Registering with a job agency...

RedfordML

The pros and cons?














I have heard mixed reviews, some say agencies need to register a certain amount of people and when registered the job roles seem to have disappeared. Others get work quickly.


What are your experience's as this is an avenue I will possibly explore in the new year as I will being moving to a new (unknown) field.


Thanks

DKLS

Pros: Good RC's can open doors that would be shut to you
Bad: First and foremost they are sales people, once you understand that and some of their sector practices and tricks your fine.

Nicklt

I only ever use then for Contract/Consultant positions as the pay is more than if I was to be recruited by the employer direct.

Never use them for permanent positions, if you ask they right questions you can almost always find out who the company is they trying to fill a vacancy for and then apply direct.

I wouldn't say they have ever opened doors for me.

And of course they are sales people, I think some incredibly arrogant and somewhat ignorant to the position they are trying to fill. Many of them I find are straight out of Uni and have no real world knowledge of the sector they are trying to fill a position for.

What I do is quite specialist so I often smile when I see a 'Expert recruiter in XXXXX' when the sum total of the experience is a degree vaguely linked to what I do - for me that isn't experience.

Jordo

Look at the job boards and you'll see 90% of jobs are advertised by agencies - that tells you something.


If you know of a company you want to work for go to their website and see if they're recruiting, if not send your CV to them or speak to their HR and ask if you can register your details for future roles.


If applying through an agency and you match the role advertised the recruiter will call you ASAP, trust me. If not you might not get called and your CV will go on their database - once there the recruiters will match their vacancies with keywords on your CV and call or email you about jobs that come up in the future.

SeduLOUs

The crux of it is that the job of the agency is to fill a position for the client (the employer who pays), not to find you a job.

You are just a 'tool' they use to fill a gap so that they can bill a client. If you're the peg that fits the hole then great you've got a job. If you're not, then you'll never hear from them.

I don't think there's any harm whatsoever in being registered. A massive upside is that if you do happen to fit a role, the agency bill is almost always directly related to the rate of pay of the job, so it's in their interests to negotiate the best package possible for you as it means more £££ for them.

Many agencies will have staff who post 'fake' jobs to get people registered. The purpose is so that when a real role comes along they have a nice big pool of people/CVs to choose from, so they can get CVs over to the client in the shortest amount of time possible (as they are competing with other agencies).

chuckley

No Pros even though I've used them in the past. they're commission based parasites of the job market.

they're not interested in finding you a job. they don't work for you...

You're just a pawn in their game of chess.

Drop me out.

Lmh71365

Lots of very harsh reviews.

I work in the motor trade and use a motor trade specific recruitment agency. Fantastic doesn't even cover it. I've used them twice, last time I got 6 interviews and 6 subsequent offers. This time I just had my heart set on one particular place, asked my agency to get me in the door, they didn't have a vacancy but they pulled some strings... I had lunch with the general manager today and he's promoting someone and is giving me their old job! Now how could anybody argue they were helping the employer, not me? I wanted a particular job, and they got me it within a week.

SeduLOUs

Lmh71365 wrote: »

Lots of very harsh reviews.

I work in the motor trade and use a motor trade specific recruitment agency. Fantastic doesn't even cover it. I've used them twice, last time I got 6 interviews and 6 subsequent offers. This time I just had my heart set on one particular place, asked my agency to get me in the door, they didn't have a vacancy but they pulled some strings... I had lunch with the general manager today and he's promoting someone and is giving me their old job! Now how could anybody argue they were helping the employer, not me? I wanted a particular job, and they got me it within a week.

I presume you didn't pay him for his 'services'?

Where do you think the commission comes from then?

I suspect his 'pulling of strings' involved a successful cold call to the company in question. It's great if you just so happen to be the person who fits the role they are trying to fill, but it's highly unusual to get a lot of personal attention from an agency unless you're the one paying the bill.