Recruiting structure

Recruiting as a profession:

There are three aspects to recruiting:
1. First Party or Corporate Recruiting – you hire employees to your own payroll, they work under your managers. Most contract recruiters are working in this role.
2. Second Party or Staff Augmentation – you hire to your own payroll, employees work under client management. Also called labor vendors, labor brokers or contract services. Most temp agencies use this model.
3. Third Party or Headhunting (a.k.a. Executive Search) – clients hire your candidates for their own payroll.

There are four kinds of Headhunting firms:
1. Contingency – paid when the client hires (I did this)
2. Retained Search – Paid a flat rate to find one or two of the best candidates.
3. Hybrid – I've heard these firms called fee plus, "retigency" and combination fee. Creative recruiters and sales reps can work many kinds of deals. One typical arrangement is an up-front retainer, plus a per hire bonus.
4. Source only – a newer model where the client pays a flat fee to receive a limited number of pre-qualified candidates. The client contacts the candidates and moves on from there.