Ask HN: Why don't recruiters do our salary negotiations for us
Most recruiters I have worked with get us in the door but when it comes time to salary negotiation it's up to us. Why don't they handle that aspect similar to agents in the media world.
They're sort of used car salesemen (with used car being you :) ) that need to move inventory off the lot.
It less important to spend time to get extra 5% then sell two cars quicker.
No offence but it's a good analogy.
However when they are selling their own houses... the houses tendon yo stay 3 weeks more on average, because there they have a better incentive to wait for a better offer.
In fact real estate agents are pretty much never acting in the best interests of their customers (buyer or sellers).
All of them are interested in making transaction happen faster to "move inventory". Negotiating better deal for their client is a waste of time for agents, although none of them will ever acknowledge it.
It’s really not unless you’re attempting to extract the theoretical maximum from each negotiation.
Personally, I don’t need the most money somebody is willing to pay me. I need enough money for my goals in life. In fact, I’ll happily accept a number that’s lower than an employer’s maximum because it makes me a good value.
If their number is less than my number, I ask for my number plus a little bit and they say either yes/no. No stress and I’m perfectly happy either way.
Also no one can really negotiate for you because ultimately you have to know what you will accept and that depends on feelings as much as facts.
I think that the salaries of some programmers and such have gotten high enough so that something similar to an agent should be available to negotiate salaries. There are some programmers that should be called superstars and they should be paid as such.
As someone who had graduated from uni about a year earlier, I had a very bewildering year at the company.
Some recruiters might see it as a violation of trust telling the candidate the salary range, and often they value the one who's giving the money, so they usually let you handle the negotiations.