Archinect
anchor

What do staffing services such as Aerotek charge?

kind_stranger

New to the forum, please let me know if I’m breaking any rules by asking this. 

I got a job at a medium to large firm through a staffing agency. They got me interviews quicker than I could get on my own. 

It’s now time to get hired on permanently from being a contract employee. I’ve done pretty well at this firm, I’d like to stay. I’d like to calculate what sort of salary I can negotiate by using my current pay and adding whatever extra the staffing firm gets. 

So if I was paid 60k, and Aerotek is paid 10k on top of that, is it reasonable to negotiate 70k? These are made up numbers. I have no idea what Aerotek gets paid and I don’t get paid 60k. 

 
Jan 7, 19 12:43 pm
kjdt

They average a cut of about 20% - i.e. if you were being paid 60k, they were probably getting +/- 72k from the firm.

Whether or not you can convince the employer to go up to that when they hire you directly depends partly on how badly they want you, but that's not the only factor.  They know roughly what you were earning before through the staffing agency, so they're likely to argue for a smaller increase based on your previous salary.  Also, in most cases the employer has signed a contract with the staffing agency that includes a clause requiring them to pay a lump sum to "buy" you from them, if they want to convert you to an employee.  Typically this is several thousand dollars. Also previously Aerotek would have been paying some of the other costs of having an employee, like worker's comp and unemployment and the employer's share of SS, which will now all fall on the firm. The firm will also presumably offer benefits that you were not getting directly from them before (vacation, health insurance, etc.) So the cost to your employer to hire you will be significantly higher than just the salary, and that's another reason they may balk, if you give them the number that they were paying the staffing agency to cover everything before.

But, always try to get them to say the first number, and just negotiate upward from there! If they were using a staffing agency then they were likely having a very difficult time finding people on their own, so you're likely to be worth a good amount to keep around.

Jan 7, 19 1:12 pm  · 
 · 
austinarrowood

Just stumbled across this and wanted to shed some light here as some of this is accurate and some of it is not.

Mar 12, 21 1:35 pm  · 
1  · 
austinarrowood

I had a long extremely detailed message typed out and somehow just lost all of it so going with the shorter version this time. I worked for Aerotek as a recruiter and manager for 3 years. They do not offer you less money and make profit off what the employer normally would pay. For example, if an employer typically offers 100K for a position at the company Aerotek doesn't pay you 80K and keep the 20K as profit. The employer pays Aerotek a premium on top of the salary that is typically well over the mentioned 20%. The company pays this premium for the service typically because they can't find someone for the role in a timely manner and its costing them X amount of money not to have the person in the role. The typical setup for an Aerotek contract with a customer is a 6 month contract to hire (length can vary but this is the standard). After the 6 month period, most of the time the employer can hire you from Aerotek at no additional cost (sometimes a buyout is negotiated into the end of a contract to lower the duration or bill rate). Aerotek does carry the employment cost during the contract period which is usually 30-40% on top of your salary, and this is transferred to the employer when you are hired. However by the time the contract period is over the company has likely invested 10K-30K on top of what it would have cost them to hire the person directly so they are typically motivated to hire you so they can add to there ROI. The employer cost to employee is also usually much cheaper than the bill rate Aerotek is charging them so this is a motivator as well. Aerotek does offer a "full benefit package," but it typically is not as good as what the company you are contracted to is going to have when you roll direct.

Mar 12, 21 2:14 pm  · 
1  · 
austinarrowood

My advice for anyone engaging with Aerotek or any other staffing company: • Be honest about your skills and abilities (If you overplay your abilities there is a good chance the company you are contracted to lets you go) • Know the contract length on the front end for any position • When they ask about pay try to get them to give you a range for the position first. Good recruiters are going to try to get this from you before talking about a position, and if this is the case give them a range and tell them it depends on the company, role, benefits, etc. • Most agencies do not offer paid vacation, but for technical or higher-level roles it can be negotiated into your contract and the agency’s contract with the employer (Do this on the front end). Be advised that this can stall a deal and if the agency has a comparable candidate who doesn’t need PTO they are likely to go with that candidate. You can always ask if they have anyone else in consideration. • If possible, get a copy of the benefits package of the employer that you are contracted to so there are no surprises 6 months down the road. Sometimes agencies will not have or be able to get this. • When you roll direct with a company you do have the ability to negotiate a new salary. When you first start you are an unproven resource, but now you have had 6 months to prove what you can do and this can give you leverage. Be careful not to overplay your cards as they are probably expecting you to roll over at the same or close to the same rate that you were making on contract.

Mar 12, 21 2:33 pm  · 
1  · 
maximillianvandersploon

As a current recruiter from Aerotek, this is a great write up and I'm glad I stumbled into finding it

Mar 16, 21 1:16 am  · 
1  · 
kind_stranger
Thanks that’s actually super helpful.

Yeah a few people on my team quit. We haven’t replaced them yet, and the firm is steadily growing otherwise. I feel like I contribute a good amount. However, if I quit and moved elsewhere, I could probably get what the company is likely paying Aerotek for me now (salary +20%). I just don’t want to do that.

The only problem I see is that my direct managers are actually 2 partners in the firm. So it’s not like negotiating with somebody that has only a theoretical interest in the company’s bottom line. They’re directly invested.
Jan 7, 19 2:09 pm  · 
 · 
shalayagear

Not a good company to work for

Oct 24, 22 3:27 pm  · 
 · 
mandilittlefield

Is it normal for aerotek to charge $150 for the shipping of the laptop they send you to use for work.

Aug 11, 23 10:41 pm  · 
 · 

Block this user


Are you sure you want to block this user and hide all related comments throughout the site?

Archinect


This is your first comment on Archinect. Your comment will be visible once approved.

  • ×Search in: