The simplist solution is to do one or the other. Either go through the headhunter or look on your own, but not do both at the same time. Its stupid to have to but thats the only way to be sure to avoid it. How did Quux find out that you interviewed at that company anyway? Did you slip up and tell them? Ask for the papers that they *supposedly* gave you to let you know that Foo was intereted. If they cant produce any, tell them to F*** off. Foo should know if they felt they went through Quux or dealt directly with you. If they are playing dumb then you dont want to work for a stupid company like that anyway. Companies that accept resumes from headchoppers should be prepared to deal with this problem. Sounds like you just got bit. Tell Quux to F*** off and tell Foo that your walking, if they are serious about the offer they will hire you, otherwise your better off looking elsewhere. I'd pull your resume from Quux for sure and continue looking on your own (or go to another headchopper and get the info worked out up front). Bottom line, it sounds like you just got bit due to back luck. Sucks to hear companies act that way though. My .02 At 10:38 AM 12/1/00 -0600, you wrote: >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 > >_______________________________________________ >tclug-list mailing list >tclug-list at lists.real-time.com >https://mailman.real-time.com/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list >