Welcome to our ongoing series of blog posts in the Top Echelon Recruiter Training Center: “Jeff Allen’s Collection Tip of the Week.” Each week, we’ll highlight one collection tip from Allen, JD/CPC, the world’s leading placement lawyer.
Since 1975, Allen has collected more placement fees, litigated more trade secret cases, and assisted more placement practitioners than anyone else. He’s also the author of 24 books and a regular columnist for The Fordyce Letter, one of the leading publications in the recruiting industry.
Below is this week’s collection tip for recruiters, courtesy of Jeff Allen.
What the Client Says:
“You dealt with an ‘unauthorized hiring authority.'”
How the Client Pays:
They don’t call him an “unauthorized hiring authority.” But I do because the phrase says it all. They say things like, “The president wasn’t authorized to approve your fee.”
We truly believe everyone—from the janitor to the president—is authorized. The law does, too. Actual authority from the client is something you can’t be expected to know. Apparent authority is all you need. You can be as gullible as you like, because the client should be controlling the mouths, pens, and keystrokes of its employees.
If it lets them talk, write, type, listen and read—believe! Then place away. Let the client argue the lack of authority. You were misled. It is estopped (stopped or prevented) from asserting the lack of authority.
It’s frightening that any employee can bind an employer. But it’s based on the right of control and the public policy to protect people who deal with a business.
So don’t give someone the third degree if they utter something that sounds like a job order. If you do, you’ll be showing that you doubt them. Instead, just be able to prove you cleared the fee. Your JO should always show the date of fee confirmation, a copy of the personalized fee schedule sent to them, and anything you can get signed.
Then centuries of law will work . . . for you!
Now that you’ve got your client’s job order from an apparent authority, use Big Biller’s recruiting software to make your placement. Try it today!
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(Know how to collect your well-earned fees? Test yourself! Visit Jeff Allen’s Placement Law website and click the “Placement Fee Collection Quiz” button. Allen can be reached via telephone at 310.559.6000 or via email at jeff@placementlaw.com.)