There are pros and cons to working with a recruiter, and there are different types of recruiters. It’s important to understand the different types, who they work for, their motivations, who pays them, and how they’re paid because all of this impacts the jobseeker who chooses to work with them. 

Internal recruiters are part work for a company (e.g., Google, Johnson & Johnson) and are part of an internal Human Resources (HR) team responsible for posting jobs, selecting candidates, initial interviewing, salary and benefits, etc. 

External or agency recruiters work for themselves or a recruiting agency. They contact companies (e.g., Google, Johnson & Johnson) who are having difficulty finding good candidates for roles, or who have so many roles to fill that they are overwhelmed and make a deal–they will find them highly qualified candidates, saving them time, for a fee. They are given roles by the companies to fill, and they get to work “recruiting” for those roles by scouring LinkedIn, going through their database, etc. 

Headhunters are a type of external recruiter that tend to aim to fill high-level, executive positions and usually approach people who are already employed. 

A staffing agency is a company that provides employees to other companies, usually on a temporary basis and usually for entry-level positions. They usually specialize in a particular industry and retain employees as a part of their company (i.e., the goal is to keep the employee in their company for them to profit off of, not to get them a job elsewhere).

Contrary to popular belief, recruiters always work for the company, not the job seeker. That means they always have the company (and themselves) as their first priority, and the job seeker as second. Many people think that a recruiter will help them to find a job, and they often can/will, but their first priority is to help themselves/the company they work for and to fill a slot–not to help you find a job. If you happen to meet the requirements of the slot they need to fill, yes, they will absolutely help you find a job. But please remember that recruiters are not a social service or a helping profession, although it may seem like it should be at first glance.

Internal recruiters are paid on salary, which matters for the job seeker because this means that their paycheck comes from the company, and what would make them look the best (and for their paycheck to go up eventually) is to save the company money; which means, to get you to take the lowest starting salary possible. This means that internal recruiters will lowball you in terms of a starting salary, which is their job, and you should certainly try to negotiate up. 

External or agency recruiters often get paid on contingency. If they are paid on contingency, this means that they don’t get paid unless you are hired, so they are going to be pushing hard for you to take/get the job, which could be a good in that they will be negotiating hard on your behalf for the highest salary possible (because they will be earning a fee which is based on a percentage of your first year total cash compensation, usually entry level 10%, junior 15%, mid-level 20%). However, it could also be bad in that they might not share some well-known skeletons in the closet (e.g., the average tenure for this position is < 4 months because the manager is a narcissist prick), because they just want to get paid. 

External or agency recruiters may also get paid on retainer (i.e., pre- or down payment), which is usually about 25% based on first year total cash compensation (usually reserved for senior and executive level). However, the same issues may apply as previously noted. 

It is also noteworthy to mention that there are some cases where a recruiter’s fee is a budget line item that could otherwise be negotiated into salary for said employee, if a recruiter was not used. 

Staffing agencies differ in that they take “a cut” of your hourly rate / salary. For example, if you earn $50 per hour, the staffing agency gets a “cut”, around 20%. So, in reality, you could be making $60 per hour if you were not working through a staffing agency, because the agency is taking a $10/hour cut.