reached out to recruiter too soon

[rkaz]

Hi all, I'm applying for my first attending position later this year following fellowship, and I happened to search open jobs on Doximity. I sent out a few interests to facilities that I was already interested in working at through the portal and had a few recruiters contact me back. I sent my CV to one recruiter, though hadn't sent it yet to the 2nd recruiter who asked for my CV (for a different hospital in my city).

I was talking to colleague today who told me that recruiters take a big chunk of one's future salary as part of assisting you find the job. I feel so foolish but I had no clue previously how much of one's salary is taken (about $20k!!). I happen to know the attending/medical director at these facilities and could have reached out to them directly if I had known that this would lead to a hit to my future salary, as I already have their email addresses, and know one of them personally. On the same day as I sent my CV to one of the recruiters, I had chatted with a local psychiatrist who was a wonderful resource and offered to send out my CV to the medical director at that same facility as she was well connected to that person.

I'm wondering if it's too late to back away from the recruiter or if I'm stuck now that I've already given my CV to that person. I haven't given my CV to the 2nd recruiter, and it doesn't feel right to ghost the recruiter now, but I'm wondering if I should just reach out to my contact person at that hospital directly instead of responding to the recruiter's CV request. While I don't want to lose possible salary, I don't want to be unprofessional or leave a bad impression either. It's hard to believe that a single message on Doximity and 1 email could really cost me $20k off my future salary. Any guidance would be most welcome. Thank you!

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[24blue8]

Recruiter? Unprofessional? (Playoffs?! Are you kiddin' me?? )

You sent an email not a wedding proposal. Ignore them (similar as to how they will ignore you if the shoe was on the other foot). Use your contacts.

(Usually the recruiters company is being paid by the hospital to list the job and fill it.)

 

[AD04]

No worries about ghosting recruiters. It's done all the time and they'll do the same to you too as many of them are quite unreliable.

By using recruiters, it shouldn't affect your pay. The organization usually has a separate budget for that. And it makes no sense to use recruiters and then offer below-market pay. That's just throwing money into the wind as the candidate will decline the offer or move on shortly after signing on and the employer has to repeat the recruiting process all over again. On the flip side, if you do your own leg work and apply directly, the employer likely isn't going to spontaneously give you the fee you saved them.

Use recruiters if you want. And negotiate based on what is offered, not based on if you used a recruiter or not.

P.S. Sometimes reaching out directly to the organization will get you no response but you'll get a response if your CV was sent through a recruiter. So experiment. Try it without recruiters. Try it with recruiters. And compare the offers you get.

 

[splik]

Don’t use recruiters if you can avoid it. Don’t feel bad about not following up with a recruiter you aren’t there to help them. In terms of whether you will lose money if using a recruiter that may or may not be the case. They definitely don’t siphon off your future earnings. However they obviously get money from the organization for filling the position and sometimes that could mean that you are losing money (that would have been on the table for your negotiation) but I have to tell you that is not usually the case. That money for recruiters rarely becomes extra money available for the physician, definitely not if it is a government job though occasionally you might be able to get more without a recruiter. Once you give your CV to them you probably are stuck using the recruiter depending on their agreement with the organization.

 

[rkaz]

Thank you all so much for the balanced perspectives. I really appreciate it.

I think this was my main concern, as I'm not sure whether the recruiter I sent to was employed directly by the clinic or was a recruiter for many facilities, although I don't know if it would have made a difference or not.

Once you give your CV to them you probably are stuck using the recruiter depending on their agreement with the organization.

 

[milesed]

The employer pays the recruiter, not you. I can see you being able to bargain for more money from a potential employer if you do not use a recruiter.

 

[hamstergang]

I'm not sure whether the recruiter I sent to was employed directly by the clinic

One hospital I know does all their hiring stuff through their in-house recruiter, even if you reach out to their medical staff directly. So if this recruiter is employed directly by the hospital, you may have to deal with them regardless.

 

[Sushirolls]

In house hospital recruiters are fine, they are employed by the hospital.

It is the 3rd party recruiter firms you don't want to deal with. They are the 'head hunters.'