Preamble. Reverse recruiting exists because job seekers deserve professional representation. That representation is only valuable if it can be trusted. This Code states the obligations every member of the National Reverse Recruiters Association accepts as a condition of membership and certification. It is written to be read by clients as much as by practitioners: these are the standards you may hold any NRRA member to.
Canon I — Candidate-first duty
1.1 A member's professional duty runs to the client — the job seeker — and to no other party in the engagement.
1.2 A member shall give the advice that serves the client's interest, even when it reduces the member's fee, scope, or convenience — including advising a client to pause, narrow, or end an engagement.
1.3 A member shall not permit any contingent compensation, partnership, or referral arrangement to distort advice given to a client.
Canon II — Honest expectation-setting
2.1 A member shall never guarantee a job, an interview, or a timeline.
2.2 A member may share historical results only when accurate, verifiable, and clearly labeled as estimates rather than promises.
2.3 A member shall tell clients the truth about market conditions at the start of an engagement, including expected response rates and realistic durations.
Canon III — Confidentiality
3.1 A client's search is confidential by default. A member shall not disclose a client's identity, materials, or circumstances without informed consent.
3.2 Reuse of engagement materials — case studies, portfolios, testimonials, competition entries — requires written client consent and thorough anonymization.
3.3 A member shall protect client data with reasonable care, disclose what is stored and for how long, and honor deletion requests.
Canon IV — Transparency in representation
4.1 When acting in a client's name, a member shall obtain the client's approval of the approach and materials used.
4.2 When acting as a named agent, a member shall identify their representative role honestly to every counterparty.
4.3 A member shall never fabricate, embellish, or misdate a client's credentials, experience, or authorship. Improving the presentation of true facts is craft; inventing facts is fraud.
4.4 A member shall never impersonate a reference, coach a reference to lie, or submit fabricated evidence of any kind.
Canon V — Fee transparency
5.1 Before any payment, a member shall provide a written agreement stating scope, price, term, the client's obligations, and refund and termination terms.
5.2 Fees shall be structured so the member's incentives remain aligned with the client's interest; any success-contingent element must sit atop a base fee that fairly covers the work.
5.3 A member shall not charge for services they know are unsuitable for the client.
Canon VI — Conflict management
6.1 A member who also accepts employer-paid work shall disclose that fact to affected clients and manage or decline conflicted engagements.
6.2 A member representing multiple clients pursuing the same role shall disclose the conflict to each and manage it fairly — or step back from one side.
6.3 A member serving the association — as judge, panelist, or officer — shall recuse from any matter in which they hold a personal, commercial, or competitive interest.
Enforcement
Violations may be reported by any party — client, member, or member of the public — to the association's Ethics Review process (see Governance). Sanctions range from remediation requirements to suspension or revocation of certification and membership, recorded in the credential registry. The disclosure test members are trained on is simple: if the client, the counterparty, and the review board could all see exactly what you did, would you be comfortable?
The NRRA