BCS

BCS contacted me and wanted me to meet with one of their top leaders to discuss an arrangement. I met with the «SVP» regarding their services. Not impressed. While I’m sure he has the experience and knowledge of the area, businesses, and hiring managers, along with market trends, he comes across as arrogant and argumentative – and he’s ABSOLUTELY a salesman FIRST. I know sales, and I know the art of the emotional sale, and that’s where I was completely turned off of this idea… he tried some guilt tactics to sway my decision, and it was on the side of disgusting. They even get your family involved to try and build this pitch and get some additional sway, or perhaps try a different angle on pressure with that person there, and my wife didn’t like it either. I should also mention a pet peeve of mine is scheduling appointments and being punctual, and while I was early for each of my appointments, the SVP was over 5 minutes late for the second, so I had to wait (I could see his office, which had no other appointments in it). You may think this is petty, and I don’t presume to know his daily agenda or what was happening, but I don’t appreciate having to wait and then not even getting an apology for taking MY TIME when you KNEW I was coming in – you’re trying to build a relationship, and an expensive one, and can’t even be bothered with courtesy? Get it together.
I sat with him for a couple of meetings and while some of his advice was sound, some I disagreed with, and the fees seemed VERY high to me. Granted, I know headhunters in general aren’t cheap, but for my level of career advancement it didn’t seem appropriate. As part of the package, along with their consult fee, they have a service for building a «webfolio» that amounted to a basic website template with your list of accomplishments. There are plenty of tools for those with just basic understanding of technology to tackle this task, and BCS should be aware of that and charging appropriately… but they’re not. They wanted about $ 1,800 for one of these webfolios alone. Having done some previous basic web design, I just couldn’t believe that price, especially knowing I could easily create something like that on my own. They also factored in my success rate for attaining a position to my liking based on that webfolio… and that drove the price up even more! That’s where they feel their prices should be for those types of engagements… had they been more flexible on the fees, along with payments (it’s not that I couldn’t afford it – I could, but I would prefer an agreement like half to hire, then the other half upon completion of a successful job offer and placement), I may have considered it. Given what they wanted to assist me, along with the additional money they want IF they find something that fits your guidelines within a specified time frame, it absolutely wasn’t worth it to me.
I’m sure there are those that will disagree, and the bottom line is «can you put a price on getting what you want?» I ask… is it really what you want if you have to spend that much to have a CHANCE at it? The fees do change after the aggressive timeframe for placement passes, so that may or may not put a couple grand back in your pocket… or can you do it yourself through other resources? Definitely some considerations before shelling the thousands out that they want from you… and trust me, I’m not being exaggerative here, it will be thousands, and from others I’ve talked to, the initial fees are just the start. That, along with the ridiculous tactics used by their pitchman made me run for the door. I didn’t stick around to find out about the others… too rich for my blood.