Seeking input on working with recruiter for Firm 1 and friend for Firm 2 - help! Forum

[Anonymous User]

Hey everyone, biglaw midlevel in NYC, working with a recruiter for 1 firm -- applied recently and haven't heard back about it yet. I'm also simultaneously talking with former classmates at several other NYC firms and gauging hiring interest at their firms. Since the time of submitting my materials for that 1 firm, the recruiter has sent me unsolicited email postings about other jobs available (all have been publicly available on the respective firms' websites). I haven't replied to any of them. Well, sure enough, I have a friend at a firm that happens to be the subject of one of those numerous email postings from the recruiter that I saw. If I decide to apply for the firm, I'd much rather go through my friend (he has been there a long time and is very well respected) than the recruiter.

The following are my questions and concerns that I'm hoping for input on. Would the recruiter have any legitimate basis for getting upset with me or doing other crazy recruiter things (like complaining to firm #2) if I end up applying to and potentially getting the job through the friend? I read somewhere else on this site and the web that a recruiter has no basis for seeking a fee unless he or she actually submits the candidate's resume to the firm. This rule of thumb seems to make sense -- otherwise recruiters would just blast jobs to everyone and hope to lay claim to candidates when learning that they moved.

Any input here guys? It's been kind of stressing me out. In case it's relevant, the recruiter only had authorization to submit my resume to the 1 firm mentioned above.

[Anonymous User]

Bump for evening crowd.

[itbdvorm]

Hey everyone, biglaw midlevel in NYC, working with a recruiter for 1 firm -- applied recently and haven't heard back about it yet. I'm also simultaneously talking with former classmates at several other NYC firms and gauging hiring interest at their firms. Since the time of submitting my materials for that 1 firm, the recruiter has sent me unsolicited email postings about other jobs available (all have been publicly available on the respective firms' websites). I haven't replied to any of them. Well, sure enough, I have a friend at a firm that happens to be the subject of one of those numerous email postings from the recruiter that I saw. If I decide to apply for the firm, I'd much rather go through my friend (he has been there a long time and is very well respected) than the recruiter.

The following are my questions and concerns that I'm hoping for input on. Would the recruiter have any legitimate basis for getting upset with me or doing other crazy recruiter things (like complaining to firm #2) if I end up applying to and potentially getting the job through the friend? I read somewhere else on this site and the web that a recruiter has no basis for seeking a fee unless he or she actually submits the candidate's resume to the firm. This rule of thumb seems to make sense -- otherwise recruiters would just blast jobs to everyone and hope to lay claim to candidates when learning that they moved.

Any input here guys? It's been kind of stressing me out. In case it's relevant, the recruiter only had authorization to submit my resume to the 1 firm mentioned above.

Go through friend.

[Anonymous User]

Thanks -- that's my inclination as well.

[Anonymous User]

your friend. this is a no brainer. for one, he's already an insider. two, the firm will have to pay the recruiter.

[Anonymous User]

your friend. this is a no brainer. for one, he's already an insider. two, the firm will have to pay the recruiter.

Thanks for the reply. I know it's a no-brainer to go with the friend, but my apparently poorly phrased question was more along the lines of whether the recruiter -- based on the facts laid out -- would have a reasonable basis for trying to claim commission from firm #2. This turns on the concept that, while working with recruiter on a different job (firm #1), they sent various unsolicited emails to me and one of which contained the name of a firm that I am considering applying to through the friend (firm #2).

I think it would be ridiculous for a recruiter to try and claim commission on firm #2, as they've done virtually no work other than firing off mass email, but I'm looking for feedback from others.