Getting past the Agencies

liney

andy46 wrote: »

We out of work folks would all be better off and find it easier to find employment if agencies did not exist.
Lets take a reality check here as agencies are only in it for themselves to make money for their consultants and finding people actual jobs comes as second priority. If an agency is not making any money then they will close down the branch in your local town. In my town 4 leading high street agencies have disappeared due to the economic situation.
If agencies did not exist then all employers would have to advertise their jobs through the local papers and jobcentre plus giving in my opinion everybody an equal chance to apply for jobs.

Lets take a reality check here as agencies are only in it for themselves to make money for their consultants and finding people actual jobs comes as second priority. By definition the agency makes money from finding people work - hardly a second priority. No placements (people in work) means no money.

If agencies did not exist then all employers would have to advertise their jobs through the local papers and jobcentre plus giving in my opinion everybody an equal chance to apply for jobs. Free Market. Just because a service exists doesn't mean people have to use it. Employers obviously value the service they are provided with, and the jobs are hardly kept secret. This takes up back to point one: Agencies want to place people in work, because they want to make money!

lufcgirl

As someone said earlier, you might think your suitable for a job yet an employer and/or agency might not.

Example - A girl has worked two years in a call centre, so she fills the necessary criteria for the post, hence applying for the job. So off she goes to the agency to register and she walks in in tracksuit bottoms, no regard for anything she's doing and generally just not acting bothered. Would you put this person forward for a job with the said company just because they filled the criteria? They'd think you were having a laugh! I've actually seen people walk in like this, thinking it's their God given right just because they've shown up that they should have the job there and then.

Again, if you get the initial rejection e-mail, which I have done...and I'm applying for jobs I could do when I was 18/19 years old. Maybe it's because there are actually better candidates out there. Someone whose CV is better, has more experience or is just generally more suited to the role.

Agencies are not bad, and I can imagine they have hundreds of people chasing up jobs every day...wouldn't you get behind a little sometimes?

CCFC_80

liney wrote: »

Lets take a reality check here as agencies are only in it for themselves to make money for their consultants and finding people actual jobs comes as second priority. By definition the agency makes money from finding people work - hardly a second priority. No placements (people in work) means no money.

If agencies did not exist then all employers would have to advertise their jobs through the local papers and jobcentre plus giving in my opinion everybody an equal chance to apply for jobs. Free Market. Just because a service exists doesn't mean people have to use it. Employers obviously value the service they are provided with, and the jobs are hardly kept secret. This takes up back to point one: Agencies want to place people in work, because they want to make money!

Point accepted regarding employers valuing their services, however these are the lazy employers who do not want to recruit themselves and would rather pay the agencies their huge extortionate introductory fees for taking someone on when they could give that fee initially to the employee if they recruited themselves, There is no guarantee whatsover that an agency would supply a higher class of candidate.
As mentioned in an earlier post the majority of employers wanting to recruit would not touch recruitment agencies with a bargepole.

secretspender_2

As if on cue, one of my warehouses phoned me at 7:48pm. Someone has not turned in for their shift, can I get someone else in?

I've tried for the last hour or so to get one of our other guys, most have not answered, 5 have said no and one told me p*ss off its Saturday night:rolleyes:

Andy, I appreciate what you see but an agency's monthly outgoings are paid by temps being out in jobs on a weekly basis in high numbers and placement fees from permanent jobs or temp to perm. I've sacrified my basic pay and no longer get commission or a bonus. I do the job because its a job.

Please do not tar all consultants with the same brush. Its a difficult time at the moment for everyone.

Strider590

lufcgirl wrote: »

Most were weeded out there as they couldn't answer competency based questions,

That is the kinda crap that REALLY annoys me!

These "consultants" have no bloody clue about the questions they're asking!

I apply for a technical electronics based role and they ask what ive done previously (which I talk about in great detail) and then to list what equipment I have used, but if I forget to mention for example "screwdriver" or "soldering iron" (despite having already mentioned electronic fault finding and repair to component level) then I don't tick all the stupid boxes and I dont get the interview!! They're idiots! they don't use their brains, they have no idea about the industry they're recruiting for and they don't understand the questions they ask!
Well.... the one's ive come across anyway.....

liney

andy46 wrote: »

Point accepted regarding employers valuing their services, however these are the lazy employers who do not want to recruit themselves and would rather pay the agencies their huge extortionate introductory fees for taking someone on when they could give that fee initially to the employee if they recruited themselves, There is no guarantee whatsover that an agency would supply a higher class of candidate.***
As mentioned in an earlier post the majority of employers wanting to recruit would not touch recruitment agencies with a bargepole.

'

*** No guarentee. But it does mean you save a fortune on advertising, don't have to sift or meet the unsuitable candidates, don't have to deal with referencing, proof of elegibility to work etc. And particularly now with 100's of candidates applying sometimes for 1 role it's not about being lazy as it really is cost effective when you take into account the time involved here.


I would be very interested to know where your statistics are to show that the majority of employers would not use an agency for any kind of role. Some examples: Education and Care are built on the back of Agencies. Manufacturing relys on temporary staff to ride the waves of supply and demand. Senior roles are often filled by Head Hunters. Call Centres are notorious for using Agency services, as are certain National Banking Institutes. Basic clerical roles very often require holiday cover as the business cannot function without it's front of house staff. The views of a few select individuals on MSE does not a convincing argument make. A huge amount of employers are obviously happy and using, or the recruitment industry would not be the size it is. Granted it has shrank this past 10 months or so, but so has pretty much every other industry.

CCFC_80

liney wrote: »

'

*** No guarentee. But it does mean you save a fortune on advertising, don't have to sift or meet the unsuitable candidates, don't have to deal with referencing, proof of elegibility to work etc. And particularly now with 100's of candidates applying sometimes for 1 role it's not about being lazy as it really is cost effective when you take into account the time involved here.


I would be very interested to know where your statistics are to show that the majority of employers would not use an agency for any kind of role. Some examples: Education and Care are built on the back of Agencies. Manufacturing relys on temporary staff to ride the waves of supply and demand. Senior roles are often filled by Head Hunters. Call Centres are notorious for using Agency services, as are certain National Banking Institutes. Basic clerical roles very often require holiday cover as the business cannot function without it's front of house staff. The views of a few select individuals on MSE does not a convincing argument make. A huge amount of employers are obviously happy and using, or the recruitment industry would not be the size it is. Granted it has shrank this past 10 months or so, but so has pretty much every other industry.

I am not that convinced that referencing is taken 100% seriously by agencies. With many of the eastern european community people on their books for temporary work, you cannot tell me that they are contacting their former employers in Poland,Rumania, Lithuania etc.
Also as for advertising fees it would be considerably cheaper to place a large advert in the local press or free at the job centre plus website then paying agencies introductory fees. it is also not rocket science to check that any potential employee is eligible to work in the uk. Also many of the job adverts in my local press do not want help from recruitment agencies to fill the vacancy hence the "no. agencies please" info on may of them

Louise22

andy46 wrote: »

I am not that convinced that referencing is taken 100% seriously by agencies. With many of the eastern european community people on their books for temporary work, you cannot tell me that they are contacting their former employers in Poland,Rumania, Lithuania etc.
Also as for advertising fees it would be considerably cheaper to place a large advert in the local press or free at the job centre plus website then paying agencies introductory fees. it is also not rocket science to check that any potential employee is eligible to work in the uk. Also many of the job adverts in my local press do not want help from recruitment agencies to fill the vacancy hence the "no. agencies please" info on may of them

Well said.

Out of the the literally dozens and dozens of jobs I have applied for from agencies, nothing has came from them - even although (and I can absolutely guarantee this) I have been more than qualified for the position. I got one telephone interview for a job that I could do with my eyes closed, and then never heard from the !!!!!!!! agency again. It takes two mins to type out an email to say "thanks but no thanks". Out of the ten or so jobs I have applied for that are directly from the company, I have already been offered two jobs, have three interviews coming up and am awaiting the outcome from another two. This just proves that the agencies are bull - how could i present myself well enough to pass these interviews (some of which were very tough I might add), but not even get a response from these agencies?

oh how the attitude of the agency staff changes when they find there is nothing in it for them. Fair enough, some people fail interviews, that is not the fault of agency staff, but what is their fault is dropping you like a hot potato and not even getting back to you with feedback when they promise they will. Like I have said in previous posts, it takes nothing to be courteous, and I dont wish to be general, but when EVERY SINGLE recruitment agent you have dealt with has been a t**t, its very easy to

MessyMare

Ok, I'm going to go against the grain here, and no, I don't work for an agency.

Of all of the (similar) jobs I have applied for, the one I applied for with the agency generated the interview, callback and actual job. The ones that I applied direct to the companies for...well. One took in the region of three months to reject me, another rang me on Thursday afternoon to offer me an interview for Friday morning (which I couldn't accept as I had the callback), and then told me they'd call with the second interview date. They didn't. I chased them- all to no avail. The other one that springs to mind called me to a recruitment day that was already full, then plonked me into a day that's in two months (reminds me, need to ring them and cancel that!)

So all in all, the agency (Jark Healthcare) gave me the best service, kept me the most up to date they could, and generally performed the best out of the companies I had applied to.

So I just wanted to say a big thank you to all the good agencies with hardworking staff Couldn't have asked for better service

ktsj2005

Im just about fed up with agents.

I sware this week has cemented my opinon that we would be a whole lot better off without them.

I got phoned mid week about a job opportunity .. yadda yadda everything go's well, i get asked for an interview. Half-way though the interview i get asked about skill's i don't posses, so truthfully i say that i have a limited understanding of the skills in question. Only for the interviewer to push my CV accross the desk and say "If you don't possess Skill XXX why does it say here on your cover note that you are extremely strong in XXX?" I peered at the piece of paper that was supposed to be my CV to find that the agent in question had edited my CV adding skills to it that i DO NOT POSSESS!!!

Not only that as the interview progresses further talks with the employer revealled that the job in no way shape or form resembled the job i thought i was applying for so the agent had also lied to get my bum in that seat.

I can see why the agent did it, i do possess 99.999% of the skills the employer needed and could do the job with my eye's closed, and even without the missing skills im a strong candidate for the position. However that is compleatly beside the point as i would never have taken a days holiday from my current job to interview for it, had i known the truth as it's not a job that i want.

Very very annoyed!! He's made me look like an idiot, ruining my credability should a suitable position come up in that company for me in the future.

I feel like i'm in a situation and a line of work, that if i don't use agent i don't get interviews? However on this occasion I can assure you i have taken the agents name and agency name and i will not be dealing with either again in the future.