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Student jobs

If you are a student looking for work then you will probably find that some employers will use third party recruiters to help them find and hire students who are looking for work. Ways they can do this are by getting third party recruiters to do on campus recruiting, representation of the company at job fairs and help to screen people who apply for jobs on web sites.

College career centres will also have third party recruiters, who are able to work with students on campus, different types of third party recruiters are:

• Employment agencies – These types of recruiters list different positions for a number of organisations and receive payment for every successful candidate that they match with a job. The fee for this can either be paid by the employer or the successful candidate, usually the job will be listed as “fee paid” if the employer will be paying it.
• Search firms – A search firm will have a contract with an employer to find and screen candidates which are suitable for the job opening, the fee for this will be paid by the employer.
• Contract recruiters – employers will hire contract recruiters to represent the company in recruiting and employment capacities.
• Resume referral firms – These types of recruiters will gather information on those looking for work and forward it to the employers. Information is usually taken from resumes or on data forms, which can either be electronic or paper and the employer or job seeker or both may have to pay a fee.

Questions you should ask third party recruiters

A third party recruiter can be a valuable asset to you when searching for a job but you must read all materials presented to you and ask Questions, if you are given any contracts to sign make sure you read them thoroughly and understand what you are signing.

Some questions you could ask the recruiter are:

• How many positions are open for someone in my field? – Enquire about the number of positions open and the number of positions that are being filled in relation to your type of work. This is important because some third party recruiters may not actually have the type or amount of job openings that they are advertising.

Some may be just trying to get you to sign up to their pool to attract more employers to use their services. They may also be collecting resumes from students for potential job openings in the future.

• How is the information they gather being used? – A third party recruiter is allowed legally to share your resume and any information that you have given with employers who have the kind of position that you are looking for.

However they cannot share your information with anyone outside the organisation or use it for any other purpose than with the company that they are representing at the time you signed up.

• Are candidates treated equally? – If your skills and achievements match the job that is on offer then the recruiter has to pass on your information the prospective employer without prejudice to race, sex, colour, religion, disability, origin or age.
• Who pays the recruiters fee? – Before you sign a contract or agree verbally to anything make sure you know who pays the recruiters fee.