recruitment agencies

Mrs_Mac_1

Hello

can anyone shed any light on how recruitment agencies operate? I am looking for work and am somewhat puzzled as I keep submitting my cv and I rarely hear anything back. I know I meet all the criteria for the jobs as advertised. When I follow up with a phone call to them, the reception person usually just tells me that I have to wait for one of the staff to get in contact with me. Surely this is open to a bit of nepotism of sorts? Like if my "friend" worked in one of these recruitment agencies, they could "reserve" the "better" jobs for me so others would never get a look-in?

Just wondering what anyone else's experience has been.

Thanks in advance.

guiriman

Depends what level you're going for, the higher up the scale you are the less likely that there's any nepotism going on. Remember how they get paid, it's not by you so you're the product. If they put your CV forward and the company's not interested there's no money in it for the recruiter to phone you back, so in my experience usually they won't. Happened to me about five months ago, then a month ago I got a call that started with 'did my assistant get back to you about job x? No, I'm really sorry about that. Are you still looking? This job has come up'

At the end of the day they want to put forward a selection of suitable candidates so they get the job and can get future work from the same company, perhaps on an exclusive basis, so no advantage to them to leave off a good candidate due to favoritism. The only thing that may be likely is for them to push a candidate who works somewhere they have a good relationship with already, that way they get a chance at more commission when they recruit to replace the person that's moved.

I wouldn't put a lot of trust in what they say, but that's often the only way into a job so play nice!

RikM

Agents - not necessarily agencies - tend to express bias (from personal experience). They won't put forward a candidate that (in their opininon) will not get the job, or will make them look bad.
The trouble being, their opinion can be poorly formed.

I've seen this from both sides, as a candidate and during recruitment. The agency acts as a gatekeeper, and it probably results in some of the worst candidates being screened out, but it doesn't necessarily get you all the good candidates.

Good agencies (from a recruiter point of view) supply a string of potential candidates, any of whom could do the job. Good agencies (from a candidate point of view) always put you in for a job you believe you could do.

It's a bit of a difficult situation - the agency gets paid by results, by the recruiter. But they need a range of good candidates to put forward. If their reputation suffers, in either direction, they have a problem.

NineDeuce

Recruitment agents probably need to get CVs in order to fulfil their own criteria. An agent isnt going to look good without any, so probably brings a lot of people into the reckoning when they dont actually have a hope of getting a job.

Recruitment agents are only concerned about bringing money into their company. They will drop the employee/candidate and discard them however they like the moment that they realise there is no profit in them, so dont pledge any loyalty....

guiriman

RikM wrote: »

It's a bit of a difficult situation - the agency gets paid by results, by the recruiter. But they need a range of good candidates to put forward. If their reputation suffers, in either direction, they have a problem.

Yes and no in my experience. If an agency has a job that you want and has it exclusively then no matter what you think of them or how they've treated you in the past you will go through them (of course once you're on the other side you may never use them again). If multiple agencies have the role then of course you can pick (and it's often easy to recognise as the adverts appear on nijobs around the same time with the same wording)

RikM

guiriman wrote: »

Yes and no in my experience. If an agency has a job that you want and has it exclusively then no matter what you think of them or how they've treated you in the past you will go through them (of course once you're on the other side you may never use them again). If multiple agencies have the role then of course you can pick (and it's often easy to recognise as the adverts appear on nijobs around the same time with the same wording)

That's a difficult one. Apart from anything else, you may not know if an agency has an "exclusive" with an employer. If there is such a setup in place and "your" agency isn't a part of it, then you're not likely to get anywhere with the application, unless you go direct, or find the agency that has the deal.

Mrs_Mac_1

Thanks everyone, interesting comments so far. I'm really new to all this, and was wondering what the score is. I have been rearing family this past four/five years and am hoping to return to the world of work. I think something temporary and part-time through a recruitment agency may be the only way to go. Whilst I feel I have been VERY busy this past few years, I don't think employers will see it the same way !!!

thetope

In my experience, CVs need to be tailored to meet the criteria of the job advertisement that is being applied for. I have heard of some agencies doing this (sometimes badly) on behalf of their clients but I would expect that most don't. So if your CV isn't matching up exactly to the requirements of the job brief, you won't get an interview. That's certainly how my place works. E.g. if the ad says you need a driving licence and to have your own transport, you will not even be considered for interview if you haven't included that on the CV.

edit: by 'my place' I mean the company I work for, which isn't an agency but does occasionally place adverts for recruiting new staff

allianceinternational

As a professor and a corporate recruiting strategist, I can tell you that very few applicants truly understand the corporate recruiting process. Most people looking for a job approach it with little factual knowledge. That is a huge mistake. A superior approach is to instead analyze it carefully, because data can help you understand why so many applicants simply can’t land a job.

guiriman

allianceinternational wrote: »

As a professor and a corporate recruiting strategist, I can tell you that very few applicants truly understand the corporate recruiting process. Most people looking for a job approach it with little factual knowledge. That is a huge mistake. A superior approach is to instead analyze it carefully, because data can help you understand why so many applicants simply can’t land a job.

Any of your insight you'd care to share?

Mrs_Mac_1

allianceinternational wrote: »

As a professor and a corporate recruiting strategist, I can tell you that very few applicants truly understand the corporate recruiting process. Most people looking for a job approach it with little factual knowledge. That is a huge mistake. A superior approach is to instead analyze it carefully, because data can help you understand why so many applicants simply can’t land a job.

Interesting response, but I am not looking for a corporate job. The ones I am focusing on are routine public service administration posts. The same vacancies for the same locations are advertised regularly.

Allianceinternational - can you explain what you mean by "factual knowledge" and "analyze" - do you mean to research a company before applying?

Any info you would like to share would be most welcome.

Thank you.