" I don't know how to say it any differently. " How about reading and comprehending what I said instead?

I never said a word about companies having two payrolls for an employee or two offers on the table.

The company pays the same money if they hire direct or through the recruiter. The recruiter gets 16-20%, on average, of the new employees, first year's salary. If the company is willing to pay $100,000/yr, they PAY $100,000/year. BUT, the recruiter gets the employer to pay the employee $100,000 :LESS 16-20%, which is THEIR cut. Finder's fee, commission, spiff etc. All the same thing, and ALL businesses understand and pay these common fees too, whether to sales people, subcontractors, annual bonuses etc.

The other part you didn't read, or perhaps didn't comprehend, was my job hunting style. As I said, it has worked for people in all walks of life, including myself in IT as well as sales. I got a high paying IT manager's role, in which I learned on the job over 5 years on the job but with some understanding of networks etc. The company, which was looking to hire someone with a specific skill set and certs, had been looking and interviewing for several months already. They hired me instead, regardless that I had little qualification, no certs to speak of and simply some experience dabbling in basic IT tasks. I convinced them that they needed me, not the qualifications. Selling a boss is no harder than selling an rather uneducated consumer. That's when I found TR to begin with, a dozen or so years ago.

As for your comments, It's not a matter of agreeing to disagree, I know you have a different opinion and you are entitled to it, but you presented it as an assertion, which I have personally found to be false. You then claimed that, due to your wealth of experience in the field, that I was completely mistaken and incorrect. Again, a false assertion.

To top it off, as I also said and which you again missed, I have worked for multinational recruiters, in the USA as well as Canada, Europe and Australia. So I do understand the business model, better than you understand me to or are willing to accept.

If you have an opinion, present it as one. If you read another's personal experiences, accept it as personal experience. Unless you know who I am or what I've done, your assertions are simply unqualified opinions, which are far from being facts or corrections.

I love how, every time someone is proven wrong these days, one party wants to agree to disagree. What a cop out! "Humans breathe oxygen to survive",
"Well, I think I'll just agree to disagree because I personally believe you can live without oxygen?"

I also NEVER said I walked in the door and got a job. Comprehension is a killer behind so many threads in these forums, so many people just seem to lack the simple ability to understand what they read without reacting to a predetermined conclusion.
Well done!