I run my own business and would pay 10% commission in exchange for qualified opportunities all day long.
Not all work on transparent commissions, at least here in the UK that's rare.
They are, by and large, talentless liars and cheats with a false narrative and harmful practice.
Seeing them as anything other than hostile to your interests is a quick way to get ripped off by these hacks.
Source: I consult for them on technical screening processes.
the worst that can happen is that the recruiter misrepresents your skills and experience. that can easily be solved by sharing your CV directly with the hiring company. if the recruiter doesn't allow you to do that, then it's a red flag.
Ive seen people work for a year at a lowish rate, then be denied a rate increase.
Only to find out later the increase was authorised but the recruiter took it and lied to the worker about it be accepted.
This, sadly, isn't at all uncommon. I see it constantly.
They'll risk your security, reputation and income for quick results to hit their quotas for bonuses.
i guess the important part for any job seeker is to know the distinction and be aware of the benefits and downsides of each. and when talking to a recruiter to make clear which one this is.
staffing agencies have their place and can be an advantage in some situations. depending on what you are looking for. in the US in particular they may be able to provide continuous insurance (just a guess, i don't actually know). another advantage may be permanent employment with the agency. (again, i don't know how this is in the US, but due to stronger labor protection it is more likely in germany.)
when you are employed with a staffing agency, it is clear that they are responsible for your salary, and whatever they may be able to negotiate with the client is only incidentally related. you have to consider that they take a risk. if the client defaults or they don't have work for you they may still pay you (again at least in germany they have to).
when i hire that is the way i'd like to operate, but mainly because i want to build my own team and only offer staffing services only as an alternative to doing projects as an agency. i like to give them a fixed monthly salary, and when i have no client work for them i have internal projects they can work on. (which is the point, to earn enough money so that we can spend part of the time on our own products). but that requires that i take a large cut on what i get from the employees work. and any raise they get is based on their overall performance and not on what i can negotiate with a particular client.
the above example seems to be the result of a misunderstanding of what the role of the recruiter here is. (and it may well be the recruiters fault for misrepresenting that)
so again, when talking to a recruiter, make that relationship clear up front and get it in writing if need be, or bail out if the contract is not with who you expect it to be.
It's less common, but they'll insert themselves as a middleman whereever they can.
At my last job, the recruiter managing the contract and FTE coders flew in on a private helicopter and gifted the office manager a Rolex. Wish I was joking.
but i do not understand how the recruiter can skim off the raise if the employee is contracted directly with the client. i mean, sure they can make a contract to get a cut, say 10% of the employees salary, so when the employee gets a raise, the recruiter gets more too. but negotiating a raise and then keeping that secret from the employee should only be possible if the employee is only contracted with the recruiter and not with the client directly.
If an increase was requested by the worker and authorised by the client and then the recruiter just plain lied about it and took the money - how is that not plain old fraud?
Note, they did conspire... Eventually. Next rate increase, I was in the room when client and contractor alternately took calls from the recruiter on speaker phone.
Everyone was shocked at the outcome.
The client ended up buying the contractor out of the recruiters exclusivity.
(disclaimer, even if obvious: sure, there are some honest good independent recruiters there, I met them as well)