Recruitment agent sales tactics and annoyances

sexki11en

piggeh wrote: »

Unfortuately I'm "only registered with one agency and I'm still waiting for them to put me forward for anything.."

(Quoted as an example I want to reply to)

And if they sit back on their laurels and don't try and find out who is recruiting in your area then they will never have anything to put you forward for will they?

Agencies can't win.

All I would advise is don't tar them all with the same brush. Sure, there are far more shady ones out there than reputable ones but there ARE reputable ones. I should know - I work for one.

We have stopped actively recruiting right now because we have very little to offer new candidates right now. However, if I come across a good candidate that I believe is markatable to one of the companies we have dealt with in the past, I will call them - explain I don't have anything right now and invite them in to have a chat about who I might be able to submit them to. I will still never give out company names until I am convinced they are interested in and more importantly suitable for the role and the client. Does this mean the job doesn't exist?

When CV's are coming through, of course I will scout through them to see if any were through agency and of course I will then call that company as I know they already use agencies so why not use me? If I didn't do that, we would never have any jobs then you'd all be complaining because we do nothing to help you. Will you ever be satisfied? People have an image of a recruitment consultant sitting filing their nails until the phone rings with a job but sadly (very sadly) it doesn't work like that. We have to work dammned hard to make sure we have jobs to give to people like you. Quite frankly, sometimes I wonder why we bother. Yes, the money can be good - but this is not a job anyone can be in for long if they aren't in it for the right reasons as you wouldn't last 5 minutes if you didn't give good service to both clients AND candidates. Yes clients are important, but without candidates, your business is nothing. Some of us DO appreciate that you know (for the record, i've worked for my current company for 4 years and we still deal with candidates and clients from when we opened our doors 10 years ago)

SK x

SandC

Oh yes, there are SK, but these are the ones we sign up to cos we know of them by reputation and asking around to find out which companies they tend to represent.

The good ones don't need to use shady tactics.

Although I have found that if they've placed in you in a position and you decide it's time to move on they are reluctant to help even though they say they will as they ultimately have the employer's best interests at heart and not the job searching client. That's understandable I guess but sometimes it's like they treat you fabulously and other times virtually ignore you.

Grumblogger

Agents earn money by selling candidates to employers. It is the employer, not candidate, that pays, the same as with estate agents who work for sellers, not buyers.
To be successful, an agent needs 1) to know who is currently employing and 2) to be able to contact the employer and IMMEDIATELY offer him the right candidate from his own candidate pool. Hence the larger the pool, the better.

What is more important for an employer in the current economic climate - employer or candidate ? You know the answer. Plenty of candidates but job openings are in short supply. Many if not most of the agents will tell you any lie only to extract the info they need from you: who is currently recruiting.

The tactic you can use: I promised to keep this information confidential. When an agent sends your info to a potential employer or arranges an interview, he/she will strongly insist that you keep this information confidential. Do so. They will ask you about some hints - what sector it is or what postcode. Resist. If they are not complete crap and do have a vacancy, they will work with you as long as you are a suitable candidate. Alternatively, promise to tell them the info they need but only after they have arranged an interview for you.

I am not sure whether this would be ethical, but I could name- post here or pm - the best and the worst agent (IT agencies) from my list. The former was very competent, had a genuine vacancy, quickly put me forward for an interview and did not even ask me for the list of companies I had interviews with.

The latter is the most remarkable of crap in perfection. He would speak with you in a very friendly manner asking about your past experience and if you happen to be an expert in technology A, have worked in sector B and would like to work in location C, he will say that he has a position in a sector B company that needs a specialist in technology A and is accidentally located in C. He would email you the job spec and will send you for an interview in a couple of days. By the way, what companies have you had an interview with ?
He will continue ringing you up after a week, months and years, politely asking for situation update and also the list of the companies you had interview with. And if you are employed, whether you are currently recruiting. He will ignore your requests to leave you alone and never ever contact you and if you set up an email filter to bounce his emails he would use other addresses to reach you.

While the former agent is from my personal preference list, the latter is a favourite of not only myself but my friends and former colleagues as well. He and his likes seriously shattered my faith in humanity.:D

tgon

Certainly is a poor state of affairs. I'm now entering my 6th month unemployed following redundancy and learnt to take agency interest in me with a great deal of scepticism. I'm past the point of frustration. I'm a commodity in their market but I'm polite because I need their help, for the most part. Unfair, yeah.. but hey... Its a lean market and we are all suffering. I find local agencies (i.e. the ones who actually don't withhold their phone number!) much better... but the struggle, for and with agencies, companies and for me, continues.

jopwo_87

This is an interesting thread.
Im currently looking for a job and obviously registering with different agenices etc. All of them sound interested, take my CV, promise to ring etc then never do!
One agency in particular (dont know if im allowed to name them?) who i did a months worth of work for last year sends me texts offering me a chance to apply for suitable jobs in my area that the consultant thinks is of interest to me. I always ring back straight away and ask to apply and they consultant will tell me he will let me know in X amount of days and of course he never does!

Another annoying experience i had with them was i did as above, but this time i got a call back telling me i had the job and was to start the next day at 8am sharp. Brilliant, thinks me!!! Until about 6pm when i get an email (not even a phone call) telling me not to bother as the start date had been delayed. I ring first thing next morning and was told that it would be in two days. Of course two days came and went and i never heard from them about that job since.

I have sent countless emails and even phoned them but of course they never ring back. They were so quick when they wanted me to do my first job for them as someone else had let them down 24 hours before due to start. They couldnt do enough for me. As soon as i had done what they wanted, they just left me to it and didn't bother with me.

Recruitment agencies are scum as far as im concerned. They should never treat people like that. When i do a job search now i walways tick the box that says "do not include agency jobs" which brings up less jobs but at least you know you have a higher chance of getting a response from them!

piggeh

sexki11en wrote: »

(Quoted as an example I want to reply to)

And if they sit back on their laurels and don't try and find out who is recruiting in your area then they will never have anything to put you forward for will they?

Agencies can't win.

All I would advise is don't tar them all with the same brush. Sure, there are far more shady ones out there than reputable ones but there ARE reputable ones. I should know - I work for one.

We have stopped actively recruiting right now because we have very little to offer new candidates right now. However, if I come across a good candidate that I believe is markatable to one of the companies we have dealt with in the past, I will call them - explain I don't have anything right now and invite them in to have a chat about who I might be able to submit them to. I will still never give out company names until I am convinced they are interested in and more importantly suitable for the role and the client. Does this mean the job doesn't exist?

When CV's are coming through, of course I will scout through them to see if any were through agency and of course I will then call that company as I know they already use agencies so why not use me? If I didn't do that, we would never have any jobs then you'd all be complaining because we do nothing to help you. Will you ever be satisfied? People have an image of a recruitment consultant sitting filing their nails until the phone rings with a job but sadly (very sadly) it doesn't work like that. We have to work dammned hard to make sure we have jobs to give to people like you. Quite frankly, sometimes I wonder why we bother. Yes, the money can be good - but this is not a job anyone can be in for long if they aren't in it for the right reasons as you wouldn't last 5 minutes if you didn't give good service to both clients AND candidates. Yes clients are important, but without candidates, your business is nothing. Some of us DO appreciate that you know (for the record, i've worked for my current company for 4 years and we still deal with candidates and clients from when we opened our doors 10 years ago)

SK x

Thanks for the interesting take on things.

I'm sure some agency staff do work hard, not denying that, I've sat in agencies whilst waiting to be registered and seen them doing pretty monotonous boring work phoning up random companies to ask if they have anything available, or selling their services for jobs tthey've seen advertised. I wouldn't like to do that all day.

However from a client POV it always seems to be all give and little payback. They are always very quick to ask for information about who I've been to interviews for, or jobs I've applied for, then you do not hear from them again. How is it to the client's benefit to do so? It doesn't curry favour with the agency. Then there's others who simply refuse to put you forward for jobs you're qualified for or you see jobs advertised for jobs in your profession by agencies you've registered with, but no calls from agencies as to whether you're interested.

I've sat in some agencies who have asked about industries I'm interested in working in, where they could market my details etc. Then there are others who get you to take several ms office tests and you never hear from again (despite passing with ease). They do not really give you any feedback on roles either. All the personal service is with the clients and not with the job seekers. We are as much customers as the clients, there should be a more even balance in service. Of course the balance of power isn't with the job seekers, so they can be treated like crap if agencies so wish.

Maybe we should all demand our 'agents' to perform better, or we wish to have our details removed. In fact I may try it with some of the crappy ones next week, could be interesting, "Dear x find me 3 positions you're putting me forward for by the end of March or remove my details..etc" - there's so many out there these days that getting removed from a few wont make much difference Would be interesting to see the response. I would imagine if an employer done likewise they would bend over backwards to please them.

CCFC_80

I get annoyed with agencies when you first register with them because usually the consultants you see are full of S**T !

E.g the last agency I registered for, the temp consultant said On the day I registered "If we get anything in this afternoon are you available Immediately" I reply yes of course and so building up your hopes unnecessary. Never ever hear from thenm again and when you ask if there is any kind of temp work available they bulls**t you and say they will let you know immediately if there is any(Yeh right !). If the consultant is not there, they never return your calls or e-mails. Many of them also brag that they like my CV and think it may be of interest to local employers and can they send it off to them. I do not really get this as I have a better knowledge of local employers who may want to recruit me in my line of work then they do So I feel I have more chance of finding work with local employers by sending my own CV thus avoiding agencies introductory charges for the employer.
Also if you do want to find work through employment agencies you have to keep chasing them on a regular basis as If you do not hear anything from them after registering with them in your first week-you will never hear from them.

PasturesNew

I'd say "I'll tell you all the names/contacts ... once you've placed me in a job".

koolcat

Hi sexki11en and all. Im not saying that all the agents are this way but I wish they would not use un-ethincal methods to prive information from you and potentially could loose your job oppertunity that you been for a interview for recently. Unfortunately these people create a stereotype of all agents.

Unfortunetely as of late I have been extra cautions when receiving withheld numbers and treat these with more caution. Also have pen and paper ready to note the name and agenty name when they call so that I can call them back.

sexki11en

piggeh wrote: »

Then there's others who simply refuse to put you forward for jobs you're qualified for or you see jobs advertised for jobs in your profession by agencies you've registered with, but no calls from agencies as to whether you're interested.

Now see this is what a lot of people don't understand. When we get a job from a client, more than likely we've sat down with them and talked at length about the person and experience they are looking for (or if we're any good we have!). You may think your perfectly qualified for the job but if we agreed, trust me we'd put you forward. If we didn't, theres 10 agencies round the corner who will and we don't want to loose you to them! When your looking for a job (and i've been there) you don't see the whole picture, you just think 'I could do that' and you may be able to but what we have to look at is who is the best person to do that? And in a market where you get hundreds of applicants - it's tough to be one of the 2 or 3 that get put forward. Theres no point in us putting 10-20 people forward for one job - the reason companies use us is so we present the best 2 or 3 to save their time.

piggeh wrote: »

They do not really give you any feedback on roles either.

Most times that is down to lack of client feedback. If they don't tell us why, what are we supposed to tell you? As an example, I have a client who I sent 5 CV's to on Friday 7th March. Despite me calling and emailing that client every day since, I have heard nothing back. This is despite the client giving the roles and job specs to me. What am I supposed to do?

piggeh wrote: »

Maybe we should all demand our 'agents' to perform better, or we wish to have our details removed. In fact I may try it with some of the crappy ones next week, could be interesting, "Dear x find me 3 positions you're putting me forward for by the end of March or remove my details..etc" - there's so many out there these days that getting removed from a few wont make much difference Would be interesting to see the response.

You would be removed. Most agencies at the moment don't HAVE 3 jobs to put you forward for. I currently have none. Not one. If my candidates emailed me and gave me ultimatums like that - of course I'd remove them. I even had one candidate call and tell me I wasn't working hard enough for her! My first thought? (ok, second thought) was 'if she talks to someone trying to help her like that, how will she talk to my clients when things aren't going her way'? Result? Candidate now blacklisted and marked Do Not Use. We can be picky - it IS a market for it right now. I don't need to be spoken to like that and I will not be spoken to like that. I'm working my hardest and doing my job the best I can in an impossible market. The last 2 weeks of the financial year are never good under any circumstances but right now...... We can only pray that companies GET recruitment budgets come April.

SK x