Bit of an odd situation here.
I had a chat with a recruiter who told me of opening. Liked the role he was describing etc. Got the company name, and realised it was a role that I've already applied to. Recruiter still wants to represent me, and tells it would give a better chance for hire if the same application came through the agency.
I always thought it would look unprofessional to the employers for the candidate to submit multiple applications for the same role.
Is this true?
Is this true?
Based on my experience as a hiring manager - yes it's unprofessional.
I would definitely not allow a recruiter to present my credentials to a company I am already working with. In the past, it was annoying to have a candidate presented by a recruiter and then already be in our system via their own efforts. It came across as desperate.
Another point to consider is if the company has to pay a recruiter, that is potentially less salary to pay you.
The only exception I would make to this is if you discovered that you knew someone who worked for the company already, then perhaps they could present you to the hiring manager, and up your chances at getting your foot in the door. And even in this case, it isn't a recruiter.
Your instincts served you well here - there's no real benefit to you allowing the recruiter to "represent" you in this one. Quite the reverse in fact - and the same goes for the company as well.
Many recruiters operate on a commission-like model where they get paid either a fixed amount or percentage of a new hire's wage once the hiring goes through.
In this scenario such a model would mean the recruiter would be able to claim that the company owed them this despite the fact that you were already in contact with the company. Sure the fact that they can prove the initial application was before the recruiter brought you to their attention negates this somewhat but the more the recruiter "does" in this the more argument they have for some remuneration from the company.
Recruitment fees are a fact of life when you're hiring in many cases, but if you asked 10 employers whether they would prefer a candidate application that didn't have these fees associated vs the exact same candidate with the recruiter fees attached I don't think you'd get many votes for the latter.
So the question you need to ask yourself is whether you have reason to believe that the employer won't be seeing your existing application - which isn't quite as a crazy as it sounds. Some companies will only fall back on the general applications if recruiter-suggested candidates don't pan out. Because if they do see your application and the recruiter one all you've done is make yourself a more expensive (or at least slightly more complicated) candidate then you were before.
The answer is "it depends". Usually this isn't a great idea. On the other hand, if the company has passed on you or has been slow to respond, it couldn't hurt.
I once applied for a job and received no response. A recruiter contacted me about the job several weeks later, and I explained that I had already applied. He called the company and found that they had decided not to interview me. He convinced them to schedule an interview, and eventually I received an offer which I accepted. It worked out well for both the recruiter and myself.
Again, not the norm, but something to consider if your initial efforts fail.
it was a role that I've already applied to.
Unless you have a prior communication with the recruiter, and the recruiter with the company, before you applied to this position, I don't see a way of the recruiter benefitting from your candidature. This is because a recruiter gets paid once you are selected, and even if you get through, the company can always reject the recruiter's claim since you had applied with them directly.
Recruiter still wants to represent me, and tells it would give a better chance for hire
The recruiter is right about this aspect. If a company has a direct relation with a recruiter, there are more odds of him being able to work the system for your interview than you relying on the cogs to turn on their own. However this is correct only if you haven't heard back from the company, there is no point in opening 2 channels of communication with the same company.
So, in essence, you should look after your own interests and let the recruiter judge their own. As long as you land the offer and all goes well, don't think too much about it.
Source: Real life. This once happened to a novice recruiter who helped one of my coworkers land a job, and the company denied the recruiter's claims because they had an email where the coworker had sent their resume directly to the company's email id before they received it from the recruiter.
PS: As suggested in comments and other answers, there can be negative effects as well, so take a call considering all aspect.
You already did the right thing by informing your recruiter about the application you submitted on your own. Let them judge that's best and act accordingly: if they think they should tell the company about you, so be it.
Having your application backed up by the recruiter can only improve your chances of getting hired. It shouldn't reduce the offered salary, and if it does, you can always negotiate by pointing to the original offer.
What may be unprofessional is for your recruiter to get a commission for a candidate the company already knows about. That's hardly of your concern though, since you acted in good faith and didn't hide the original application from the recruiter.
