Here's an interesting little missive we had in earlier this week:

'I think it's about time someone spoke out about recruitment consultants (or 'headhunters' as many improperly describe themselves).

Due to current market conditions, there are many candidates looking for new job opportunities and some are unfortunately being exploited by under-pressure recruiters determined to make some money any way they can. Times are tough right now for many recruitment consultants, who, because of the downturn, are finding it hard to hit their demanding targets. And some, now more than ever, will lie, cheat and cajole candidates into attending interviews with the few clients they have who are still currently hiring, hoping to push them into a job and bring in some much-needed revenue.

How do I know this ? Well, until very recently, I was doing all this in my role working in a smaller recruitment firm. After two years of it, I left. I'd had enough. I found that I couldn't sleep at night, and that I had done things that will have adversely affected peoples' careers. I know not all recruitment consultants out there are the same (or the firms that they work for). There are some very good ones around who take great pride in their work, are very client / candidate service-orientated and take a long-term approach to their jobs. Unfortunately, there are also a lot of recruiters out there who are not so professional, and who are just after a quick buck - there's a lot of money to be made in recruitment, and unscrupulous individuals can bank shed loads in the good times by using unethical practices. And, when the industry outlook turns bad, those practices tend to become even more unethical.

Here are a couple of tips for candidates, which will hopefully prevent you from being turned over by a cowboy recruiter (like I was):

Don't tell a consultant who else you are interviewing with. Many recruiters will only want to find out this information in order to lob in a CV of a candidate that they claim to represent - you might therefore be doing yourself out of your dream job just by opening your mouth!

Always ask to see a job specification. If the consultant hasn't got one, it probably means that he or she hasn't really got the job on, but just wants your CV to send it in on spec, desperately hoping that the sight of your details will result in the job actually being provided to him or her to work on!

Oh, and a word-to-the-wise for clients, too. Did you know that some cowboy recruitment firms actually set up consultants with separate e-mail addresses and telephone lines so that they can 'headhunt' staff from the very firms that they recruit for ? An ideal outcome is to take someone from a client firm and place them elsewhere, and then get mandated by the client to fill the very job that they are responsible for being open in the first place!

I don't want to paint all recruitment consultants with the same brush, but I know that there are a lot of unscrupulous ones out there, and I had to get this off my chest'.

We asked Tom Whittle, Managing Partner at IT recruitment specialist Equitylinked, to comment on the above.

Tom said: 'The recruitment industry generally still suffers from a fairly poor reputation, mainly due to some of the unethical behaviour highlighted above. Times, however, are changing, and the successful recruitment companies (and recruiters) are those that act professionally and ethically at all times, and genuinely build long-term relationships with both clients and candidates. Unfortunately, the industry will always attract rogues - especially in the good times when the pickings are easy, and money can be made on the run. It's times like these, however, where you see a flight to quality - the cowboy recruiters, who are transaction rather than relationship-driven, get pushed out. Some of them, however (hopefully less in number), will return with the good times'.

Have your say. If you are a recruiter (cowboy or otherwise), a client or candidate, send in your views on this subject by using the 'Comment on this story' button below. All comments will be posted anonymously, unless you specifically ask to be quoted.

READER COMMENT

1. 'In M&A it's not uncommon to NOT get a job spec. In the event that a job spec isn't available, candidates should ask recruiters who they are dealing with at a particular firm, and other information that may be relevant. That should help candidates work out if they are actually dealing with someone who is authorised to discuss vacancies'.

2. 'I have worked in financial markets recruitment for several years, and have always worked in a professional way. Unfortunately a lot of people don't - and the main reason is that clients let cowboy recruiters get away with it! I have lost count of the times I have met with candidates, briefed them on a job, obtained their approval to put them forward and then been told by the client that the candidate's details have already been sent in by another party. Often clients just don't care about whether the job is done properly - they just want decent candidates'.

The Secret Diary Of Ronnie The Recruiter

Ronnie The Recruiter - The PSL Review

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