Recruitment Agents = Rats

lcharm

---not all of them, there have been a couple of helpful ones but most are rats!

They can be friendly when you first call the completely ignore you afterwards, no follow up phone calls to discuss! My CV is pretty good and has got me interviews with some good companies in the past so not sure why these guys aren't doing their jobs properly.

My sister works in HR and she hates them with a passion and never uses them.

I've been applying to jobs that specifically ask for my academic background and experience to give myself a fighting chance because not as many people have that but it's tough even in niche markets

I've been trying to find the same jobs direct with the employers by running a few searches online and have been succssful a couple of times in finding the actual company but the agency job specs are quite cryptic.

No actual question here, just venting! Although any advice would be great.

TrickyWicky

The reason they don't call you back is because the jobs you've applied for don't exist. If you watch them carefully, you'll notice some of them repeatedly advertise the same jobs all your round - Office Angels seem to be very good at doing this.

When you confront them about it via annonymous email and threaten to get yuoir local MP involved for advertising false jobs (which then affect the government figures) you'll notice that job suddenly vanishes and pops up on another website instead or another very similar one turns up.

Why do they do it? They're paid commission for every placement to any real job they advertise. Therefore in order to maximise their chances of putting someone into a job they want as many people on their books as possible and thats why they'll advertise false jobs - as bait for records on their database.

lcharm

So that's illegal then? Because I heard estate agents post houses up that are no longer for sale etc... too

TrickyWicky

No idea on the legality of it but it must be skewing government statistics about the number of available jobs etc.

john539

They are pond life.

CCFC_80

TrickyWicky wrote: »

The reason they don't call you back is because the jobs you've applied for don't exist. If you watch them carefully, you'll notice some of them repeatedly advertise the same jobs all your round - Office Angels seem to be very good at doing this.

When you confront them about it via annonymous email and threaten to get yuoir local MP involved for advertising false jobs (which then affect the government figures) you'll notice that job suddenly vanishes and pops up on another website instead or another very similar one turns up.

Why do they do it? They're paid commission for every placement to any real job they advertise. Therefore in order to maximise their chances of putting someone into a job they want as many people on their books as possible and thats why they'll advertise false jobs - as bait for records on their database.

I have to agree with you that the agency that you have quoted is amongst the worst for advertising non existent jobs. They have been doing it for a while. Currently in my area they are advertising non existent jobs on CV Library and Totaljobs websites. When you apply they say they have nothing or they have gone, however they don't take them off the website. Its just a ploy for them to get in as many CV's possible for their marketing purposes.

TrickyWicky

CCFC_80 wrote: »

Currently in my area they are advertising non existent jobs on ...Totaljobs websites.

It's thanks to Office Angels that I rarely use totaljobs.com now. It's full of agencies all doing the same thing so I only look on totaljobs.com about once a week now. I used to respect totaljobs.com and now I think they're just as bad as the agencies themselves. Always sending me emails about training courses and "Excellent opportunities with these leading companies" (Iceland and other NMW employers - excellent opportunities? - really?).

IMO totaljobs have really gone down the pan from a year or two back.

RedSoleShoes

TrickyWicky wrote: »

It's thanks to Office Angels that I rarely use totaljobs.com now. It's full of agencies all doing the same thing so I only look on totaljobs.com about once a week now. I used to respect totaljobs.com and now I think they're just as bad as the agencies themselves. Always sending me emails about training courses and "Excellent opportunities with these leading companies" (Iceland and other NMW employers - excellent opportunities? - really?).

IMO totaljobs have really gone down the pan from a year or two back.

I COMPLETELY agree with you here about Total Jobs. This is literally the only site where I have never received a response to an application. I made my CV open to employers on this site and received a large number of spam emails within hours of doing this so I presume that viewing my CV is not restricted to employers (like I had been led to believe) on this site. I have now removed it and, luckily, I had very few 'personal' details on it.

Also agree with the opinions on the other posts regarding agencies. Never found a job worth keeping through an agency and only received grief really.

Herself

Wow, I must be naive because I had no clue this happens and I'm signed up to tons of recruiters. I'm finding more and more employers in my line of work are using them though so I don't have much choice

Baileycat

lcharm wrote: »

---not all of them, there have been a couple of helpful ones but most are rats!

That is completely uncalled for.




Rats are very clever, friendly and intelligent creatures, and don't deserve this kind of reputation.

Now pond life I'd agree with!

Evilm

Herself wrote: »

Wow, I must be naive because I had no clue this happens and I'm signed up to tons of recruiters. I'm finding more and more employers in my line of work are using them though so I don't have much choice

I've come across two recruiters I've had problems with out of about 20 over the years. For finance I don't have much choice as most companies in my area do not recruit direct.