Why Do Recruitment Companies...

lufcgirl

I'm a consultant and I have every candidate down for an interview with me prior to being put forward for any position.

Firstly I don't advertise or recruit for jobs that don't exist. It's counterproductive because I don't want candidates calling me constantly for an update on something that doesn't exist. I'm also an honest, transparent person.

Clients pay our company an awful lot of money to find the right person, so we need to stand out from the rest. Every candidate is interviewed face to face by me. A ten minute phone call isn't enough, it's a pre-screen as to if I think they're suitable and then they come in for interview. I don't register them with the agency and it really is to discuss the job in more detail and find out about them as a person. At the end of the day they are representing me, and I can't put someone forward on the basis of a phone call.
As well, if they show the commitment to show up to be interviewed with me first, they genuinely are interested in a role usually and so won't be one of the idiots who just don't show up.

I hear about agencies who don't even call candidates, they go on job boards, pick the first ten CV's and hope if they have enough mud it sticks. It's an awful, dishonest way of doing business both to their candidate and client.

dranzer01

Alex_NJ wrote: »

My housemate is a recruitment consultant.

His job initially was to call up as many people as possible and describe their dream job, purely to get their CV database filled up with fresh CV's.

Then when the real job does come up available they can find the best candidates.

Also, never ever tell a recruiter you are interviewing somewhere else, because he will send more of his own candidates down to compete with you to increase his chances of commission.

yeah realised this ages ago. My friend told me. He said how they will ask where else are you interviewing, whilst they are writing it down... then before you know it, they are calling them up saying 'can I represent you...'

I always lie about that now, random companies

dranzer01

Fireflyaway wrote: »

To get you to complete forms to add you to their database so they can try and convince you to apply for jobs that are not suited for you but will earn them commission.

Its all coming out now... Most of the things said in this thread ive had rough ideas about... Im definitely just going to outright say NO i cannot make it.

to be honest, why cant they fill out my information over the phone whilst im speaking to them? I mean logically...

But yeah thats definitely true

CCFC_80

lufcgirl wrote: »

I'm a consultant and I have every candidate down for an interview with me prior to being put forward for any position.

Firstly I don't advertise or recruit for jobs that don't exist. It's counterproductive because I don't want candidates calling me constantly for an update on something that doesn't exist. I'm also an honest, transparent person.

Clients pay our company an awful lot of money to find the right person, so we need to stand out from the rest. Every candidate is interviewed face to face by me. A ten minute phone call isn't enough, it's a pre-screen as to if I think they're suitable and then they come in for interview. I don't register them with the agency and it really is to discuss the job in more detail and find out about them as a person. At the end of the day they are representing me, and I can't put someone forward on the basis of a phone call.
As well, if they show the commitment to show up to be interviewed with me first, they genuinely are interested in a role usually and so won't be one of the idiots who just don't show up.

I hear about agencies who don't even call candidates, they go on job boards, pick the first ten CV's and hope if they have enough mud it sticks. It's an awful, dishonest way of doing business both to their candidate and client.

How come it makes such a big difference saying the same things to a candidate face to face as with a telephone interview??. They will be answering your same questions won't they?

dranzer01

I see it a waste of time whether you are employed or unemployed

going to physically see a recruiter is just a waste of time... You have my cv, you can see what I am capable of, just put my cv forward.

Slinky

The sort of jobs my OH goes for, he gets called into agencies, usually miles away from home. He has to go though otherwise he's not going to get put forward. The agency want to know what he looks like and that he's not going to reflect badly on the agency when they could have sent a more 'suitable' candidate they've already met.

lufcgirl

CCFC_80 wrote: »

How come it makes such a big difference saying the same things to a candidate face to face as with a telephone interview??. They will be answering your same questions won't they?

How do you know I'm saying exactly the same things?!

When I pre screen a candidate it consists of ten minutes of asking them why they're looking for work, what they're looking to do, see if they can actually engage with someone via telephone first.

I do high end permanent recruitment, not registering temps! When they come in for interview it's a lot more in depth about them as a person, ascertaining how they react to awkward questions, explaining employment gaps. I need to make sure that person is fully aware of the role, talk through any issues and I can depend on them to represent me as best as possible.

A prime example of why it works for me was when I pre screened a lady a few weeks ago, on paper and from speaking to her by telephone she seemed perfect for a role I had. When she came in to meet me, and I questioned her about previous employment her face twisted, she sat very unprofessionally, spoke about past employers very very badly and was generally very downbeat and didn't have anything positive to say. Needless to say, I couldn't put her forward. And if I hadn't met her I would've sent her CV and her representing my company would've been a disgrace to be honest.

lufcgirl

dranzer01 wrote: »

I see it a waste of time whether you are employed or unemployed

going to physically see a recruiter is just a waste of time... You have my cv, you can see what I am capable of, just put my cv forward.

A CV just lists your skills, not you as a person! If I judged everyone on their CV I'd have stacks of people to put forward. To be fair if you can't be bothered to put in the effort to meet a recruiter for half an hour to discuss things in more detail it's really indicative of if you're worth putting forward for the job. If someone said that to me, it'd make me ask myself if they can't be bothered to show up to this, would they even show up to interview?

makeyourdaddyproud

CCFC_80 wrote: »

Yes that's the main reason. Had a classic once when an agency wanted me to travel in 25 miles to register about a job enquiry.
When said why do I need to do that, he stated he wanted to see genuine ID documents and not scanned copies. I then said are you able to tell the difference between genuine Passports & forged ones and all of a sudden the conversation went quiet. Needless to say I ended up not registering.

Lol. You probably came over as being sarcastic and patronising. That's good, because they deserve it. I would do exactly the same if asked to come in, except I ask them the name of the company I make my travel expenses invoice to.

The line goes very quiet. White noise never sounded so good!

makeyourdaddyproud

lufcgirl wrote: »

A CV just lists your skills, not you as a person! If I judged everyone on their CV I'd have stacks of people to put forward. To be fair if you can't be bothered to put in the effort to meet a recruiter for half an hour to discuss things in more detail it's really indicative of if you're worth putting forward for the job. If someone said that to me, it'd make me ask myself if they can't be bothered to show up to this, would they even show up to interview?

So every single person you put forward you meet in person? I highly doubt that.

Sometimes it just isn't worth the effort to go to a recruitment agency. Since the decision maker is the hirer, not the agency. If you truly believe you cannot judge based on a CV then how do you arrive at who to invite in? Easy this one, it's based on what the CV says.

And even if I did come in for a chat, what is to stop me lying to you/using social engineering/employing self-promotional language to get that interview?