A verbal agreement is worth about as much as the paper it's not written on. How many times have agents in the past agreed to things only for them to go back on things. While I agree it is wrong to go through the whole recruitment process with no intention of ever taking the job, I suspect that the agent is unaware of this. If he is unaware, then what we have is a person being offered the job, accepting it verbally, but then for whatever reason, having to decline the offer. It happens. His wife could have died, his legs could have fallen off or he simply got a better offer - any manner of his personal circumstances may have changed meaning that he wanted to decline the role. The agent cannot under these circumstances expect compensation. As for the end client they will simply pick the 2nd best person and Agent no2 becomes the winner! I bet the agent in question has been the winner when his candidate was picked when the No1 turned the job down - I bet he wasn't up for awarding compensation to the losing agent.
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