Recruitment Consultants! Aaargh!!!!!

Raquela

Potential_Advisor wrote: »

That sounds about par for the course Raquela, (nice name by the way). I was a bit worried when I started this thread, and the first reply/comment was posted, thought I had maybe mis-judged it and it really was just me who had several bad experiences with RC's but it would seem not, thank you for your posts so far everyone, it seems the Recruitment sector has a lot to do in terms of customer service, or perhaps that should be candidate service..

That's the thing, it was driven home to me during that hateful phone grilling by the Hayes consultant, that the job seeker is not the client, the company who wants (or in most cases judging from phone calls I used to field, doesn't want!!) a temp or a new employee who is the customer, hence why a lot of them treat job seekers very badly. Too bad they can't remember that if they don't treat job seekers well they won't actually be able to supply their customer with their wants.

Mrs_Ryan

What annoys me is the ones who dont listen. I had the misfortune to have a conversation with the rudest one ever once. She was grilling me about why I left my permanent job at Abbey for a succession of temp jobs. I explained I had been made redundant when Santander took over and closed not only our call centre but the next nearest one in Warrington as well.
She just looked patronisingly at me and said 'Yes, well, why did you leave then?'
Sheesh. I've been with loads of agencies all over the country and only 2 have stood out as being particularly helpful - one lovely lovely lady at one agency in Loughborough who went out of her way to help me (she even rang my home answerphone and left detailed directions for me for an interview when I had to go into hospital for a very minor day case op, then rang me a couple of days later to check I was ok and I had got the directions - bless her) and another lady at an agency in Nottingham who was lovely as well - but everything was just a formality there.
My best mate is a specialist recruitment consultant and her workload sounds like a nightmare...

secretspender_2

Unfortunately the companies we act for are our clients, so they have to come first and we have to bend over backwards for them.

I don't like my job, I cry most nights at home and I desperately want a 9-5 office job where I can fade into the background and get on with things.

Please don't tar us all with the same brush! x

venus_in_furs

secretspender wrote: »

Unfortunately the companies we act for are our clients, so they have to come first and we have to bend over backwards for them.

I don't like my job, I cry most nights at home and I desperately want a 9-5 office job where I can fade into the background and get on with things.

Please don't tar us all with the same brush! x

You really should look for another job fast!! You can't spend your life being so miserable!! Its a waste of life! Not everyone hates ALL recruitment consultants (I've had a few lovely ones) just the odd few who are rude let the side down. I bet you are one on the lovely ones anyway

Giulliana

I'll never forget the entire day I spent trying to work out the public transport route to a job location. I was assured it existed by the agency woman. Phone calls, emails, hours scouring the internet to no avail, the conclusion of my first two minutes research had been correct, it was not possible to get there without your own transport.

However it did explain why the job kept being re advertised.

lufcgirl

So far this thread has been a very one-sided view on it so I'll do the other!

Recruitment Consultants are employed to put people into jobs. Therefore they make their bonuses by doing this. They get a criteria from an employer, such as the applicant must have x, y and z to get put forward. And they only want so many applications forwarding to them. Some people may have one or two of those and feel because of that they're a certainty for the job and should be put forward. However it's the agency that gets it in the backside if they are sending candidates forward that aren't suitable for the role and not what the client wants. So they cancel their contract with that agency and move onto another.

Agency's forward applications to employers, it's then the employer who decides if the candidate should be interviewed, not the agency. So it's not their fault if the employer finds you not suitable. Usually they don't find out why you were unsuccessful and due to the volume of applications can't call everyone back.

I'm very biased as my little sister works for one of the big ones. She worked (before it closed down and was transferred) in a small town in an office with two people in it. They put jobs on loads of websites and get hundreds of applications for each. How are they meant to go through every single application with a deadline in mind? They don't really read covering letters, they look at CV's for the key skills, if you have them all you'll get a call and if not they don't reply. If you don't like forwarding your CV on then pop in the agency with your CV and ask for an informal chat about the role. Most people expect to just send off a CV and magically have a job at the end of it.

I've not once yet encountered a rude consultant in six years of using them. Maybe if people don't go in with the attitude they appear to have on the forum you might get a lot further with them.

Troubled_Joe

I worked as a recruitment consultant for around 10 months in 2003/4 straight out of uni. It was allegedly an "executive search and selection" agency based in London.

Anyway, I found it unbearable and soul-destroying and I hated all but a couple of the people I worked with. I was under constant pressure to badger companies through cold-calling and lie to get through to senior recruiters and to put people forward for jobs they had no chance of getting.

I'm sure that there are good recruiters out there but unfortunately I didn't come accross any in my time in the industry and I realised I wasn't cut out for a career in sales (which is vast majority of a consultant's job).

I left and qualified as a solicitor a couple of years ago.

medini

I have used recruitmnet agencys to help with my jobsearch as I am happy to do temp work until something good and full time comes along. I have been lied to ab out length of contract and reason for contract being ended (I was told that I personaly was being let go for making mistakes and had been warned on several occasions despite none of these so called mistakes ever being mentioned to me), only to find out a few weeks later that all of the temps had been let go to cut costs), and had paperwork frequently lost by them.

I think the two main problems with RCs are 1) Its target driven so they are encouraged to do or say anything to meet targets regardles of who they trample on the way, and 2) I get the impression that a lot of them are quite young, recent graduates or people who havent had much experiance of the workplace outside of working for an agency. Beacause of this they sometimes make stupid choices (getting rid of people based on appearance), and are unable to empathise with job seekers.

secretspender_2

Trust me, I am looking for a new job. But it is soooo hard, there is not a lot about.

venus_in_furs

secretspender wrote: »

Trust me, I am looking for a new job. But it is soooo hard, there is not a lot about.

Tell me about it, I've been unemployed for over half a year...just about getting somewhere now as waiting for a job to start but its a hard struggle for everyone. You have the benefit of already being employed..a much more attractive proposition!! Good luck searching for something else...i'm sure you will be outta there soon x