Allied Global Services

I was networking through LinkedIn and saw Ryan Richard’s profile as a «IT Search and Recruitment Leader». I added him to my network, and he wanted to have a quick discussion to determine how he could help me best — fair enough. We scheduled some time for a call.
The call began with typicals… how did you find me, what are you looking for, etc. Then it went south, FAST. Ryan transitioned to salary discussions after a couple basic questions. He wanted to know my salary history and then what I was seeking. I specifically told him I had no interest in discussing my salary history, and wouldn’t be, but did convey my future position requirements for pay at both contract level and permanent. Ryan then made not one, not two, but THREE attempts to get previous salaries out of me. I became angry and asked him why that was so important, and he fed me a line of BS stating «if his clients ask, he needs to be able to explain the costs and ensure they don’t think he’s trying to pass additional expenses on to them». Yep, that’s the best he could do. He didn’t tell me he was trying to see how much margin they could build on me, how much of a deal they would get, etc. I called him on it, and told him AGAIN that if he couldn’t tell me how him knowing how much I make helps my career, then that was pointless and a waste of my time. He finally dropped it… after a ridiculous amount of attempting to get that information. What is it about a hard NO that confuses some?
He tried to gloss it over by presenting some opportunities and saying he’ll do whatever he can to help me, but after you act in that type of manner with me you really expect there to be trust? You couldn’t handle a simple decline for confidential information… seriously.
Not all recruiters are bad, but Ryan fits the typical mold of a recruiter wanting information for the wrong reasons, specifically as leverage in negotiation – the WORST kind of recruiter. Worse yet is he calls himself a leader – leaders don’t act that way (in my experience). I don’t know if the entire agency operates in that manner, but I won’t know because this was my first and LAST experience with them based on Ryan’s actions. Shameful.

Aaron has been phenomenal in helping me find a job. They are helpful far beyond just sending you to a company. I will happily work with them again in the future.