I am a fairly new recruiter at Aerotek and I am a bit worried...

I started at Aerotek in one of their NJ offices pretty recently and I like it so far. However I am here just long enough to see some of the underhanded shady stuff that is happening here in this office. Supervisors getting caught drinking on the job and then turning around and making stuff up about other colleagues to save their own butts. Girls cheating on their significant others and getting caught!! But believe me trying to do whatever they can to cover it up. And to top it all off, it seems as if the Head Aerotek Mgr. knows its all going on or is truly an idiot. Another example, tenured account supervisors trying to push new people out of clients they already established. Its eally scary because I like working here and from the surface people seem really nice. However I dont know what to do? Is this how corporate America is? Is this just an Aerotek thing? Do I say something to my Branch Manager or will I get fired and blackmailed? Or have things made up about me? Does anyone have any advice as to what I should do?

GET OUT QUICK!!! I worked there for 1.5 years and believe me this is not the way to do business. I assure you that you need to leave. This is Aerotek. This is the way they conduct themselves and they are not respected in the industry. The sooner you can find something else the happier you will be.

guys i used to work at tek....can we chat offline?

extek in North Hollywood, California said: guys i used to work at tek....can we chat offline?

Sorry I haven't really checked this in a while. If you would like to talk my email address is followyourbliss@luckymail.com

glad to see my experiences in the Cleveland office were not isolated

I worked for Aerotek for about 1.5 years. I will say that I made some great friends there and gained some good experience. That said, they completely take advantage of their employees and function as a cult. I don't know if they still do this, but no other company I've worked for or any of my friends has worked for requires their employees to put personal information in their weekly reports. They pay substantially lower commissions than anyone else and over work you. They often pass over more qualified people for promotions. Turnover is very high. I would say that you can learn some good recruiting fundamentals there, but I would not make that company a career. Don't stay longer than a year. They are known to sometimes encourage unethical business practices to close a deal. I do think that the behavior you are noticing in your office is over the top and I would report it to the corporate office annonymously.

Ctown Former Atek in Cleveland, Ohio said: glad to see my experiences in the Cleveland office were not isolated

Hey Ctown,

I have a question regarding pay as a contractor. I'm currently working at a biotech company right now in south san francisco and my recruiter basically found the position for me there. Before accepting the job, I knew the dude from Aerotek was basically lowballing me, but I figured i'd be able to stay at my current company for about six months and then get hired as full time. Now that my contract is almost up, I want to negotiate for a higher wage. Now first question I have is, is it true that Aerotek roughly makes 45% of the amount that my biotech company is willing to pay for me (that is, I take 55% of the pie)? The second question is, if I do negotiate, what amount should I be negotiating the raise for? (I was working as a contractor for a year before starting this job that I've been working for almost six months). Thanks man.

Hello Chris,

I should be able to help you. I was at aerotek as a recruiter for 3 years and a manager/sales for 1.5. 50% markup is the industry standard and will go up or down depending on skill sets, durations of contracts, amount of business coming from client, ect. Aerotek pays workers comp, unemployment ect...you have to understand that it cost a company much more to hire someone then just their wage. If/when you get perm it cant help to ask for a raise, my advice would be to sit down with you manager and explain why you deserve one...and be specific.

Good luck, -A

johndoe5 in Los Angeles, California said: Hello Chris,

I should be able to help you. I was at aerotek as a recruiter for 3 years and a manager/sales for 1.5. 50% markup is the industry standard and will go up or down depending on skill sets, durations of contracts, amount of business coming from client, ect. Aerotek pays workers comp, unemployment ect...you have to understand that it cost a company much more to hire someone then just their wage. If/when you get perm it cant help to ask for a raise, my advice would be to sit down with you manager and explain why you deserve one...and be specific.

Good luck, -A

Hey John,

I appreciate the quick reply. I understand that Aerotek does have overhead costs which would require the 50% mark up for each contract employee. Here's my situation. I want to request for a raise from what I'm paid right now from Aerotek. I have been working at my current company for six months, my contract is almost up, and I know my contract will be renewed by my current company I'm working at. Since you are an employee at Aerotek, you would know that they don't include insurance for you as a contract employee (you'd have to pay aerotek to get them). A bit about my background: I've been in the biotech industry for 5 years, and currently making about 25/hour. I do plan to ask for a raise if I do become a perm, but that's not going to happen for at least another 6 months since my current manager told me my contract will be renewed, but not made a perm until next year. The advice I need is how much more can I reasonably ask for from the agency since I'm going to be in this for a while? Thanks again!

Chris,
Well, you do have a great angle you could take. This may sound bad but don’t take it personally…its business. Aerotek made their money off you and they will want to keep you happy. There are two ways they will pay out a raise and one is they will not change the bill rate to the client but still give you and they will take the hit. The other is they can go to the client and say would you approve a higher bill rate for us to give Chris a raise. Lastly, they could each go 50-50 (i.e. $2 raise = $1 higher bill rate and aerotek $1 from revenue. I know that was three ways.
Another thing is Aerotek can work off a set bill rate with the client and the client may not even know what you are making. But that is typically for only contract positions and not contract to hire.
Anyways, I would start with the aerotek recruiter that placed you or the account/sales manager and simply ask for more money. I’m not sure how much more you are looking for but I don’t think it should be a problem mainly because you have been on a long contact and should be able to afford to give you a raise. Is $30 out of the question…probably but they should be able to pay out a couple $.
One last thing, the client is going to need to make sure that you are in line with their pay structure when they hire you on fulltime. So they might have some pushback if you are at the high end of the pay scale.
Don’t quote me but that’s how I see it.

Again, good luck. -A
I lack writing skills, forgive me.

johndoe5 in Los Angeles, California said: Chris,
Well, you do have a great angle you could take. This may sound bad but don’t take it personally…its business. Aerotek made their money off you and they will want to keep you happy. There are two ways they will pay out a raise and one is they will not change the bill rate to the client but still give you and they will take the hit. The other is they can go to the client and say would you approve a higher bill rate for us to give Chris a raise. Lastly, they could each go 50-50 (i.e. $2 raise = $1 higher bill rate and aerotek $1 from revenue. I know that was three ways.

Again, good luck. -A
I lack writing skills, forgive me.

John,

Thanks for the info. It's encouraging to know that it's very possible to bump up my raise. The strategy that I'm planning to employ is to state that I've been offered ~$30/hr at another company perm with benefits. I'm planning to give the guy a chance to give me a counter, and if they give me say, 26 (vs 25) I'll say I want a bit more. If the guy refuses to bump it more than 28, but say he'll only give 27, then I'll say, I'll take it! and continue my employment at my current company. Do you think that's a sound strategy? My take on this is that if I lose the job, nobody wins (aerotek, agency, and myself). But everyone wins if I still work there.

I've considered your strategy, but I feel that gives the guy too much room to dictate the negotiation. Your thoughts would be appreciated.

Chris in San Mateo, California said: John,

Thanks for the info. It's encouraging to know that it's very possible to bump up my raise. The strategy that I'm planning to employ is to state that I've been offered ~$30/hr at another company perm with benefits. I'm planning to give the guy a chance to give me a counter, and if they give me say, 26 (vs 25) I'll say I want a bit more. If the guy refuses to bump it more than 28, but say he'll only give 27, then I'll say, I'll take it! and continue my employment at my current company. Do you think that's a sound strategy? My take on this is that if I lose the job, nobody wins (aerotek, agency, and myself). But everyone wins if I still work there.

I've considered your strategy, but I feel that gives the guy too much room to dictate the negotiation. Your thoughts would be appreciated.

Okay, you want to play the other option card. not bad, that works very well. let me know how it works out.

Best regards, -A

Hi guys,

I stumbled upon this conversation by accident. I'm a Recruiter from the South SF office of Aerotek and I have been with the company for 8 years and going strong. I'm sorry to hear about the above experiences but I have to say this is absolutely not a representation of Aerotek, the culture, the company, etc. It's true, we work very hard and people who start out with the company pay their dues, (just like EVERY sales job known to man), but once you are established in your career, it's a great way to build wealth. This is not a place where you can come in and do your job and go home. This is a place where you have ownership over your business, need to have passion, and are excited and eager to build deep relationships with your peers. Now, I get it--not every office has made the best hiring decisions and management can't always control what employees will do, but we do our best, but I can speak to my experiences that under the right leadership, Aerotek is an amazing place to work that will not only help you develop professionally, but personally as well and it's extremely rewarding.

To help Chris--why don't you speak with your recruiter instead of trying to figure this out on your own? I work with all my contractors who are in a similar situation as yourself and it makes sense to be able to renegotiate before your renew your next term. I have my contractors take the original job description and go through it, making commments about what they are doing that is in line with the job description and what they are doing to go above/beyond the job description. If you have a good case for a raise, why the heck not? Sometimes we can control that, but sometimes it's in the hands of our client so we need you to help us. I've been able to help out a lot of people this way. Some companies/clients have more flexibility than others. Good luck and call me if you need help. Use the main line (they won't let me post my # here)
Ruba Khenaisser
Recruiter Lea

The short answer is that I did not trust my recruiter. It sounds like you're genuine and willing to help your clients/recruitees, so maybe there are honest folks there. Thank you for your time.

Hi Ruba,

I just recently went through the interview process at Aerotek, and I'm going in next week for a "half-day" to sit with recruiters and account managers, to make sure it's a good fit for me. I have been doing a lot of research on this company, and I've came across quite a few negative posts, but they were all from more than 2 years ago. A lot of things can change in this amount of time, and I know they recently went public that they were focusing more on diversity. I would like to know more about your experience, and if anyone else has seen a change in their experiences. I want to make sure this is a great fit for me.

Thanks so much!

Ruba in San Mateo, California said: Downside: long hours. But they are more bearable when you love your job (like me!) It's not for everyone though, and a negative attitude will kill your sales career anywhere you go.

Quick question: my husband got a call from Aerotek for a Recruiter position. He has about 5 years experience in sales. I'm curious about the long hours? He's a very hard worker, especially if he enjoys what he does, but there has to be some work/life balance. What's a typical day like (start/stop + emails and calls at home)?

Thanks,
Tracey

Tracey in Loma Linda, California said:

7:30 to 5:30 are the core hours...expect to do more early on. Calls/emails on the weekends are by choice. I don't do it all the time but I will clean up my inbox on the weekends. Most sales professionals know not to do that during prime phone calling time. I'll stay late and make calls a few days a week but I don't have to...I do like that if I want a raise, I can just put some more people to work and give myself one.

I appreciate the positive feedback. I am in sales myself full-time, working salary + bonuses in the beer industry. I really enjoy that if I want to work hard, I'll be rewarded for it, but there is a major company initiative for work/life balance. I think a lot of people that post on here and don't like working in a "quota" environment just aren't cut out for sales.

So that's 10 hours/day for a starting salary of $39? Not too good really, especially if you have a good sales background like my husband does. Can they start you out at higher based on your experience? Also, what is the potential for commissions in the first year (on top of salary)?

Those are great questions to have your husband ask the person who called. We are forthcoming with all info like this. You can average it out---Generally first year or two is a learning curve, even with a sales background. By 3-4th year, it's reasonable to make six figures for strong performers and it goes up from there.

I am new to the recruiting field and I need to know how to land new client accounts for my company. I have tried the call every business in town routine and that didn't work. I have posts out there on the web and so far nothing. Any advise?

Marchand in Troy, Alabama said: I am new to the recruiting field and I need to know how to land new client accounts for my company. I have tried the call every business in town routine and that didn't work. I have posts out there on the web and so far nothing. Any advise?

Oh boy, that's a very, very big topic. My recommendation is to find a mentor or someone who can train you on staffing sales cycles. The Accidental Salesperson is a good book to get you started with the basics.