Recruiter vs career coach: who works for you as a PA or NP

No, not if they are legitimate. The FTC puts it plainly: honest placement firms do not typically charge a fee to job candidates, and the hiring company pays them a fee to find qualified candidates. The same FTC guidance warns that honest employers will never ask you to pay to get a job.

At Voll Recruiting, the employer pays the fee and the candidate pays nothing. If you are a PA, NP or CRNA talking to a recruiter, you should never be asked for money to be considered, submitted or interviewed.

Whether you call them a physician assistant recruiter, an APP recruiter or a headhunter, agency recruiters usually work under one of two arrangements with the employer. In a contingency search, the employer pays the search firm only if the firm makes a placement. In a retained search, the employer typically pays a retainer fee upfront to engage the firm, often on an exclusive basis. Either way, the money comes from the employer, not from you.

There are also in-house recruiters, who are employees of a hospital or medical group and recruit only for that organization. They work for the employer directly, so the same rule holds: they cost you nothing.

A good recruiter can:

• Show you open roles that are not widely posted, or tell you about a role before it is posted.
• Get your CV in front of the hiring physician or practice manager instead of an applicant portal.
• Explain the team, the schedule, the supervising physician and the reason the role is open.
• Handle scheduling, interview logistics and follow-up.
• Carry your questions and your counter offer to the employer, and tell you what the employer has said yes to before.
• Give you honest feedback after an interview.

A recruiter generally will not:

• Represent you to employers they do not work with.
• Spend hours helping you decide between clinical medicine and a non-clinical career if they have no role that fits.
• Rewrite your CV from scratch or run mock interviews over several sessions.
• Tell you to turn down an offer from their client in favor of a job they are not working on.
• Review your contract as your lawyer. No recruiter or coach replaces an attorney.

A career coach is paid by you and works only for you. There is no employer on the other side of the relationship, so the advice is not tied to any particular job. That makes coaching useful for the questions a recruiter is not set up to answer:

• Should I stay in my specialty or switch? See switching PA specialties.
• Am I ready to leave clinical work, and what would I do instead? See non-clinical jobs for PAs and NPs.
• How do I present my experience on a CV and in interviews? See PA and NP resume and CV and interview questions.
• How do I compare two offers and decide what to counter? See negotiating a PA or NP offer.
• Which contract questions should I raise before my attorney review? See the contract checklist.

Coaching costs money, and it does not guarantee you a job. What it buys is time with someone whose only interest is your decision. If you do not need that, do not pay for it.

• You know what you want and where: start with a recruiter, or two, who work that specialty and region. It costs you nothing.
• You are a new graduate with several offers: a recruiter can explain each employer; a coach can help you compare them on your terms. See the new grad job search guide.
• You are burned out and unsure whether to stay clinical: a coach first. A recruiter cannot help until you know what you are looking for.
• You are switching specialties: often both. A coach helps you frame your transferable skills; a recruiter knows which employers will train.
• You already have an offer and want to negotiate: if a recruiter placed you, use them to carry the counter. If not, a coaching session on negotiation may help, but only you can judge whether it is worth the fee.

The FTC warns that some placement firms lie about what they will do for you, promote outdated or fake job openings, and charge fees for so-called services. Walk away if you see any of these:

• A fee to submit you to a job, to unlock job listings, or to "guarantee" an interview. This is the clearest red flag.
• A promised job or a guaranteed salary before you have interviewed.
• Submitting you without asking. A recruiter should name the employer and get your yes before sending your CV. Unapproved submissions can make you look careless to an employer who hears from two firms.
• No details about the job: no employer name at the right stage, no pay range, no schedule.
• Pressure to accept fast, or to skip having an attorney review the contract.
• A coach who implies they can place you or who promises results. Coaching is help, not a placement.

A five-minute screening call tells you most of what you need to know about a recruiter. Ask these, and listen for direct answers:

• Who pays you, and is there any cost to me at any stage?
• Which employer is this role with, and how long have you worked with them?
• What is the pay range and how is it structured: salary, hourly or productivity?
• Why is the role open, and how many APPs are on the team now?
• Will you ask my permission before you send my CV anywhere?
• What happens after I interview, and how quickly will you tell me where I stand?
• If I get an offer, will you share what the employer has been willing to change in past offers?

A recruiter who answers the first question with anything other than "the employer pays, it costs you nothing" is not someone to work with.

Plain disclosure, because it matters here. Max Mello, PA-C, is a practicing physician assistant and has been Director of Physician and APP Recruitment at Voll Recruiting, based in Austin, Texas, since October 2023. He works with candidates nationwide. He also offers career coaching through this site.

• As a recruiter, Max is paid through Voll Recruiting by employers. Working with Voll is free to you.
• As a coach, Max charges a fee. Coaching is separate and optional.
• You never need to buy coaching to work with Voll Recruiting, and coaching does not guarantee a job.

If you want to talk through a job search, an offer or a career change, book a call. Tell Max whether you are looking for open roles (recruiting, free) or want coaching, and he will say which one fits.