A search firm we have met with but have never done business with sent us a resume with no name on it.  I forwarded it on to the hiring manager, then  asked them to ask the candidate a few follow-up questions, which they did.  I was busy, so I never got back to them.  Conincidetally, in the meantime, the actual candidate himself has contacted us directly, and the hiring manager just emailed me saying that based on the resume from the search firm, he'd like to meet the candidate.  I compared the search firm copy with the candidate's copy and it was pretty easy to verify that it's the same individual.  Since the candidate contacted me directly, what do I owe the search firm?

The search firms would argue that you learned about the applicant through them, first.  I don't think you are obligated to do anything with the search firm if you haven't signed any contracts to the contrary and if the applicant found you on their own.  Understand that the search firm may not do business with you going forward if you don't throw them a bone of some kind.

I worked for almost 7 years as a recruiter/scheduler in a supplemental staffing agency, and our rule of thumb always was that if one of our staff found a facility and applied on their own (even if it was one of our clients), there was nothing we would do. However, if the staff member applied only after we had sent them, then we were talking temp-to-perm contracts or finders' fees. In my current position I have talked with 2 different agencies and it has happened both times, people that they send me have already applied. In those cases, I have told the agencies that we have already reviewed the resumes and would pursue the candidates independently of the agency. (One even sent a resume without the name on it, but I knew the resume was one I had already seen when the agency sent it.)

If the candidate truly does contact your company independently of the agency, there should be no issue and you should be able to treat the candidate as all others. However, if the candidate only found about about your company because of the follow-up questions you wanted the agency to ask, there is a definite issue there. Generally agencies will have new staff members sign a statement that they will not solicit work from anywhere the agency sends them without first advising the agency of their intentions. Your candidate may find himself in a legal battle if he is trying to by-pass the system. I would try to get an honest answer from the candidate about how he heard about your company before pursuing any further.

katrinal:

I worked for almost 7 years as a recruiter/scheduler in a supplemental staffing agency, and our rule of thumb always was that if one of our staff found a facility and applied on their own (even if it was one of our clients), there was nothing we would do. However, if the staff member applied only after we had sent them, then we were talking temp-to-perm contracts or finders' fees. In my current position I have talked with 2 different agencies and it has happened both times, people that they send me have already applied. In those cases, I have told the agencies that we have already reviewed the resumes and would pursue the candidates independently of the agency. (One even sent a resume without the name on it, but I knew the resume was one I had already seen when the agency sent it.)

If the candidate truly does contact your company independently of the agency, there should be no issue and you should be able to treat the candidate as all others. However, if the candidate only found about about your company because of the follow-up questions you wanted the agency to ask, there is a definite issue there. Generally agencies will have new staff members sign a statement that they will not solicit work from anywhere the agency sends them without first advising the agency of their intentions. Your candidate may find himself in a legal battle if he is trying to by-pass the system. I would try to get an honest answer from the candidate about how he heard about your company before pursuing any further.

I like her answer better. 

I do not accept resumes with out names on it.  It is to hard to track if it had already been submitted to us or not.  Often times I would get the same resume from two or three different agencies within days of each other.  Having the name of the applicant was the easiest and quickest way to do a search to determine if it had already been received.

And you never had any serious push back from agencies?

No, never had any push back.  Most of the agencies I worked with included the information anyway.