Dealing with agencies....

G_Model101

Does anyone work for a recruitment agency? What is the best way to deal with them?
The only jobs I tend apply for online are through agencies who always want me to come in and register straight away and then try to arrange an interview which usually never happens after which i never hear from them again. Is it a waste of time going to register with an agency when you get the feeling that they just want you on the books and nothing more, is it worth forking out for a travelcard if you suspect this to be the case or is it a necessary evil?
Does anyone have any experience of the best way to use them, do they get annoyed with candidates phoning up and asking if they have any jobs or is this a sign of a candidate who wants to work?
Is it best to jump at the chance of an interview or give the impression that you are in demand and play hard to get?
Any ideas?

DKLS

I worked with agencies for over 12 years, and here's my take on it.

Not worth registering in January, as there is never many vacancies around.

Finding a good recruitment consultant is vital, keep in contact at least once a week, dont mess them about, be very clear what you want to do, where you will work, how far you will commute, salary expectations etc.

And try not to register with too many agencies at once, it can get embarrassing when 3 agencies submit 3 different CVs for a vacancy. :rotfl:

What sector are you in?, I can recommend some agencies.

MothballsWallet

Know how you feel - the other thing they do that annoys me is that when they email vacancies they'll say something like "south west" (that's Bristol to Land's End), "north west" (Manchester/Liverpool to the Borders), "south east" or "London" (well, which part of London - it's a capital city!).

The very generic locations, which they claim is for client confidentiality reasons.

ETA: I agree with DKLS, and it does help if your consultant will tell you who their client is when you speak to them so you can avoid being put forward to the same client by different agencies.

Reds-on-Sea

I've also done this - gone up to london to register with agencies, then...nothing!
What should I say when keeping in weekly contact? Is it best to phone or email? I'm in the creative sector.

Thanks

DKLS

Reds-on-Sea wrote: »

I've also done this - gone up to london to register with agencies, then...nothing!
What should I say when keeping in weekly contact? Is it best to phone or email? I'm in the creative sector.

Thanks

Which Part of the Creative sector are you?
I would say it depends on the Consultant, sometimes a weekly phone call was enough, others were happy with an email.

saver789_2

I've found that you have to hunt around for agencies that will actually listen to you. 80% of the ones I've spoken to just throw rubbish at you which isn't what you asked or are qualified for! I found the best bunch by submitting my CV onto employment websites and let the agencies approach me because they thought they had a real opportunity to offer me.

Reds-on-Sea

DKLS wrote: »

Which Part of the Creative sector are you?
I would say it depends on the Consultant, sometimes a weekly phone call was enough, others were happy with an email.

I'm a Creative Artworker, so along the lines of Graphic Design etc. These tend to be specialist agencies who only deal with creative jobs. I sign up for all the daily email alerts from websites & agencies and apply for jobs soon after I see them, but I always think that email alert jobs are just generic rubbish that they put out to pad out their books and make it sound like they're a busy agency. A couple of agencies in particular have been sending out the same jobs/descriptions for literally months! I could almost recite them word for word.

Drives me up the wall.

The agencies who I have a small amount of joy with tend to use email as their primary means of communication, so I guess I'll stick with that, but I'm still not really sure what to write....

"Hi, it's me again, I'm...er....still here here :rolleyes: got any jobs for me?"

DKLS

Reds-on-Sea have you tried contacting creative directors of design companies direct? I often find that Creative roles are found by word of mouth. I think it would be worth sending your CV out, especially if you have a link to your online portfolio.

In my previous role, I hired 5 graphic designers, all the ones selected for interview had good online portfolios which made selection much easier than CV alone.

Agencies can be good, but it can feel like working with the devil at times, a good recruitment consultant on your side is invaluable, but you will have to shift through a few numpties.

poker_face

Reds-on-Sea wrote: »

I'm a Creative Artworker, so along the lines of Graphic Design etc. These tend to be specialist agencies who only deal with creative jobs. I sign up for all the daily email alerts from websites & agencies and apply for jobs soon after I see them, but I always think that email alert jobs are just generic rubbish that they put out to pad out their books and make it sound like they're a busy agency. A couple of agencies in particular have been sending out the same jobs/descriptions for literally months! I could almost recite them word for word.

Drives me up the wall.

The agencies who I have a small amount of joy with tend to use email as their primary means of communication, so I guess I'll stick with that, but I'm still not really sure what to write....

"Hi, it's me again, I'm...er....still here here :rolleyes: got any jobs for me?"

It does seem like they are very reluctant to take off old jobs. I recon about half are either gone by the time you apply, or don't even exist sometimes.

Reds-on-Sea

poker_face wrote: »

It does seem like they are very reluctant to take off old jobs. I recon about half are either gone by the time you apply, or don't even exist sometimes.

There's one agency in particular, who are always coming up in totaljobs.com and design week email alerts with the same "generic" sounding job descriptions month after month. I go direct to their website and they have the same job listed 7 times.... I guess it's so they appear in these email alerts, but is it just a way of sounding busy so they get lots of people on their books to fill the 2 genuine vacancies they actually have! The descriptions are so vague maybe they can't get caught out for false advertising?

I'm almost finished on my own website/portfolio so hopefully that will bear me some great job-shaped fruit

eamon

Agencies perform a useful role and some are better than others. There are imho two types of agency, those that fill short term temporary roles (employment agencies) and recruitment agencies that earn their keep by helping employers fill permanent vancancies.
As Reds has mentioned beware of some agencies flooding job sites with multiple ads for the same job. Some years ago I reported one agency to fish4jobs as it was obvious what they were doing.
How you deal with your agencies will depend on your relationship with your contact. Also as others have said if your area of expertise is specialized then you need to research and join agencies that handle that area. Lastly if you know the firms you want to work for it can't do any harm to contact them and ask for the names of agencies that they use.
Good luck

Eamon