Fellows Bytes: Recruiter Fees, Who Pays What?
In our new miniseries we tackle mistruths and myths surrounding the recruitment industry. This edition we discuss who is responsible for paying recruiter fees.
Short answer? The employer.
Long(er) answer? Whether a candidate is offered a position as a result of a specific instruction from a client or on the back of a speculative CV being sent on the off chance it might be of interest, the one who is doing the hiring is always responsible for the recruiter fees. According to the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate it is illegal for a recruitment agency to charge candidates a fee in order to access a job, both in the case of an upfront ‘membership’ or joining fee, or once a role has been found and an offer has been made. Of course with the reliance upon technology becoming more common there is a slight blurring of this, with certain job boards requiring a fee before services can be provided. However these service providers do not market themselves, or operate as, recruitment agencies and this is where the differentiation lies. In most other industries it would be common for candidates to utilise these job boards as a source of potential employers, however in Intellectual Property – with the CIPA Journal and a small number of specialist recruiters on hand to offer their services free of charge – there are no instances (that we can think of) where the candidate would part with any amount of cash.
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