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Dear past, current and new clients,  
 
 
As a recruiter and business owner, I have recently reflected upon the many years I have had in the recruitment sector and I believe I owe you an apology.  
 
I have come to the conclusion that we have been guilty of having terms of business that do not provide sufficient incentives for you (our client), to maximise your chances of hiring the best available person through us and ensuring that we are both significantly better off financially as a result.  
 
To rectify this, we have revised our term of business as follows:  
 
1. Guarantee for permanent placements  
 
(a) Our 3 month guarantee is applicable for all placements when my invoice has been paid within our payment terms of 14 days.  
 
(b) For invoices paid 15 to 22 days from issue, the placement guarantee reduces to 2 months  
 
(c) For invoices paid 23 to 30 days from issue, the placement guarantee reduces to 1 month.  
 
(d) Invoices paid 31 days or more from issue will render our guarantee null and void.  
 
(e) Our guarantee is also void if the candidate we place has not been provided with the following:  
 
(i) written feedback about the specific areas of their performance requiring improvement  
 
(ii) specific details as to exactly what improvement is being sought, and  
 
(iii) a date or period of time as to when the improvement needs to occur.  
 
2. Temp jobs of less than 12 weeks  
 
(a) We do not supply resumes or arrange interviews for temp jobs of less than 12  weeks duration.  
 
(b) If the candidate we place into the role of less than 12 weeks is not suitable we will not charge you.  
 
3. Temp jobs of 12 weeks or more  
 
(a) Our candidate recommendations that are accepted by you, without the need for us to send a resume or arrange an interview, will generate an automatic invoice discount for the first two days of work completed by that temp.  
 
(b) Our candidate recommendations that are accepted by you after submission of a resume but without the need for us to arrange an interview, will generate an automatic invoice discount for the first day’s work completed by that temp.  
 
4. Temp to Perm Fees  
 
(a) In consideration of the fact that you do not have to incur any additional time, money or resource costs to hire, induct and train a new person for that role, our surcharge on our standard permanent placement fees for a temp to perm placement is 5 percentage points  
 
5. Permanent Placement Fee discounts. Discounts are only applicable in the following circumstances  
 
(a) When a written offer is made:  
 
(i) within 2 weeks of us presenting an acceptable short list, then our placement fee will be discounted by 20%  
 
(ii) within 3 weeks of us presenting an acceptable short list, then our placement fee will be discounted by 15%  
 
(iii) within 4 weeks of us presenting an acceptable short list, then our placement fee will be discounted by 10%  
 
(iv) No discounts apply to our placement fee after 4 weeks of a short list being presented  
 
6. Contingent permanent jobs that are withdrawn, put on hold, filled internally or otherwise  
 
(a) A service fee of $2000 will apply in the event that we have referred at least two suitable candidates for that role prior to it being withdrawn, put on hold or filled internally or otherwise.  
 
(b) A job is deemed to be withdrawn, put on hold or filled internally or otherwise if interview times have not been confirmed by you within 14 days of any suitable candidates being referred to you.  
 
7. Change in job description, selection criteria or assignment brief  
 
(a) In addition to our standard placement fee, a service fee of $5,000 will apply if you change the job description, selection criteria or other key criteria which requires re-screening of candidates, during the course of the assignment.  
 
(b) If the changes referred to in 7(a) are changed significantly, we reserve the right to deem this to be a new role and charge a service fee of $5000 . We also reserve the right to choose whether to accept the new assignment.  
 
8. Lack of relevant interview feedback  
 
(a) In the event that you do not provide us with specific interview feedback in accordance with the agreed selection criteria and within the agreed feedback time requirements, for each of our candidates that you interview, we will deem the assignment to be ‘on hold’ and charge you the applicable fee as detailed in (6) above.  
 
We appreciate that some of these clauses may appear unusual, but we are confident that once you make the necessary changes to your current recruitment practices to maximise your time and cost savings consistent with our new terms, you will be very pleased with the outcomes.  
 
We predict that you will experience an immediate increase in the quality of candidates you hire and an increase in the speed with which your vacant roles are filled. The financial savings to you (not to mention the improvement to your employer brand in your target candidate market) will, most definitely, be substantial.  
 
Best Regards  
 
Recruiter Who Is Now Taking a Stand

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Anonymous

Harsh but fair; it puts the onus on both recruiters and clients to have a solid understanding of why they're recruiting and what they're looking for. Both parties will have to up their game, which I personally think is never a bad thing!

Adam Walker of Conduit

Ross
Would love to be able to sign up our clients on these terms but its not very realistic. Most of them would have a bit of a laugh I think if we suggested 'break' fees. Most of our clients are builders who work on low margins and high risk business models – and they expect their suppliers to entertain the same conditions. If we presented these sorts of terms they would go elsewhere. Strong terms in our sector are a good concept but in reality we have to remember we are in a very competitive market.

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