We recently polled a group of candidates to find out what their biggest fear or hang-up was about partnering with us in their NNP job search.

The most common answer we got back was that they were initially afraid that working with us would mean a lower salary offer for them – or even make them appear less attractive than other candidates applying without the assistance of a recruiter!

It seems logical that this would be the case, doesn’t it? Fortunately, negative outcomes in salary offer are extremely rare when partnering with a qualified recruiter. Despite this common misconception, using a recruiter will not hurt your chances of getting a good offer.

In fact, you have a much better chance of maximizing your offer if you have an experienced niche recruiter negotiating on your behalf, and here is why:

1. The most costly mistake for a hospital is hiring the wrong person – and they know it

If hiring the right person is expensive, hiring the wrong one is twice as expensive. The wrong fit means going back to the drawing board, disrupting the unit all over again and starting the time and cost-consuming process all over again, as well.

Hospitals know this…and know that when they use a professional, niche search firm, they are getting highly qualified, and well screened referrals for their unique position.

2. They need to spend budget surpluses

If you’ve ever been in management, you know that at the end of each fiscal year, there is sometimes a budget surplus. While on the surface this sounds like a good thing, it actually means that there may be budget cuts next year to reflect lower spending.

So, managers want to spend their surplus before the year is up to ensure that next year’s budget either remains the same or even increases, rather than going down. This money often goes into hiring.

3. Hospitals anticipate fees

Hospitals are used to using recruiters. The fees are often already built into their hiring budget and are outside of your offer package. It’s simply the cost of doing business and ensuring that hiring needs are met.

Unlike other recruiters and search firms, we only place NNPs, and we’re good at it. We spend more time getting to know you and your unique situation than any other recruiter, and are quite literally there with you every step of the way: from the job search, interview process, offer negotiations, and relocation.

Here is what one of our candidates had to say about working with ENSEARCH, and how our assistance in offer negotiation impacted her candidacy:

My main concern was that an employer may not choose to hire me in order to avoid paying a fee to a headhunter. However, upon being hired and beginning the job I realized the fee made absolutely no difference in the decision to hire me or the salary I received. They had internal candidates that applied without using a headhunter and I was still chosen over those candidates whom they actually trained and sponsored as students. I could have easily applied on my own since the hospital was local and I had contact info for the hiring manager. However, using ENSEARCH made things easier for me and allowed me to focus on studying for boards (with the added bonus of receiving professional one-on-one interview preparation from my recruiter who was very knowledgeable and gave great tips and advice).

The bonus for job seekers in the NNP industry? Partnering with an ethical NNP recruiter will never cost you a dime.