Ask the Recruitment Consultant Anything

an9i77

How important is longevity in roles/ stability on a CV when you are deciding who to put forward for (perm) jobs. Does it look really bad to leave an employer quickly, and what would you say is the minimum amount of time to stay with each employer without looking flighty?

Astar1809

Typically fees will be between 10% - 20% of the candidates annual salary for a permanent placement, this year I have charged as low as £6000 for a placement and as high as £20,000, but the figure will change from person to person but the percentage will stay mostly in 10-20% region.

On the temp side we do have a clause saying any re-interaction with the client within 6 months needs to be via us and if a company wants to employ them directly within 6 months of the final day contracting we will charge a fee, usually reduced as we have already charged a margin on the temp booking.

Astar1809

Unfortunately people in the industry do feel the need to post fake adverts but its not as common as is claimed.

I worked with an agency previously who would post an advert and fill the role within an hour but the system they used to post the advert would take 24 hours to remove the advert, meaning we would have many people apply and call about the role only to be told it was filled.

I have also seen recruiters claim the job is filled when in truth the client has pulled the position or changed the details and the recruiter feels the need to save face and say its filled rather than blame the client.

From what I see less that 5% of adverts are "fake", if you were wondering what could be archived from this, it is usually because the recruiter knows of a role with a company but needs to present a excellent candidate for the role in order to start working with that company, not ethical or nice but the product of a commission based money focused industry.

Astar1809

It is Subjective but in the senior management/directorship type of recruitment I do now it is next to pointless. It is also next to pointless in most technical roles I have recruited, with the only positive being able to add or remove "fluff" from the personal statement to get the remaining information to fit better on the pages giving the CV a better look.

I do see the benefit in personal statements in entry level roles as it is a chance to separate yourself from the 100's of CVs likely to be applying for the role.

Instead of a personal statement though I far prefer using the career history or experience part of the CV to express person traits. for example;

Instead of "Answering the phone" putting "Being the link between new telephone clients and our existing customers to the relevant accounts teams, this meant to the business the right calls were being transferred to the right people saving time & money as well as giving the customer the best experience possible" The second one lets an employer know you have customer service skills and are commercially aware in a way that they will read and take on board, just putting you have strong customer service skills and are commercially aware in a personal statement are less powerful without the examples showing the cause/effect you can positively have on the business.

Astar1809

2 thirds of my placements starts with identifying a suitable pool of people from LinkedIn, the largest chunk of the money my business spends on tools goes towards LinkedIn recruiter, a version where I can contact people without being a connection to them.

It will though hugely depend on the sector you work in and the level you are at, usually the more senior or experienced you are the more Linkedin will be useful to the job seeker.

Astar1809

RE Longevity, it does play a huge part.

An employer often pays a recruiter thousands of pounds if they select a candidate from a recruiter and only get a rebate period (time window where all or some of the money goes back) up to three months. On top of the recruitment fee's the employer will often spend other resources such as other team members time and loss of productivity to help bring the new employee up to speed.

So taking this into account a hiring manager will have to weigh up the "risk" of someone who has shown they regularly do not last long in previous roles. being able to explain these job hops in a way that puts the company at ease goes someway but it cannot be denied a strong and stable working history is one of the things that makes a candidate most attractive to employers.

In terms of what time frame to stay, its a tough one as I would never push someone to stay if they were unhappy but the general unspoken rules is if you have had more majority of jobs where you have stayed less than a year you are seen as high risk.

Astar1809

I took a 6 hour round trip on Saturday to meet a group of friends to finalise plans for my stag do next year and Sunday I took my two kids to the park to go blackberry picking and did a woodland scavenger hunt, lifting rocks and leaves to find all kinds of creepy crawlies.

Monday to Friday I leave the house before the kids wake and only get back for the last hour before bedtime and that is packed with dinner, baths, homework, reading etc. because of this I have a deal with the wife to be that I turn off all phones/tablets at the weekend and focus on family. Sorry for the delay though Les.

an9i77

OK, so looking after a year is not so bad? I took a role last year that turned out to be completely wrong and left after 3 months, then took another role as a port in a storm due to being unemployed and needing an income, which whilst not terrible I do not see a future with. I've been there 8 months, and thinking of looking again after I've been there a year for something more suited. My previous career history is stable (4 years, 2 years, 2 years in roles).

Astar1809

It does not sound too bad and a good explanation and decent cover letter or recruiter can ease any concerns. Just remember DO NOT say anything derogatory about the previous work place, just explain why either the role or culture of the business was not expected and how it has been a great experience for you in the future to ensure the next role you take will be the right one for you long term. Being positive makes you look positive, being negative (even if they were cowboys and the worst place to work on earth) makes you look negative, first impression count massively.

Jarviscocker

What do you think of the consultants fresh out of uni?