During your job search you should use any and all tools available to land that position. One of those tools can be recruiting agencies. Recruiters generally fall into two very different categories. The first being employment agencies that normally focus on entry level to middle management positions and temporary or seasonal employment. The second type of recruiters being retained search firms that specialize in specific industries for senior level positions. The two are very different in the way they recruit and also charge for their services.
Recruiting agencies charge a fee to the employer when a candidate they referred is hired. The recruiter will do the prescreening and send a group of candidates to be interviewed and screened by their client company. The fee that is charged to the company if they hire one of the referred candidates can range anywhere from 5% to 30% of the employee’s first years salary. This payment arrangement works since the positions they are filling can normally be done in a relatively short period of time because of them primarily being entry level in nature.