Agency Cruelly Built My Hopes Up - And Shattered Them!

Truegho

I am literally shaking with anger and disgust at the moment, after suffering yet ANOTHER bad experience with an employment agency!

I applied through this agency for a Customer Service role in a local contact centre - which, according to the consultant who gave me a bulky registration pack to complete, was taking on "hundreds" of staff. Following the registration, this consultant then assured me that once my three-year work history had been verifined (e.g. references, gaps in employment etc), there shouldn't be any problem fixing a start date.

Well, the weeks went on, and on, and on . . . No word at all from this agency. Chased them up I don't know how many times. Said they were still waiting for the references blah blah. More weeks passed. They finally said they had the references but were now awaiting proof from DWP of my employment history gaps, which necessitated more waiting. Furthermore, they claimed that the employer had now put the start date back, not once, but twice. And then again! This immediately raised alarm bells in my mind as to whether or not this was a real job.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, I had to complain to the Area Manager in the end, as the ignorant consultant in this agency persistently IGNORED my emails for an update on my application, which enraged me as I cannot stand unprofessional ignorance from such companies. He looked into this, and naturally my hopes were raised that he would be able to ascertain what the problem was with this branch. Boy was I wrong!

All I got was a dirty big KICK in the face, because shortly after my complaint, this accursed agency rang me up to tell me that after taking everything into account, they were not putting me forward for the vacancy. When I asked why, they wouldn't tell me.

So after cruelly building my hopes all those weeks and causing me endless stress and frustration, they turn around and do this to me! It's funny that they suddenly decided to this right after my complaint to the Area Manager

What do YOU all think of this? Do I think I could be right in my assumption that they scrapped my application because I reported their office to the Area Manager? And do I have any rights here to take this complaint further?

I mean, this call centre was supposed to have hundreds of jobs, and even though I had all the necessary experience, this damned agency treated me like this. It is just disgusting!

nunnygirl

Didn't want to read and run

Agencies often suggest they have "hundreds" of jobs just to get people to sign up with them

PARIS_5000

Thats why I do not use agencies because they take the !!!! out of people looking for work and all they care about is their commission.

Call centre jobs are quite easy to get because they have a high turnover of staff so I am surprised that you had so many problems. I would forgot about the agencies and just contact the employers yourself.

Good luck

DVardysShadow

Truegho wrote: »

I am literally shaking with anger and disgust at the moment, after suffering yet ANOTHER bad experience with an employment agency!

....

Anyway, to cut a long story short, I had to complain to the Area Manager in the end, as the ignorant consultant in this agency persistently IGNORED my emails for an update on my application, which enraged me as I cannot stand unprofessional ignorance from such companies. He looked into this, and naturally my hopes were raised that he would be able to ascertain what the problem was with this branch. Boy was I wrong!

All I got was a dirty big KICK in the face, because shortly after my complaint, this accursed agency rang me up to tell me that after taking everything into account, they were not putting me forward for the vacancy. When I asked why, they wouldn't tell me.

So after cruelly building my hopes all those weeks and causing me endless stress and frustration, they turn around and do this to me! It's funny that they suddenly decided to this right after my complaint to the Area Manager

What do YOU all think of this?

Nobody owes you anything here.

You filled in an application and sent it in. That is the total of your losses, the time you spent on your application. But everyone knows that you have no rights to anything here. You took the risk to put in an application - do you have any rights to anything other than a rejection?

FATBALLZ

The lesson in this is that

a) pinning your hopes on one job advertised by an agency is ill-advised
b) complaining to the head guy at a recruitment agency won't help you, and will probably put you on the blacklist

Agencies are generally made up of school leavers with no qualifications who couldn't get a job doing anything else. Don't expect much (or anything) in the way of professionalism or comptence from them. They have one concern - commission. !!!!ing off one guy isn't something they are going to go all out to apologise or offer compo for. If you did get through to the area manager he would probably tell you to go !!!! yourself, that's how much this would bother him.

Use them, don't let them use you.

Vader123

I agree that no one owes you anything and there is no contract as such hence "my rights" are little.

If I am honest as well your tone in the post and your actions are well... a bit OTT.

Can I suggest you move on and put any energy into new jobs and chalk this one down to poor judgement and "eggs in one basket".

Vader

sexki11en

To be honest, with the attitude you've displayed in this post, I wouldn't have put you forward to my client either!

People think they can speak to their consultants any way they like - which is true - but what they fail to realise is that if you are rude to us (when lets face it, we're your link to that job) there is no way we'll risk putting you in front of our client and why would we want to help you?

I had to complain to the Area Manager in the end, as the ignorant consultant in this agency persistently IGNORED my emails for an update on my application, which enraged me as I cannot stand unprofessional ignorance from such companies.

You do realise don't you that agencies are getting literally hundreds of emails through a day at the moment? I'm currently running about 3 days behind in my e mails at the moment because i'm getting over 100 a day. Client and important ones are replied to immediately then everything else has to wait i'm afraid. It's not unprofessional ignorance as you call it, it's time management and prioritisation.

SK x

chuckley

for future reference, please note ALL recruitment agency staff LIE through their back teeth and post 'fake jobs'.

i disagree with u 'reporting' them tho, at the end of the day agencies are target based and need as many 'on the books through whatever means necessary'. the area manager is in it just as much as the staff. uno the saying '**** rolls downhill'.

refrain from using agencies in the future. they are a complete waste of time.

CCFC_80

sexki11en wrote: »

To be honest, with the attitude you've displayed in this post, I wouldn't have put you forward to my client either!

People think they can speak to their consultants any way they like - which is true - but what they fail to realise is that if you are rude to us (when lets face it, we're your link to that job) there is no way we'll risk putting you in front of our client and why would we want to help you?

I had to complain to the Area Manager in the end, as the ignorant consultant in this agency persistently IGNORED my emails for an update on my application, which enraged me as I cannot stand unprofessional ignorance from such companies.

You do realise don't you that agencies are getting literally hundreds of emails through a day at the moment? I'm currently running about 3 days behind in my e mails at the moment because i'm getting over 100 a day. Client and important ones are replied to immediately then everything else has to wait i'm afraid. It's not unprofessional ignorance as you call it, it's time management and prioritisation.

SK x

What people want from agencies after applying for jobs is a bit of courtesy and to be kept in the loop etc. Usually after attending an interview and you have been unsuccessful, agencies are very reluctant to get back to you if at all to tell them you haven't got the job.Completely sympathise with The O.P.

RedSoleShoes

With all due respect OP, I am not sure why are you so angry. This situation is no different to you applying direct to a company, who would definitely NOT give you regular updates on your application, in fact you are lucky if you receive a decline letter let alone an update email! In the same situation, would you be reporting the lack of updates to an area manager? I doubt it.

I am not sticking up for agencies here as I have had my fair share of issues with them but at the same time I do believe that candidates expect far too much from them in the way of updates or job 'guarantees' etc.

Take everything they say with a pinch of salt and don't pin your hopes on any role. I'm afraid agencies have little concern for you because candidates are far easier to come by than a paying client.

DCFC79

Agencies are a pain, ive applied for jobs advertised by agencies before and despite me chasing them up nothing happens

just move on from it and apply for more jobs each day, i reckon you could apply for 2 or 3 non agency jobs a day