As the person doing the hiring that kind of incentives me to strive for a lower salary, at least for that first year. I'm not going to do that since we aren't in diar straits, the offer will be appropriate for the role and industry comps, I was just surprised to learn that and wondered if anyone on HN was surprised as well.
I was a head hunter candidate/new hire previously and now I'm wondering if/how that up-front fee may have affected my own offer at that time.
Honestly, the candidate is worth the head hunter fee, but I'm more looking at this through the lens of the job candidate who could have applied on their own. As a direct candidate, you can negotiate for a sign-on bonus that is, say 15% of your target salary, and the hiring company shouldn't blink an eye (if you confidently know you're a solid candidate that is).
12.5-20% was the typical range when I last dealt with them in the mid-late 2010s (usually varying with the seniority of the role). Perhaps things have changed to reflect the additional value they provide in bypassing the torrent of spam that's currently plaguing the recruitment process - but 25% still feels higher than I'd expect.
I agree that you can use this as an argument when negotiating a signing bonus if you're a direct candidate. Won't always work because the hiring manager usually isn't the person who's deciding whether or not to use a recruiter/headhunter (and their fee probably comes from a separate budget), but it's worth a try. I did exactly that when last changing jobs, and managed to get an additional 10%.
On the candidate side, job hunting is completely broken. Are you sure this person’s resume would have been seen by a real person if they applied through the job portal?
That's a very bad way to look at it. If you think recruiters are too expensive don't use them, but I suspect it makes no difference to you as hiring manager as that was previously approved and budgeted, and low-balling a candidate is not the best way to start a relationship or to attract the best.
> I'm not going to do that since we aren't in diar straits, the offer will be appropriate for the role and industry comps