Job agencies Good, Bad, Ugly ????

Mimi_Arc_en_ciel

andy46 wrote: »

Yes,but they are not surposed to are they ! Isn't it lllegal to advertise jobs that do not exist and how do they always get away with it ?

Easily . . how can you ACTUALLY prove the job was never there? they're so vague about the job . . example. .

ADVERT
Transport office Admin role located in Nottingham City Centre, 37.5 hours a week, £7ph, duties to include general admin duties, Answering the telephone, data entry, order processing and sales required. Experience prefered but not necessary.

^^ I could name about 50 office that COULD be looking for someone to fill that role, I was in recruitment for 5 years and not once did they ever get pulled up for advertising "jobs" - most of the time the temps did get work through us but there has to be a reason to get the temps through the door. (This also includes perm positions - which is what the OP was looking for)

hel1811

andy46 wrote: »

Well said - agencies just use people they are S**m in my opinion, Worse then those lying Estate agents

I work for an agency and as you describe I am one of the "!!!!!!". I think you will find like in any service industry there are good and bad!

spiritus

freefalling02 wrote: »

Hi.

I used to work in recruitment and like ellie101 says it can be sector specific. Can you say the type of role you are looking for?

Freefalling02,

Would you say that some agencies advertise jobs that do not exist or at least "mislead" candidates about vacancies ?

I am 99% sure some of them do and I don't know how they can get away with it.

spiritus

hel1811 wrote: »

I work for an agency and as you describe I am one of the "!!!!!!". I think you will find like in any service industry there are good and bad!

Don't be so hard on yourself-there are good and bad everywhere.

A few years ago I used agencies on a regular basis and they were brilliant. A number of consultants from different agencies appeared to devote a lot of time into trying to find work for me and I was very happy with the service I received from a number of different agencies.

However............the last two years has been completely different. The turnover within agencies must be pretty high because one day I'm talking to Jack (who acts like my best buddy) and then the next week someone else has taken over and asking me the same questions. There's no longer any rapport.

It's also very annoying when an agency asks me questions that I have already answered on my CV (sometimes a question I have answered in the conversation I'm already having with them ! ) Many of them do not listen
and you can sense the urgency in their voices (no matter how they try to veil it).

Many of them have that desperate air about them and are not dissimilar to double glazing salesmen with their sales patter and faux-friendliness.

When I register with a new agency, the consultants generally have all the time in the world to spend with me discussing my CV, my history and then moving onto small talk like families, football, TV etc. There's been many a time when I'd have to delicately curtail a registration meeting after it has over-run by over an hour due to the consultant seemingly having all the time in the world just to "chat" to me.

Why do consultants put so much emphasis on recruiting candidates for their books ? I am also convinced that some agencies advertise jobs that do not exist. Can anyone confirm this ?

cherry76

Just interested to know what percentage the agency takes as commission? My friend is being paid £10 an hr and she has just found out that the agency gets £130 a week. I told her it cannot be right? Thanks

GotToChange

I can absolutely confirm that some agencies "advertise" positions that don't exist.

Small agency in med. sized town, not part of a chain, has a "shop" with various positions stuck on their window on laminated card, half the positions are actually written in Polish so they aren't an option for me anyway (I DO NOT like not being able to understand an advert in my own country). Anyway, several Admin jobs and one H&S admin - all of which I could do. When I rang, I was told that they are contracts that are already "filled" and that they are to "get people to register interest". I queried what good that would do as I registered with them some time ago and had never been advised of these now non-existent positions anyway.

In case I had spoken to someone who had missed a large chunk of their training, I rang again and spoke to someone else who said the same; the jobs are so that their window isn't empty and these jobs are "filled" (translate to non-existent).

Short answer - yes, some agencies DO "advertise" non-existent jobs. I told them that I would be speaking to Trading Standards/ACAS as they must be in breach of something. I probably won't but I hope it gives them the wiggins.

spiritus

cherry76 wrote: »

Just interested to know what percentage the agency takes as commission? My friend is being paid £10 an hr and she has just found out that the agency gets £130 a week. I told her it cannot be right? Thanks

It cannot be right as agencies actually make MORE money than that.

I briefly temped in a purchase ledger department a few years back and saw the bills that came through from the agency I was working for.

The agency were making around £ 4 an hour profit on my work so based on a 37hr week it would work out at £ 148 a week however, I was earning a lot less than £ 10 an hour and I would imagine the agency are probably charging your friend's company at least £ 15 - £ 16 an hour.

Mimi_Arc_en_ciel

it depends on what they are charging - Usually a percentage of the wages to cover tax, N.I, holidays and then their profit

sexki11en

spiritus wrote: »

It cannot be right as agencies actually make MORE money than that.

I briefly temped in a purchase ledger department a few years back and saw the bills that came through from the agency I was working for.

The agency were making around £ 4 an hour profit on my work so based on a 37hr week it would work out at £ 148 a week however, I was earning a lot less than £ 10 an hour and I would imagine the agency are probably charging your friend's company at least £ 15 - £ 16 an hour.

Of course into your calculations you have factored in the holiday pay that has to come from that £4 profit as well as employers NI and payroll costs such as producing a payslip?

I will assume you were on around £8 per hour. From their "£4 profit" the agency would have to pay 97p (per hour) for your holiday pay and £1.02 per hour for the employers NI. In our agency, the payroll company charges us £5 to set up and pay a new employee and a charge per week per payslip. Then theres overheads like paying consultants, electric bills, telephone bills, rent, VAT etc etc......

So I think you'll find the actual realistic profit the agency were making per hour was closer to about £1.50 (if they were lucky!). It's a business you know - it can't be done for free and it's not like it's taken out of your wages!

Client tells agency how much per hour the candidate earns. Agency then apply a percentage charge on top. Simples. It doesn't mean your being paid less.

SK x

sexki11en

GotToChange wrote: »

I can absolutely confirm that some agencies "advertise" positions that don't exist.

Small agency in med. sized town, not part of a chain, has a "shop" with various positions stuck on their window on laminated card, half the positions are actually written in Polish so they aren't an option for me anyway (I DO NOT like not being able to understand an advert in my own country). Anyway, several Admin jobs and one H&S admin - all of which I could do. When I rang, I was told that they are contracts that are already "filled" and that they are to "get people to register interest". I queried what good that would do as I registered with them some time ago and had never been advised of these now non-existent positions anyway.

In case I had spoken to someone who had missed a large chunk of their training, I rang again and spoke to someone else who said the same; the jobs are so that their window isn't empty and these jobs are "filled" (translate to non-existent).

Short answer - yes, some agencies DO "advertise" non-existent jobs. I told them that I would be speaking to Trading Standards/ACAS as they must be in breach of something. I probably won't but I hope it gives them the wiggins.

Not that they don't exist, they just might not be available right now.

We have regular clients who sometimes need people, sometimes don't.

If we didn't regularly advertise for people for those roles (and they DO exist remember, just not available right now - theres every possiblility tho that in 10 minutes from now they could) then we'd have to tell the client, "sorry, we don't have anyone for you right now" Do you think the client would come to us again? No. Then there would be no jobs for you when you came to register!

SK x