Ask the Recruitment Consultant Anything

Astar1809

ATS systems will to a degree limit the impact on volume recruitment but as it stands I cannot see it having an impact on what I do or the technical recruitment side. In both of these markets there is not a large number of suitable people who could do the job and even less applying for roles or with contact details readily available.

At the more volume end of the market it will have a major impact on the permanent side of recruitment but in truth this is already a sector on its knees. The temporary side will continue to thrive as although these systems could find the candidates most companies do not want to be directly involved in the hire and having an agency helps separate them from being the employers (meaning they pay less net for them). IR35 will have a bigger impact than ATS systems in my opinion but lets see in April

Katapolt

Why do some agents feel like such hard work to deal with? It may be down to my area, but people across 3 agencies have done the below:

- Call me about a position i applied for, then advised me they'll put me forward but only if i explicitly take a pay cut (even though the advert was in my range)
- Been called up by an agent who has found a job they want to discuss with me, only to then be impossible to contact again! I call back and they're never available and they have replied to one email in 6 months! Why call me if they're then going off the grid? Is that normal? It feels like dangling a carrot and then snatching it away.
- And another one told me i should leave my secure full time of 2+yrs job to go into temp work while they try and find me something else permanent, and didn't want to work with me when i said id rather hold out for the right role.

Are these things normal? As a (desperate) job hunter its feeling demoralising constantly finding agents as a barrier not a support.

Gavin83

I think it's important to remember that recruitment consultants aren't there to find you a job, they're there to make themselves and their company money. If you're too difficult to place they won't wish to work with you.

It's also worth noting that a number of the above suggestions are great for the recruitment consultant (for example double fee for temp then perm placement) but not necessarily great for the job seeker.

Katapolt

Valid - Althoughi still cant understand why a consultant would contact me with a job, and then not reply to any calls or emails, or call back when i have left a message. Why call me and leave a message to talk with them, only to then never be available over MONTHS. Seems very strange.

an9i77

What do you actually do all day.. what does a typical day look like for you, what time do you start/finish, what activities are you doing...

Astar1809

Ghosting is the term you are looking for here, where someone initially shows interest but then goes missing for prolonged periods of time.

If you cannot get hold of a recruiter in a 48 hour period it usually (there are very rare exceptions) means one of three things, 1) They are no longer interested in you for some reason and as they are in a high pressure environment to make money, explaining to someone why they are not right does not seem a positive use of their time as no possible money will come from engaging with you again. 2) They have lost the role they were recruiting for so have nothing to speak to you about, again preferring to use the time they have on things that could yield money as in this industry if you are not billing enough your job is in jeopardy. or 3) There was no interest in you and they did not have a role and they were just looking to see if they could extract information form you about your current or previous employers.

I know this sounds cold and its really not my style but its just the reality of working in a high pressure environment where you need to earn the company money to justify your existence.


To address the other points it does sound like a bad or series of bad recruiters from the info provided, but remember these people do nothing you cannot do yourself, you can make direct contact with companies like they do and sell yourself, if they are bad eliminate them. A good recruiter should add value to the process not make it harder.

Astar1809

My day.....good question.

So I start "work" about 6am, about half hour after I wake up and check my emails, the truth is I cant really do anything about anything about them yet but it help me plan my day. This takes me about 15-20 mins then I move on to getting the kids up and ready for school.

Fast forward to 7.45am when I arrive at work, coffee 1st, I am useless without it. and I organise a loose plan consisting of who I need to call and roughly when, take a closer look at any applications I have had over night (rare now in the type of work I do) and then do a priority list of vacancies I need to work on based on urgency, relationship with the client and factoring in risk/reward thought process, I am going to sooner work on roles I am better equipped to fill and have a higher fee for me that one where the candidate pool is smaller and the fee smaller too.

I work just outside of London so although I spend a lot of my time calling and emailing prospective candidates my aim is to invite them out to lunch, or coffee to meet with them, to do this I need to make sure the role I have is relevant and has some tangible benefits for the candidate so its not a waste of both our time. these benefits can be working closer to home (a big one) flexible working hours, more money (my least favourite driver as it means they can be counter offered and all my work was for nothing) and many more.

I will find reasons to speak to my existing client base, be it a general catch up, congratulate them on a recent industry award, or even to directly speak to them about a candidate I have recently engaged with to "sell them in" explaining why I think they coul be a valuable asset for the business.

I oversee a small team so I spend time working with them, coaching and motivating when needed,but I have a good team I trust and they, in the main have the right balance of being short term money hungry and understanding the longer term plan of building relationships with clients.

From this activity I am often out of the office and as often the best people are currently working I need to make myself available to meet with them after work hours and close to their home (to make it least disruptive for them) . I am often asked to join meeting with prospective clients with member of my team too in and out of standard work hours.

I get home on a good day at 6pm, busier day closer to 8pm, this is one of the main reasons I have an agreement with my wife that I do no work on the weekends and spend time with her and the kids, it helps keep the balance right as otherwise I would get sucked into things.

Among all this I deal with any disputes that come into the business as my background before recruitment was a complaints manager so I am tasked with handling those queries for the business, I am a bit slack on making coffees for the team I need to get better at that and of course when you spend 10+ hours a day with the same people there is a few snippets of fun, joking about general gossip as you would soon go mad without some small breaks from having your nose on the grindstone.

an9i77

How often do you find someone takes the wrong job, or it doesn't work out from the client's side either? I had the horrible experience last year of being mis-sold a job and I put my trust in the recruiter but felt afterwards that they had distorted the truth about the role to get the appointment and all that lovely commission. I do take responsibility for not finding out more about the job myself but when I raised concerns during the recruitment process about whether it was right for me I felt I was pressured to go through with it. I ended up leaving after 3 months and being unemployed until I found another role.

I'm just wondering how common it is for either client or candidate to say the role is not working out a short time after starting, and how this makes you feel and how much responsibility you take for it. And whether you lose all your commission/ have to replace for free.

fewgroats

Freelance writer here. What's the best way of getting into journalism? Wary of "dodgy" courses.

Astar1809

It does happen but it happens less the more experienced I get. If you do the process correctly and understand the true reasons why someone is looking to leave (not just money) then you lessen the risk. In the roles i recruit for now I often offer 6 months sliding scale rebate, meaning in simple terms if they leave in the 1st month I give them all the money back, in month 2 80% back, month 3 60%, month 4 40% and so on till nothing. During all this I do offer a free replacement too.

I do know recruiters who think shorter term and just home the candidate stays for 3/4 moths so they do not have to give anything back (shorter rebate terms) but these are the ones chasing the shorter term money, I would like to work with the small pool of clients I have for the remainder of my career and I would jeopardise this if I tried to push square pegs into round holes.

On the second part of your question, the only time I get frustrated is if either party lie to me as the blame will always fall on me for any mis-truths. If a candidate tells me in detail the reason they are looking for a new role is to get away from a toxic boss, but then accept a counter offer to stay that is not fun. Likewise if a company tell me they are offering car allowance, flexible working and 10% non contribution pension but they produce an offer at the end of a 3 stage interview with non of this t also makes me look a liar and damages my reputation with candidates.