Hello LUGgers:

I'm a newbie in the job search arena, and could use some advice
on how to avoid a certain situation in the future.

Say, hypothetically speaking, that you have a friend that just
got a new job at company Foo via job-finding company Quux (rhymes
with "sucks", as in "rat bastard fuckers die die die") Jobfinders
Inc.

This friend encourages you to apply for another position that's
open at Foo; you do this, and in addition you ask the boys at Quux
to see if they can locate some position for you.

You find yourself fucked, because what does Quux do but send your
resume off to Foo?  Now Foo wants to hire you, but Quux says that
Foo owes them some sort of finder's fee, even though you have a
contact of your own at Foo, and really didn't get anything from
Quux.  Foo won't hire you because this fee is exorbitant, and
why the hell should Quux get dime one anyhow?

So how do other people manage this situation?  My thought is that
I should have made some agreement with Quux from the beginning that
they had to have my permission to send my resume to Foo; once this
was done, Foo was "theirs" and if they found a job there, they were
entitled to the fee.  This would leave me free to search on my own
at Bar and Baz, Inc.

Any other ways out of this?

Regards,
J