When it makes sense to cheat on your recruiter

Firstly, a brief health warning: there are almost no circumstances in which you can benefit from alienating recruitment firms. They do have long memories, you will get blacklisted; that particular recruitment firm and many of its friends will never ever help you to find a job again.

That said there may be some situations in which it makes sense to maltreat a recruiter. They are listed below. Proceed with extreme caution.

1) When you really, really want to work somewhere and that place doesn't have any intention of paying the recruitment fee

This appears to be a particular issue with hedge funds. Recruitment fees are typically 25%-30% of guaranteed first year compensation. This can be a large amount for a small hedge fund.

'Hedge funds and smaller businesses are most likely to try and cut corners and skin the headhunter," says a partner at one fixed income search firm. "As long as there's no paper trail and the recruiter has introduced the candidate informally, they can sometimes get away with it."

In reality, however, there usually will be a paper trail. And if a hedge fund can't afford to pay its recruitment fees, you probably need to question its ethics.

2) When your recruiter says he has a contact in the firm you want to work for, but clearly doesn't

If a recruiter has sent your CV to a particular firm, and you still haven't heard anything several weeks later, it may make sense to approach that firm directly - ideally via a named contact. In this event, the recruiter is still likely to receive a fee, but may be seriously peeved at your intervention, which cuts him/her out of the loop.

3) When a recruiter casually mentions a role at a firm where your best friend works

This is a far worse sin than the previous one. If a recruiter mentions a role in conversation, but hasn't actually sent your CV in for it, and you then send your CV directly, the recruiter won't receive a fee.

"When candidates go behind your back and send their CV to one of their contacts, it cuts you out," says one recruiter. "It's a big no, no. I would never work again with someone who had done this."

Clearly, however, it may make sense if the firm in question is owned by your childhood friend or brother in law. However, assuming you intend to find a job somewhere else in future, this may come back to haunt you in years to come.

4) When a recruiter insists on working with you exclusively

This doesn't happen very often. The head of the financial services team at one recruitment firm says that if someone comes in with an, "exceptionally placeable skillset" (eg. newly qualified accountant or derivatives documentation specialist) and they haven't already registered with other recruiters, he might ask the candidate to work with them exclusively. In most cases, however, he says working with two or three recruitment firms is fine.

If a recruiter does insist on working with you exclusively and then fails to find you a role quickly, it will clearly make sense to register with several more.

5) When you don't mind conducting salary negotiations and dealing with counteroffers yourself

The joy of working with a recruiter is that he/she will be able to mediate between you and the bank, squeezing the largest possible package out of your potential employer, and helping to shield you from your existing employer's attempts to prevent you from moving.

"It's simply much easier to work with a headhunter," says one (predictably).