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I sent my resume to a recruitment company last week and the recruiter called me and said that at this moment they had no job vacancies related to my IT skills.

Yesterday I saw there a job ad advertised by the company related to my IT skill. I was planning to apply directly once I had some more details in my resume, but then I got called from my previous recruiter who said "if you have not applied yet for the mentioned job then I will pass your resume to higher management" and then he sent me a email saying that:

i) You have not provided your authority to any organisation other than the recruitment to be represented to the client for suitable position(s).

(ii) If you are seeking representation for a permanent vacancy, you have not been represented to the client or applied directly to this organisation within the past 6 months.

I returned mail and answered 'Yes' to both.

But I'm still confused about (i) and especially (ii)

Is it OK to apply directly with out letting the recruiter know? (the job was advertised by the company not the recruiter) What are the risks of doing so? Are there benefits to going through the external recruiter?

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    Do you want to be represented by this recruiting company? It does not seems they are doing any good job in this particular case, so you may look for another one. But sometimes companies will have one exclusive recruiter handling the case, so you will not have a choice. It is (more likely for a senior position, not this one). Jun 24, 2014 at 16:05
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    thanks AndrewC and i have added more comments on my question
    – ran1
    Jun 24, 2014 at 16:07
  • Thanks yes much clearer. Is Y recruitment your old recruiter then? I think so.
    – AndrewC
    Jun 24, 2014 at 16:08
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    It's very poor business practice to sign something and then turn around and ask third parties what it is that you signed. Jun 24, 2014 at 16:30
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    The meaning is that if you are applying for a permanent position and are represented already or applied in the last 6 months directly then they can't apply you there.
    – JB King
    Jun 24, 2014 at 19:04

4 Answers 4

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It all depends - did you sign anything saying that the recruitment agency would be the only one to employ you at company X? (That is not usual - usually, it will be something like "Agency 1 will be the only agency to submit Person at company X for position Y.") If you signed anything like that...1) don't ever sign anything like that again 2) don't work with that recruiting firm again and 3) look elsewhere for jobs.

Do not ever apply for the exact same job that any recruiting firm has already submitted you for. That's called a "duplicate submission" and many companies will disregard any duplicate submissions.

But - if you have Agency 1 submitting your resume to Company X for Position Y, you can apply to Company X for any -=other=- position with no problems.

(This is why it's often helpful to keep records of who has submitted you to which role at what company/ies. It lets you apply on your own, it lets you work with other agencies if you so choose, and it lets you advise any recruiters when you've already been submitted for a role, so that they don't cause a duplicate submission.)

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(i) is true: you have provided your authority to the recruitment company.

(ii) is true. It means that you no-one other than the recruitment company introduced you to the company you want to work for (an introduction would be, for example, sending your resume to them or ringing them about you), and also that you haven't applied directly to the company in the past 6 months. However, it's also true that you intended to apply directly before your recruiter contacted you.

If you want to apply directly for some reason, you'll have to be able to convince your recruiter that you had seen that job ad already and were working towards applying directly. Since you already agreed by email (which makes paper evidence), that's difficult to prove.

Unless it's a significant advantage to apply directly, you may as well let your recruiter handle that (perhaps tell them about your revised resume). It's OK to agree to (ii).

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  • thanks. but sorry to confused you.. this is only one recruiter i am referring to.. as a summary.. this job advertised by company itself on seek web not a recruiter. but old recruiter(means i sent my resume last week.. no job on seek for my IT skills last week) just called me yesterday and sent me email with above 2 points. i think he saw this job it seek web site and want to involve this process to get money.. my question is even though i have given written permission, Can i apply directly to this job...will it be a problem to getting the job?
    – ran1
    Jun 24, 2014 at 16:33
  • i called recruiter 2day & said he contacted mgr of the company regarding the job and it take few days to get feedback.. i am warring about 'why recruiter involved in his process because this job advertised by the company directly on the seek web site. i feel that company does not want to spend extra money to find a right candidate that is why they advertised this job directly on seek web site..if company rejects recruiter that i wan't be able to get a chance..
    – ran1
    Jun 25, 2014 at 14:52
  • i thought wait 2 days and if i have not got any feed back from recruiter, apply this job directly via seek before this job disappear from seek web site..can any one lettering any ideas? thanks
    – ran1
    Jun 25, 2014 at 14:53
  • @ran1 Oh I see now. Check with your recruiter if they're handling it promptly. If so you don't need to act.
    – AndrewC
    Jun 26, 2014 at 16:02
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Once you have told a recruiter that they can send your resume to a company for a job, there are two common scenarios:

  • The recruiter is doing what they have said, and your information has been passed to the company. Often, if you also apply, the company will just remove you from the consideration list.
  • The recruiter is lousy, and the company doesn't have your information. If you don't apply, the company won't know about you.

There are all sorts of side scenarios in either option. If you think the recruiter is decent, then you've already made an agreement, and you should let them do their job.

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  • i called recruiter 2day & said he contacted mgr of the company regarding the job and it take few days to get feedback.. i am warring about 'why recruiter involved in his process because this job advertised by the company directly on the seek web site. i feel that company does not want to spend extra money to find a right candidate that is why they advertised this job directly on seek web site..if company rejects recruiter that i wan't be able to get a chance.
    – ran1
    Jun 25, 2014 at 14:53
  • i thought wait 2 days and if i have not got any feed back from recruiter, apply this job directly via seek before this job disappear from seek web site..can any one lettering any ideas? thanks
    – ran1
    Jun 25, 2014 at 14:54
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    Companies often advertise directly and are also willing to work with recruiters. However, if you think the company doesn't want to work with this recruiter, and the recruiter has your information, you're probably out of luck. Even if you send the information directly, and the company likes you, they'll still have to deal with the recruiter, because you have an agreement with him, and he has proof of that. Jun 25, 2014 at 15:33
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Ask the recruiter about his/her relationship with the company you are interested in. If the recruiter has a good relationship with the company it benefits you to let them present you rather than apply into the black hole that can be company job portals. A good recruiter can present you directly to the hiring authority and market you in a way that should help you land an interview.

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    Would have been a really good answer if you gave the other situation, where the recruiter doesn't already have an "in" with the company. Some large companies only work with a limited set of recruiters, so going through those recruiters is a huge benefit as they know the right people to call. If a recruiter doesn't have an established relationship with the company then it depends on the recruiter as to the best route. A good recruiter that can dramatically increase your odds of an interview will have you believing they can get it done. If u are a bit skeptical then don't bother. Apply directly.
    – Dunk
    Jun 24, 2014 at 21:54

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