Job agencies Good, Bad, Ugly ????

RobertoMoir

Anthony_Blumski wrote: »

I have recently . .well last year . . been made redundant .
Its just now that i am seriously looking for employment after doing some training off my own back.

Lawks alordy dealing with agencies its just like a spaghetti western (one in particular). I have encountered the ( in reverse order)

• Ugly - where there wasn't an actual job but they seemed to need a quota of folk on their books
• Bad - they just didn't seem to have a clue , didn't give feedback or ask any relevant questions
• Good - Told me that my cv wasnt up to scratch . .and i must admit i agree.

Anyhow i was just wondering what other folk have experienced ?
I am now tending to apply directly via firms websites where possible . .but am obviously sticking with my GOOD just for the plain and simple fact that they wre honest and could be bothered to be honest.

There are exceptions to the rule (and some of those exceptions have worked very hard to get me a job!) of course, but as a rule I find employment agencies to contain the worst examples of people who would get thrown out of the used car sales industry for being far too dishonest for that noble trade.

I'm sure that will make any employment agency types wince and start to type an angry reply, but as I say, there are exceptions to that, and I'd also love to see someone who has been in the employment agency trade for longer than a month put their hand on their heart and say honestly that they've never heard of any shady goings on. Bet they can't... not honestly.

spiritus

sexki11en wrote: »

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

Stop digging a hole for yourself because you ain't doing yourself any favours !!

sexki11en wrote: »

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

SK x

That's a smoking gun right there !! If the job isn't available right now it means the vacancy doesn't exist at the time that you are advertising it. How on earth can you try to justify that ???

If you're advertising for a vacancy that "may" become available in the future but you don't make that clear in your advert then that is illegal.

Are you actually trying to differentiate between "roles" and vacancies ??
If you're saying the "roles do exist just not right now" then that means there is currently no vacant jobs to apply for.

sexki11en

spiritus wrote: »

Stop digging a hole for yourself because you ain't doing yourself any favours !!

If you're advertising for a vacancy that "may" become available in the future but you don't make that clear in your advert then that is illegal.

My ad's are VERY clear thank you. They all state we are always happy to hear from people with the following skills. I then state usual rates of pay for those roles. They are not available currently but it doesn't say they are and I can't have empty windows or no registered candidates.

Believe me, I know there are unscrupulous agencies out there - and a lot of them, but we are not one of them. And for reference, I have worked for my agency for 4 years and am the newest consultant!

SK x

AHZB

Well I am continuing the search for a position within IT.
I have spoken to a couple of agency folk that were very helpful indeed and applications are in with them so fingers crossed.

Maybe I should start a blog or something about the trials and tribulations of a job hunter.

Anyhow Good luck anyone and everyone that is seeking employment

cheers
Anthony

wontfallforit

So, I'm jobseeking at the moment. Already being employed, I'm being quite selective, but unfortunately I don't have bags of time on my hands, so I've applied for a couple of agency listings (all sourced through Reed). I've submitted my CV to the jobs I'm interested in, but haven't made my CV searchable (I find you get too many spam emails, dodgy work at home offers, and cold calls when you do that).

Some of the vacancies I've applied for are being handled by Reed directly, but most are being handled by other agencies (anyone else get frustrated when agencies list on agency job sites?)

Hays - brilliant. They have only been calling me regarding relevant roles, have secured me 3 interviews (one job obtained, 2 interviews yet to attend). They also corrected a rather embarrassing typo on my CV...d'oh!

Prime Time Recruitment - Just awful! Called me out of the blue, didn't mention the vacancy I actually applied for (I assume therefore it didn't actually exist!), and keep asking if they can put me forward for jobs that are lower-paid, further away, and of lower quality to what I already have!

Reed themselves - Lovely advisers, only calling me about relevant roles, but unfortunately one adviser (I don't know why I need two, as they both appear to be working in the same office!) has been putting me forward for brilliant jobs that are much too far away, distance wise, including one job that would've been perfect if it wasn't a 60-mile trip! (I have stipulated my max. travel distance, but that's been ignored).

Rullion - Keep contacting me about rubbish telesales roles (not entirely sure where they got my details from, as I haven't knowingly applied to one of their jobs), which I've stated that I'm not interested in. If I found myself out of work, it'd be another matter...but for now, I have a better job than telesales. If I wanted telesales, I would've applied!

I understand that the consultants have got targets to hit, and I feel for them in that way, but I wish they'd just cut the crap and get on with doing a proper job. I'm in sales, and one thing I don't do is create fake products to entice the customer!

AHZB

Muchos gracia amigo
A very useful review of some of the agencies