Search placement fee
Search placement fee
Suppose a candidate contacts a school on his own accord (as in, not through the Search site) and then the school uses the Search data base to peruse the candidate's documents. Is the school on the hook for a placement fee in this scenario because they accessed the data base or since Search didn't actually broker the association are they even eligible to collect the placement fee? I'm not sure how Search knows when they are eligible for placement fees for contracts issued outside of a fair.
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shadowjack
- Posts: 2140
- Joined: Sat Oct 06, 2012 9:49 am
Search tracks database access. So if you looked at the school via Search or the school looked at you via Search as opposed to TIEonline, for instance, then the school is on the hook as they used Search services. I have contacted some schools via TIE and avoided using Search for just this scenario; however, others I have contacted and examined via Search.
Reply
It depends on a lot of things. Search tracks data base access and your associate is copied and every email contact sent through their system.
In your case its an easy answer, the school used the Search database to hire you, so they owe your associate the placement fee.
It becomes a lot more murkier and grey when its just you. Did you message the school through Search? Did the school advertise through another venue? The less contact there is between the search and the teacher the more likely the school is to avoid having to pay the placement fee.
In your case its an easy answer, the school used the Search database to hire you, so they owe your associate the placement fee.
It becomes a lot more murkier and grey when its just you. Did you message the school through Search? Did the school advertise through another venue? The less contact there is between the search and the teacher the more likely the school is to avoid having to pay the placement fee.
Thank you both. In our initial email exchanges, they asked me to attach the customary documents (cv's, references), but when we interviewed they made reference to the Search database, so they obviously used it. My thinking is that we could have easily gotten this deal done without the database and saved them the placement fee. I wasn't sure what to tell my associate, ("Well we got jobs, but sorry we did it on our own, so you are out of luck."), because from my end I did not need him and what they did on their end is their business and not for me to share with the associate. Bottom line must be, and I think psyguy you have said this somewhere else, that the large schools don't worry about the placement fees, any extra tidbits they can glean from the database are worth it.
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shadowjack
- Posts: 2140
- Joined: Sat Oct 06, 2012 9:49 am
It's not just that, Gipper. SEARCH provides a service. They pre-screen candidates, ensure that suitable candidates make it to suitable fairs, and with a candidate fee, ensure that the candidates are somewhat serious about recruiting - not just exploring options (although some are lucky enough to do this).
Imagine if a school had to directly sort through 3,000 CVs (some schools get many many more than this), arrange interviews, fly to places where individual teachers are (most schools still require a face to face meeting), fly to the next city where the teacher lives, etc...
Search does a lot of the legwork for schools plus brings the candidates to central locations for them. In turn, Search is well remunerated.
The fees are a part of the cost of doing business.
Imagine if a school had to directly sort through 3,000 CVs (some schools get many many more than this), arrange interviews, fly to places where individual teachers are (most schools still require a face to face meeting), fly to the next city where the teacher lives, etc...
Search does a lot of the legwork for schools plus brings the candidates to central locations for them. In turn, Search is well remunerated.
The fees are a part of the cost of doing business.
Reply
@Gipper
Kind of yes and kind of no. Your school didnt really take out an insurance policy on you. They pay $3000 to recruit you and if you bail on the contract they might, as a long shot get back $3000 (its $1500 for teachers and $2500 for admins, but it use to be more then that and has changed over the years), thats not really insurance. If it was insurance the school would pay say $250, and if you bailed the school would be able to file a claim for say $5000 in coverage.
All those things are true in theory by the way. A SCHOOL cant just "touch" Search though and apply all those conditions on YOUR contract, of course schools and admins and associates will tell you do, because its expensive to bring over an OSH.
First, I dont know of anyone that writes a check to the school for breaking contract or running. I know a couple people who have written a check to Search before leaving for a job. In those situations though the teacher paid the fee so that they could come back to Search and in those cases the teacher was simply recruited for a better school then their original school, so they can afford the fee.
What really happens is that if a teacher pulls a runner the school debits the fee against future invoices to Search. So really Search pays the fee.
Second, the blacklist still isnt a black list. Yeah Search wont work with you (intially they have to punish you), but the "other firms" is ISS, thats it. Even then ISS isnt typically going to bar you from their service. Most people in Search are less experienced teachers that wouldnt be accepted by ISS and wouldnt be competitive. ISS is a competitor not friends, and the whole enemy of my enemy is my friend.
Even then Search has taken back teachers its once bared after a couple years (about a contract or two) later. Search is about money, and if your marketable (say after a couple years of IB experience at an IS) then if your going to find a position on your own, Search would just be turning down money.
Whether a school pays Search a fee for later hiring a spouse is between Search and the school. You cant "agree" to a fee on behalf of a school. Some schools pay, many do not. Just because Search says something in a contract doesnt mean they can enforce it.
It sounds like a lot of rules and conditions, but really Search can work with whoever they want. If your not going to make them money, they arent going to work with you. If they are going to make money off you, then the contract doesnt mean very much. If none of those things were specifically written in the contract, Search could still do them. Search could still inform ISS, they could still send you a bill, and they could refuse to work with you in the future regardless of what the contract did or did not say.
Search does "less" of a job of prescreening candidates then say ISS. Even then its not so much that they prescreen candidates as they simply gather the teachers information all in one place. Search does no verification or background checks on any of the data they compile on a teacher. Search makes no assurances, guarantees, or warranties on a teachers suitability. Search doesnt really do anything, at least associates dont, the candidates are the one doing all the leg work.
Yes they screen candidates into fairs, but thats for them not for you or the schools. Thats how teachers who hit a few key points but are otherwise inexperienced make it to the wrong fairs.
Fairs are just a venue where recruiters and teachers can be in the same proximity. Its a big conference room with sign up sheets for a couple hours, and then people meeting in their own rooms. Its a convenience when it comes to travel, and that convenience has value, and before Skype, inexpensive web based application systems and high speed internet there was a lot more value because there wasnt a reasonably priced alternative. Thats changing now though, and part of the reason the costs are going down.
Kind of yes and kind of no. Your school didnt really take out an insurance policy on you. They pay $3000 to recruit you and if you bail on the contract they might, as a long shot get back $3000 (its $1500 for teachers and $2500 for admins, but it use to be more then that and has changed over the years), thats not really insurance. If it was insurance the school would pay say $250, and if you bailed the school would be able to file a claim for say $5000 in coverage.
All those things are true in theory by the way. A SCHOOL cant just "touch" Search though and apply all those conditions on YOUR contract, of course schools and admins and associates will tell you do, because its expensive to bring over an OSH.
First, I dont know of anyone that writes a check to the school for breaking contract or running. I know a couple people who have written a check to Search before leaving for a job. In those situations though the teacher paid the fee so that they could come back to Search and in those cases the teacher was simply recruited for a better school then their original school, so they can afford the fee.
What really happens is that if a teacher pulls a runner the school debits the fee against future invoices to Search. So really Search pays the fee.
Second, the blacklist still isnt a black list. Yeah Search wont work with you (intially they have to punish you), but the "other firms" is ISS, thats it. Even then ISS isnt typically going to bar you from their service. Most people in Search are less experienced teachers that wouldnt be accepted by ISS and wouldnt be competitive. ISS is a competitor not friends, and the whole enemy of my enemy is my friend.
Even then Search has taken back teachers its once bared after a couple years (about a contract or two) later. Search is about money, and if your marketable (say after a couple years of IB experience at an IS) then if your going to find a position on your own, Search would just be turning down money.
Whether a school pays Search a fee for later hiring a spouse is between Search and the school. You cant "agree" to a fee on behalf of a school. Some schools pay, many do not. Just because Search says something in a contract doesnt mean they can enforce it.
It sounds like a lot of rules and conditions, but really Search can work with whoever they want. If your not going to make them money, they arent going to work with you. If they are going to make money off you, then the contract doesnt mean very much. If none of those things were specifically written in the contract, Search could still do them. Search could still inform ISS, they could still send you a bill, and they could refuse to work with you in the future regardless of what the contract did or did not say.
Search does "less" of a job of prescreening candidates then say ISS. Even then its not so much that they prescreen candidates as they simply gather the teachers information all in one place. Search does no verification or background checks on any of the data they compile on a teacher. Search makes no assurances, guarantees, or warranties on a teachers suitability. Search doesnt really do anything, at least associates dont, the candidates are the one doing all the leg work.
Yes they screen candidates into fairs, but thats for them not for you or the schools. Thats how teachers who hit a few key points but are otherwise inexperienced make it to the wrong fairs.
Fairs are just a venue where recruiters and teachers can be in the same proximity. Its a big conference room with sign up sheets for a couple hours, and then people meeting in their own rooms. Its a convenience when it comes to travel, and that convenience has value, and before Skype, inexpensive web based application systems and high speed internet there was a lot more value because there wasnt a reasonably priced alternative. Thats changing now though, and part of the reason the costs are going down.