Issue with recruitment agent

Issue with recruitment agent

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During last year I was looking at changing jobs due to having started a family my priorities changed.

I registered with a few different agencies and around September time I heard from two different agencies on the same day about a job very local to me and said I would be interested. I never heard back from either of them and at the same time I applied for a job in the local paper which didn't name the firm. It turned out to be the same firm as the agencies had informed me of.

I still heard nothing from the agencies but a week later I got a call from the company inviting me for a interview. I told both agencies and they were happy about this as I had applied for it from the paper and didn't intend to speak to the same firm. Neither raised any issues or concerns.

This proceeded and I was offered the job at the start of December and have since handed in my notice.

However one of the agencies over Christmas contacted my employer to be and said they wanted their fee. The company has said they will not be paying this as the agent didn't do anything apart from email a lot of random CVs which weren't even all relevant to the job. When my details did go over they rejected the CV as it was aimed at a large firm role and the firm is a small office with 6 staff. They felt I was not suitable. However my CV and covering letter was better worded and tailored to the role and firm in question.

The recruitment agency in question were also not the first to send my details through. The other agency is not making a claim and wanting to keep me and the company happy in the hope of future work as the firm is going to be recruiting for additional staff once January is out the way.

The end result is the new firm saying they wont pay this money and if the recruitment agency takes legal action they will not employ me as they don't have the time or resources to fight a legal battle.

I was wondering if any one has any advice on what I can do to stop the recruitment agency taking action and where I stand legally. A prefect result for me would be to have the recruitment agent drop their claim. I have tried talking to them and so has my employer to be but no luck so far. They seem to have let me do all the work and then come in for a fee. and only have their own interests in mind.

I hope I have included enough details but will answer questions if anyone has any.

Replies (18)

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By bernard michael
03rd Jan 2014 15:54

This will depend on the arrangement between your new employer and the agency. Generally this is governed by T & C's which will be in a contract or on the documentation sent with the CV's. They won't be suing you so there's not much you can do except.(I hesitate to say) but do a deal with the agency to pay them something to drop the case. If not ultimately 2 firms of solicitors will have a scrap and someone loses

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Man of Kent
By Kent accountant
03rd Jan 2014 15:56

Sounds like

Your new employer:

1. Didn't have an exclusivity agreement with this agent.

2. Didn't arrange an interview based the cv's they sent through.

Plus, you and your new employer have evidence that you applied for the vacancy via the newspaper avert.

Tell the agent to p*ss off - politely :) or you will start action, including:

1. Write to the paper which had the advert complaining of harassment from said agency - newspaper will love this story, recruitment agent will hate it.

2. Contact your local MP.

3. Report the agency to The Recruitment and Employment Confederation http://www.rec.uk.com (see complaints section).

4. Instruct a solicitor to start a campaign for damages.

They have done [***] all in finding you this job and they are just trying it on because the job was filed via a newspaper ad.

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Stepurhan
By stepurhan
03rd Jan 2014 16:00

What did you sign yourself?

Do you have any written agreement with the agency that is threatening action? If so, what does this say about taking up employment by another route with a firm they contacted?

Assuming nothing in writing that they can rely on, this would appear to be a baseless claim. Even if there is some basis for a claim, they have considerably weakened their case by not mentioning this to either you or the employer up to now. This will make it seem more like they were giving up any rights.  I think is this went to court, they would find they didn't have a leg to stand on.

But you clearly need it to not get that far. The time for being reasonable has passed. Contact them again and make it clear that you consider they have no legal basis for their claim. Then point out to them that, having handed your notice in, should their actions lose you the job then you will be suing them for considerably more. You may also wish to mention that you may also feel inclined to mention your experience to friends and colleagues, and that their business is likely to suffer a severe loss of reputation as a result.

If you do share the story around, including the name of the agency involved, be certain to stick solely to the established facts. Giving them cause for a defamation claim would not be a good idea.

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By andy.partridge
03rd Jan 2014 16:44

Unlikely

It is unlikely that the OP knows what the arrangement was between the employer and the agency. What I do know from first hand experience is there are a number of employers that seek to wriggle out of an agreement with an agency by saying the person they recruited came from a direct application when there is concrete evidence of an introduction by the agency.

The agency is understandably suspicious, but their response does seem to be heavy handed. It is naïve of the employer to appoint multiple agencies to recruit someone AND post an anonymous advert and not anticipate a potential problem.

In response to the poster who said the agency didn't do anything much: 1. The work that goes on behind the scenes is almost frantic. All the work is futile unless they introduce the successful candidate. 2. They did actually introduce the successful candidate even if the employer lacked the imagination to see that they had.

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Woolpit Gus
By nutwood
03rd Jan 2014 16:36

In the world of contractor recruitment it is normal for the agency to get the contractor's agreement by email, not just verbally, to the agency representing him/her with a particular hirer for a particular role.  Until they get this they won't put the candidate's CV forward.

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By neileg
03rd Jan 2014 16:38

@andy.partridge

I half agree with you. Good agencies do work hard to fit the candidate to the job. My own recent experience as a job seeker was that the agency helped me tailor my CV to emphasise how my experience matched the employers requirements. It clear in this case that the agency has not done this and have naively submitted a CV that has not had this treatment. The candidate has done this himself and been successful.

The employer has made the situation more complicated that it needed to be, but the agency has certainly not helped the situation.

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Glenn Martin
By Glenn Martin
03rd Jan 2014 16:50

Kent has it for me.

tell the agent where to go, I wouldn't even be polite about it. In my last Job a lot of agents used to send CV's to me without me asking for them or having any business arrangement with them. Many were just CV's regurgitated of fish for jobs etc which I had already found myself. These sound like right cowboys and give genuine agents a bad name. I would imagine if you new firm stands their ground the agent will not take it further and if they withdraw the offer to you because of this I would take action against the agent for messing things up for you. I would imagine their paperwork will be very loose indeed. 

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By andy.partridge
03rd Jan 2014 17:29

Predictibly bullish

But imagine a situation where you prepare a tax return for the client, and you don't get their approval to file. You find out later that the client has filed the tax return themselves. You approach them about it. They say they didn't look at the numbers you provided and went to a lot of trouble themselves to prepare the return. Would you believe them? Would you chase your fee? Would it make the slightest difference if the client had not looked at your numbers?

That isn't so very different to the OP's scenario. Ultimately it will come down to the T&Cs.

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Stepurhan
By stepurhan
03rd Jan 2014 17:41

Difference is evidence

The difference to the tax return situation is that there will be evidence that the employee came by another route. The ad in the paper. The different CV and the submission letter. I also can't help thinking that not informing the candidate of the CV being submitted is also, at best, an error by the agency. The OP cannot have acted in bad faith if they had no idea the agent had submitted them for the same job. My experience of agents is that they contact the prospective employee before submitting a CV anywhere. Otherwise they may end up submitting to someone that the prospective employee does not want them to. I know of one case where an agency submitted a CV to a current employer, and you can imagine how well that went.

It is also my experience that agencies blank out contact details to try to avoid just such a thing happening. Hard to circumvent the agency if you can't contact a good prospect directly.

But to play devil's advocate, does the OP think that it possible that the new firm saw the CV from the agency, then saw the response to the ad and took an opportunity to skip out on the fees? If that is a good possibility, maybe you don't want to work with them at all.

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Replying to johngroganjga:
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By andy.partridge
03rd Jan 2014 17:54

Not so different

stepurhan wrote:

The difference to the tax return situation is that there will be evidence that the employee came by another route. The ad in the paper. The different CV and the submission letter.

If the agency has done its job there will be a record of when the CV was sent/received. What if that is before the OP sent his application? I would imagine the employer will be on shaky ground, but as I said before it will be down to the T&Cs. 
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By andy.partridge
03rd Jan 2014 17:50

Schoolboy error

Submitting a CV to the candidate's employer is a classic error and in my day was punishable by humiliation. There was never time to discuss with the candidates before every CV submission if the company met with their approval. Instead at the first meeting we would ascertain what companies were NOT suitable. This would have been different at the headhunter or retainer level of the industry, but at the agency end of the market you were either quick or dead.

You would be amazed at how quickly loyalties change. Many a successful candidate, delighted at the job offer, will lie when their new employer tells them that its conditional on the employer not paying the recruitment fee!

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By stevie
04th Jan 2014 09:44

Sounds like a nice firm to work for!

"The end result is the new firm saying they wont pay this money and if the recruitment agency takes legal action they will not employ me as they don't have the time or resources to fight a legal battle."

 

Sounds like a nice firm to work for!

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Mike Cooper HJS
By mike_uk_1983
12th Mar 2014 15:08

Thanks for responses

Thank you for your responses. I am hoping some compromise can be reached. I know its not a clear cut case and a lot will result from what's in T&Cs and if they were agreed to by my employer to be. I have signed nothing with agent and not been sent any T&Cs. After speaking in more detail to him his main issue with the agent is that by just sending lots of CVs then he still had to sort through who was suitable and some of the CVs sent were clearly not suitable. He wanted to agent to send relevant CVs which is what I thought the job of the agent was to do. The agent didn't take the time to understand the company and role to be filled. I would liken it to taking on a new client for accounts and tax but never asking what the company does and how it operates. Then preparing the accounts incorrectly. You may get some parts right but how many clients would want to pay for these accounts and would be happy if you don't understand them. Surely the agent should do this as well. I also understand not wanting a legal battle as the company is very short staffed which is why they are employing me and looking for further staff. If the agent had spent time understanding this they could have come to agreement about this fee before threatening legal action.

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By Tosie
04th Jan 2014 21:54

Confused

This does not make sense to me. Your potential employer has a dispute with an employment agency. This is nothing to do with you and I am amazed that the employer would base your future employment on the result of this dispute.

My advice to you is to go back to the employment agency and ask them to find a job with an employer with a gram of decency.Ring ACAS and ask if you have a claim against an employer who has withdrawn a job offer because of a dispute with a third party,

 

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By andy.partridge
05th Jan 2014 20:46

Not rare
I have seen it employed as a tactic to get the agency to back off. Like an appeal to their better nature because they would surely not want to obstruct the career of their candidate. It doesn't work.

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By andy.partridge
06th Jan 2014 09:21

@ Wise_Owl
But we don't know their behaviour is unreasonable. They might have a perfectly legitimate claim for the fee. Isn't it the employer's behaviour that is unreasonable?

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By Roland195
06th Jan 2014 12:20

I agree with Andy

It is not really the agency that is causing the problem here but the new employer who is taking the line of least resistance by seeking to avoid any legal battles. As this situation arises at least partially from their own inaction, then this does not seem particularly fair but then life is rarely either.

If you have a legal remedy, it would be with your potential employer however I cannot see the costs involved as a good investment.

 

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By User deleted
07th Jan 2014 16:40

You say you have been offered the post

Have you signed the contract? If not, then the agency should have no right to any fee. If you have signed the contract, your new employer should have to show good reason for letting you go (I'd be surprised if a Tribunal considered an argument with the agency to be reasonable grounds for dismissal). Of course, you don't want it to go that far, and find yourself working for a disgruntled employer, but it sounds as though your relationship with the employer has already been soured.

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