Employment agency fees typically employer-paid

by Melissa Wilson

SBJ Staff

The days of the unemployed having to pay fees to staffing and employment agencies to find work are just about over, according to Nikki Sells, owner of Express Personnel Services.

"We worked hard in the late '80s and early '90s to begin making some of the staffing services in this area employer-paid," Sells said. "Now that we're employer-paid, we wouldn't go back."

Sells, who began Express Personnel Service in 1990, said her company and most like it in the area don't even charge employees an application fee anymore.

"We charge only the company, and the fee is based on the employee's first-year earnings," Sells said.

For the one-time fee, Express' clients are sent employees whom Sells and the other job counselors at Express think will fit in with the companies and are able to perform the duties required.

"We have a 21-step interview process, and we interview employees twice to make sure they understand the requirements of the job and know a little about the company they are going to work for," Sells said.

Sells said potential employees who come to Express are actually applying with more than 400 companies at once, and that employers use her service because the staff at Express are professionals with access to the resources to find the right employee-employer match.

"There is no perfect job, and there are no perfect people, but we do have a lot of repeat customers I think that speaks for itself," Sells said.

Senior Recruiters is an employment service which is entirely employer-paid and specializes in finding jobs for people entering their second or third careers.

"We are more driven by the applicants' wants and desires, then we try to match them up with the company. One of our key questions is, 'What do you want to do, and why?'" owner Eric Naegler said.

Naegler, who began Senior Recruiters with his wife, Judy, in 1997, said that having multiple careers over a lifetime is not uncommon in today's job market.

Naegler said Senior Recruiters requires potential employees to sign an employment agreement stating that they will not seek employment on their own from the same company that they have been referred to by Senior Recruiters for 180 days after the referral.

"We encourage people to keep looking for jobs on their own, but if we give them a client's name and set up an interview and they later see the same job in the paper and apply for it on their own, that would be a violation," Naegler said. "Normally speaking, we don't have problems with that often."

Naegler said in most situations, Senior Recruiters' fee is derived from the employees' rate of pay, and it's added to the employees' hourly rate.

"I do some professional placement, as well, and in that case, a fee is paid every 30 days. After 60 days, if the employee is no longer there, the company doesn't owe anything. We have faith in our employees that they'll be there and work out all right," Naegler said.

Naegler said while he sees the need for headhunters, who find jobs in other cities for professionals, to charge job seekers, he thinks employee-paid employment services send the wrong message.

"We've got less than 3 percent unemployment. I think an employer should think enough of the employment service it's using to pay its fees. We're in a market where I question why anyone would pay for their job," Naegler said.

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