Top 5 terms you should negotiate in every headhunter contract

Don’t let them give the farm away when signing contracts with headhunters.

Whether you’re a one person HR department that fears larger employers are negotiating better terms with headhunters, or the head of procurement for a F500 company struggling to stop business units from giving away the farm when signing contracts on their own, we know you care about T’s and C’s.

At BountyJobs, we’ve worked for over 5 years to build the best industry practices into a master agreement that all agencies sign before agreeing to work for any employer on our private marketplace. In doing that, however, we’ve heard some major horror stories caused by a company not having bulletproof oversight over agency contracts.

Don’t be one of them! Here are the most important terms to consider when signing a headhunter contract.

5 Terms Employers Should Insist on in a Headhunter Contract

Full money back guarantee: Not a replacement candidate, not a partial guarantee. A real guarantee. As in, “If the candidate you brought me leaves the job for any reason in the first 60-90 days, you refund my fee”. Don’t let anyone tell you it’s not standard: it’s standard on BountyJobs which means the best companies and headhunters consider it standard.
No poaching: You trust headhunters with access to your hiring authorities, other key individuals and company information. It’s imperative that you are protected so that access doesn’t become a tool to recruit people away from your company.
OFCCP (Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs):We’ve gotta call this one out. It’s only important to government contractors, but making sure the headhunter complies (and helps the employer comply) with all laws and regulations is a definite must-have. OFCCP regulations change from time to time, and the consequences of an audit can be drawn out and painful.
Indemnification: The headhunter is representing your company to third parties. If they do something illegal, the employer will likely be pulled into any potential lawsuit as they are the party with the deepest pockets. Don’t let that happen to you, include an indemnification clause in any headhunter contract.
Crystal clear candidate ownership rules and a dispute resolution mechanism: Inevitably there will be disputes, however, having simple, non-debatable ownership terms and a standard process for resolving disputes is critical. We believe 6 months ownership for both agency and employer is the new market standard.

BountyJobs Headhunter Sales Representative Randee Staats says, these are all conditions clearly spelled out in our master contract. “You might think that some wouldn’t agree with these standards, but the dozens of headhunters we onboard every week generally think they create a level and fair playing field.”

Have you been a victim of a bad headhunter contract? Poaching? Candidate ownership troubles? Tell us your worst (or most successful) story about a headhunter contract and we’ll consider sharing with everyone on our blog in the coming weeks. We always like hearing from you; comments below, on Twitter @bountyjobs, or LinkedIn are all welcome.

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