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I have difficulty understanding my recruiter and I'm worried that if he is selling "me" as his product, large chunks of information will get lost in translation.

I'm not bad at understanding thick dialects in person but the added complexity of talking over the phone is proving to be a barrier. If I cannot understand him how can I be sure his client can understand him? Beyond the dialect he tends to mumble and when I ask him to repeat something he does not rephrase anything to help communicate.

I understand why staffing companies have a Right To Represent agreement but I want to be represented properly. I don't want to give sole representation if someone else, better suited reaches out to me for the same position. He deserves kudos for finding me first but I don't know whether to trust his sales abilities.

Are copy and paste emails legally binding? and can I revoke my Right To Represent at a later date?

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  • If you are English speaking, and the position you want is with English speakers, I would certainly not complicate the matter by bringing in a foreign speaker. That probably won't go well for you. Often these positions are not solely available to a single recruiter, and you can easily find another English speaking recruiter to represent you, so long as you haven't signed your rights away for a specific position...get it? I would totally dump your current recruiter in favor of someone you are comfortable working with.
    – Jay
    Feb 5, 2018 at 18:12
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    I find it rather ironical and funny that your own post is difficult to understand here. I have no clue what exactly you are asking for here.
    – Masked Man
    Feb 5, 2018 at 18:17
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  • @DavidK not sure if duplicate.. but surely strongly related
    – DarkCygnus
    Feb 5, 2018 at 18:45
  • You'll need to ask a lawyer what is and isn't legally binding and how to get out of an agreement, although the issue here is likely more about their opinion of you than legality (which has more to do with following the intention of an agreement than following it to the letter), as getting blacklisted seems way more likely than getting sued as a result of breaking the agreement. Feb 5, 2018 at 18:53

2 Answers 2

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If you can't understand the guy, probably nobody at the Client can understand him, either. That's Strike One.

Strike Two is the "Right to Represent". I've been around Contract Engineering for most of my life. I NEVER saw a "Right to Represent" until very recently, and I've only seen it once. It has always been understood that the first Shop that submitted you on a particular job had squatter's rights on you FOR THAT PARTICULAR JOB. This was a gentlemen's agreement that never had to be put in writing. It was enforced by certain very large, well-known Client companies automatically rejecting any contractor that was submitted by two or more Shops. The assumption was that if you didn't know you'd already been submitted, you probably didn't know anything else, either. (Yes, an incompetent Shop could screw you over this way. The word very quickly got around about that kind of thing, and such a Shop would very quickly be out of business.)

The corollary on this is that you MUST know where the Shop has submitted you, every time, because you MUST be able to tell them, "Sorry, you can't submit me on that one, I'm already submitted with FGH Shop."

To me, a demand from a Shop that I sign a Right to Represent is a red flag. It tells me that they do not understand how Contract Engineering is done in the US. When the Right to Represent includes a salary that is significantly below both my contracting rate AND the industry going rate for the position and experience stated, as was the case on the one such that I've seen, I would take it as an indication that I should have nothing whatsoever to do with that Shop.

Now, having said all that: If you have signed a Right to Represent with a particular Shop for a particular gig, you're bound by it. If the Client accepts you for the job, you go, do your best, and learn from the experience. If the Client declines you for that job, you're done for that job. If another Shop calls you about that req, you explain that you were already submitted by XYZ Shop and the Client has already declined you.

If you signed an exclusive Right to Represent for ALL jobs, and you are not getting paid for your "on-the-beach" time, you have made a very bad mistake. Call them up and revoke it. If they will not allow you to revoke it with a simple telephone call, consult an attorney and get it broken. This will cost you some money: consider it part of your tuition in the School of Hard Knocks.

It isn't clear from what you've said whether you've actually signed a Right to Represent with this Shop or not. From what you have said, I would suggest not signing it, and talking instead with other Shops. It sounds as though you would be better off working with other Shops.

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  • I've been on both sides, and we did just as you describe in the 2nd paragraph. That was mostly so we could keep people straight, but partly so as to not screw the body shops supplying us people. We might get a guy's resume at $X from one shop, then the same guy at $X+Y from another shop. I would just write down the datetime of when I saw the first resume in a batch, then discard the dupes and tell the recruiter. Everyone seemed OK with that method. Feb 6, 2018 at 0:15
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If I cannot understand him how can I be sure his client can understand him?

Have it put into text, so there is no ambiguity about the nature of the agreement or the things discussed. It's always recommended to leave a paper trail for further reference (or if things go South).

You can also try repeating or reiterating what you heard, as in "Ok, so if I got you correctly, you are saying that ...". This way you can make sure that is what the other person was saying, or give it chance to correct in case there was a misunderstanding.

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  • Even if the OP correctly conveys his points to the recruiter, it's a question if the recruiter can be understood by others regardless if it is accurate or not.
    – Dan
    Feb 5, 2018 at 18:26
  • @Dan the recruiter should do his best to communicate as effectively as possible, but OP has to cover his back, so having it in writing, or reiterate what was heard is a wise mechanism to avoid problems.
    – DarkCygnus
    Feb 5, 2018 at 18:30

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