information to. Their interest is to get their wanted positions filled as quickly as possible. If you fit the positions, they'll push you really hard.

As far as any economical troubles an agency would cause, I'd get some clarity from your friend. What exact troubles is he referring to?



If the fear is duplicate submissions to a company, don't be concerned. The company understands it, and it isn't too uncommon to see the same resume come in from both an individual and from an agency, or even come in multiple times from different job postings. Try to keep it to a minimum, but everybody knows that it happens. That's HR's concern, and not yours.

If the fear is that the agency will short you in some way by negotiating less salary than you feel you could earn, then it is a realistic concern. My experience with headhunters is that they can often negotiate better pay than inexperienced job hunters because they do it every day. If you are still concerned, ou can often correct any problem by negotiating pay yourself when the headhunter leaves the picture.


Perhaps the most realistic fear is that the agency might submit your information to your present employer. If your current employer doesn't know you were looking for a job, they might use the fact against you. This can (but usually doesn't) happen. Every agency I've worked with will attempt to keep your information from your present employer if you ask them. They can't get repeat business if they offend their talent pool.



Finally, as for trusting the agenices, the answer about trusting businesses is always yes. You can count on businesses to act exactly as businesses should. Every busines exists to make a profit. Always trust that the company will do whatever they can to maximize their near-term profit. Individuals may care for you and do a little extra work for you, but the company as a whole only considers you as a number on their bottom line.

If you help them make a profit by quickly and easily filling a job so they get a big commision for little work, then they will work hard for you. If you start to take much effort, they will drop you because you are no longer cost effective. As mentioned above, they will generally try to respect your requests because they need you to get a job in order for them to get paid.

Does that answer your question?

Thanks for the answer, very detailed :) My friend told me that I could get into economical troubles and that the agency would “own” me. He told me that the agency could send out the CV to a huge bulk of companies and then they have to pay to get me even if I contacted them another way. I have hard to see this since I haven’t signed any papers and the agency hasn’t presented any demands. So it’s safe to let the agencies freely send out my CV to companies then?

Quote:Original post by Obscure

Quote:Original post by 51mon
He told me that the agency could send out the CV to a huge bulk of companies and then they have to pay to get me even if I contacted them another way. I have hard to see this since I haven’t signed any papers and the agency hasn’t presented any demands. So it’s safe to let the agencies freely send out my CV to companies then?

Your friend is correct.
Recruitment agencies work by supplying candidates to companies and charging those companies a %. They have contractual agreements with those companies that they will get a % the salary of any candidate they introduce and this is done by sending the applicants CV. Once a recruitment agency sends your CV to a company that company is obliged to pay them, even if you approach the company directly/separately. This means that it is an agencies interest to send your CV to as many companies as possible - even if they have no vacancies and even if you are unsuitable for any vacancies. This reflects badly on you as well as the agency.
1. You should only use a well known agency that has been recommended to you.
2. You shouldn't use an agency if you are trying to get an entry level position - most companies won't pay agency fees for inexperienced entry level staff. They get far too many direct applications for entry level positions (from applicants that are not with agencies)
3. You should talk to the agency and get them to agree that they only send your CV for specific jobs which you agree to in advance.

I do use well known agencies. I am inexperienced and trying to get an entry level however. If I had let them sending out my CV could I take back this permission and should I do it?

I just used a recruitment agency to get the job. It was useful because I was working at the time, and because of that I had no good demo work, no time field calls and the game hadn't been released yet... so they kind of smoothed over the cracks.

I think if you haven't got ANY experience you should just apply yourself. The company will keep in mind that one junior needs a finders-fee and one doesn't. Junior wages are pretty standard with little variation so you know what to ask for too. If you have any experience at all, then I found them useful.


Don't go to a company that will 'own' you or you have to pay any fees. Most will just take a commission from the company...you'll find they need to find you a position more than a scammer living off fees.

Just make sure they don't apply to any company unless you agree to it. Have them double check with you before sending a CV off. I used two recruitment agencies, and applied to positions myself wherever I had a contact, and it worked out because they never trod on each other's toes.

I already decided to test the agencies to begin with by only applying to a few companies. I didn't want them to apply for too many positions because if I did have to leave them they'd still be wanting a commission if I landed a position they sent my CV off to. In the end, one company gave better results than the other interview-wise, so I let that company apply for more and more places because they were working well for me.

You have to keep the agency in line. They need you more than you need them. If they do something you're not happy with, then leave them. The worst that can happen is that they will never work for you again and they don't get any money! <btw, they do work for YOU, not the other way around>


Economic extra: the most expensive thing I found was all the traveling for interviews. Agency of no, all them train tickets were a bitch. Some companies will pay this, some don't, so make sure your agency ask for that...they have a bit more experience in this so they'll probably do it anyway and have better odds of getting it.

Quote:Original post by Obscure
Your friend is correct.
Recruitment agencies work by supplying candidates to companies and charging those companies a %. They have contractual agreements with those companies that they will get a % the salary of any candidate they introduce and this is done by sending the applicants CV. Once a recruitment agency sends your CV to a company that company is obliged to pay them, even if you approach the company directly/separately. This means that it is an agencies interest to send your CV to as many companies as possible - even if they have no vacancies and even if you are unsuitable for any vacancies. This reflects badly on you as well as the agency.

This also varies.


Check out the agencies before you ask them to help you. The better headhunters will only give companies names of talented people that fit the job description, and won't flood us with applications. Those are the non-scum agencies. I've got a short list of people, but they won't help you much in Europe.

Unfortunately there are many agencies that act as was described above, just spamming with applications. None of the places I've worked had that kind of contract in place with recruiters. They're too scummy. Beware of them.