Ask the Recruitment Consultant Anything

Astar1809

spectrumTM6 wrote: »

How much time companies will take to finalize the candidate?

This varies and is no set answer, there will be a correlation between length of decision making process and level of seniority within the business to a degree but there is no answer to this that will be true in all cases. Sorry I could not give you a better answer.

Astar1809

Deleted%20User wrote: »

In general practice, would a recruitment consultant ever tell someone 'you've submitted their CV' when you haven't?

Couple of months ago, I sent my CV via an online recuitment firm for a company I'd previously worked at, (years ago) getting a response back that my CV had been forwarded and I would definately receive a guaranteed further reply whether I had been successful or unsuccessful. Sadly this never happened either way.

It did turn out when I looked into the online recruitment firm, that they charged the company for reading CV's anyway but I find it odd to have claimed to have sent my CV in the first instance and makes me wonder if sometimes it's just said the CV sent off even if not. Doesn't bother me that much now, just curious.

Charged for reading the CV???? This is not a practise I have ever experienced from a recruitment agency. If a company were charged to just read it then recruiters would flood CV's and quality would go out of the window.

The only similar thing I know of is Indeed, who are a job board (where people post jobs) and site that sells full view of CV's to potential employers for a £1 I think. They are not recruiters or a recruitment agent so not sure they fit the bill.

To answer your question yes it does happen for a multitude of reasons, one I have seen is because once the CV is submitted the candidate calls constantly, so while the recruiter was in the process of screening and deciding the people to take forward it has been known for the pestering candidate to be told they have been submitted just to get them of the case and give a bit of breathing room.

I can also see this being done if the recruiter is unsure about the suitability of the candidate and are waiting for send them in a set of three (maybe cheaper but less skilled one, one in the right salary bracket and one higher that the salary bracket but add exceptional value). The idea here is to ensure the candidate (lets say the higher salary candidate) does not go seeking another way into them while the recruiter sources another candidate closer to the salary bracket so when compared the client do not feel like they are being rail roaded into only considering a candidate at a higher salary.

Astar1809

loulou41 wrote: »

LA Local Authority. 35 hrs per week on a temporary contract. Yes I mean commission. Just curious as under the impression the commission is very high. Thanks

Local Authorities works are not known for being high yield individually but rather recruitment in greater volume.

I would be very surprised if the margin was close to £5 per hour (more likely around £2 per hour and that would still be good) so for one person it would be about £70 - £140 margin per week with a commission between 10-15% of this dependant of the company.

so £7 - £21 pound per week with it being most likely under a tenner from my real world experience. then minus Tax and NI of course for the in the bank figure.

eldy123

Which popular ATS systems do Recruitment Agencies use and how would I go about testing my CV against one to see how it scores against advertised job roles?

lufcgirl

Why is it frowned upon (and seen as a stealth boast by consultants) to work beyond normal hours? It screams to me people who can’t get their job done in a normal working day.

Do you see the rise in internal talent functions as a reason to be worried?

Do you work on retained or contingency recruitment?

Do you believe a candidate would rather apply direct rather than through an agency due to the reputation of consultants and the recruitment industry in general?

Astar1809

eldy123 wrote: »

Which popular ATS systems do Recruitment Agencies use and how would I go about testing my CV against one to see how it scores against advertised job roles?

I have never used one, I know of companies who do use them but I do not like a computer no matter how good it may be, selecting who I should be considering.

Sorry I cant be more help.

Astar1809

lufcgirl wrote: »

Why is it frowned upon (and seen as a stealth boast by consultants) to work beyond normal hours? It screams to me people who can’t get their job done in a normal working day. Boggles my mind too, I have a family and pride myself on getting out of the office on time to see them. It is becoming a more "old school" mindset and there are benefits of working late, such as speaking to candidates outside of work, but I have a mobile and if I need to make a call at home I will, but no need to be in the office.

Do you see the rise in internal talent functions as a reason to be worried? They have been present in one form or another and while on the rise at the moment I don't see the threat to what I do currently. I view it as a good thing, we are supposed to be specialists at what we do and if we cannot offer better services that internal (and usually less well compensated) people then we are not in the position to claim the fee's we charge.

Do you work on retained or contingency recruitment? Now I work 40/60 mix in favour or contingency, working retained is prefered but does have its pitfalls too, and I have some very long standing relationships with people where I can work exclusively without asking them for the money upfront.

Do you believe a candidate would rather apply direct rather than through an agency due to the reputation of consultants and the recruitment industry in general? Yes I do think candidates would prefer to apply directly in most cases, the two things stopping them are the time and ability to do the leg work finding the right people to approach with their details, the other (and less likely to want to go direct) are the people who are not the best or most confident in selling themselves so can make good use of a professional who understands the value they add doing it for them.

My answers are above in red, I hope

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Planet_Switzerland wrote: »

1. Why do recruitment agencies send companies candidates CVs without the candidates permission? I've had it happen to me both when the recruitment agency has told me about the job but I've told them I'm not interested, or they haven't even told me about a job and the first I find out about it is the company wants to interview me. If I say I'm not interested, sending my CV isn't going to change my mind, and if they haven't even told me about the job in the first place I'm suspicious that the job/company is a bit rubbish. When your details are sent after telling you about the job, this is often to log with the client that the recruiter has engaged with that person and effectively marking territory, in a effort to protect that candidate learning about the role, dismissing the recruiter then going direct to the client in an effort to cut the recruiter out for one reason or another. I do a version of this where I report to the clients the names of the people I have engaged with rather than full CV, the attempts to cut the recruiter out do happen more regularly than you'd expect. Sending the CV before they had spoken to you can be for a few reasons too, In some competitive sectors it can be a "first past the post" scenario where the client/company set a rule where the 1st recruiter to send in the CV they like gets ownership of that candidate so to speak, so a recruiter can be tempted to send out CV's as soon as possible as in the time it takes to speak to and get approval a dozen other recruiters could have sent the CV, meaning you have spent time wetting the appetite of the candidate with this role only for another recruiter to get the spoils because they submitted the CV first.
Others reasons for sending your CV after you have said no is to check with the Client they are talking to the right calibre of people with the right skill set so they can hone their search.



2. How up front should a candidate be with a recruitment consultant? For example, if I wasn't too fussed about the role itself and was just chasing the money, or just looking for something closer to home, or a role that starts later or finishes earlier etc I know it's not a good idea to be blatant about this at an interview, but what about to the recruitment consultant? A good recruiter is on your side so I would advise total honesty, they get paid on your continues success with a new business and if your needs and wants are met and understood as best as possible then everyone wins, Even if it is just about more money a good one will enquire what that means to you, does it mean you will get that family holiday once a year you have longed for, does it mean paying off the mortgage earlier, it is very very rarely just about putting more savings in the bank, if people want more money they usually have a plan for how that can improve their life, its that improvement that is the key factor. I my opinion if you are anything less than honest about what you want you are setting up for failure. But there is a big difference between positive honest and negative honest, You can say "the travel to and from work is killing me" or you can say "working closer to home gives me the opportunity to spend more time with my kids" both are the same problem one positive and one negative, if you are positive about what the issues are you will come across far better and still get what you want.


3. Do recruitment consultants have an ability to travel faster than other human beings? Every time I say no to a job because it's too far they come up with a very optimistic commute time. I remember one telling me half an hour even though the office was a 20 minute walk to the nearest tube station and was the other side of London to where I live.

It seems they are doing a tube station to tube station search and you are dead right not correct or effective. It also tells you the recruiter is unlikely to have been to the office/place of work themselves as then they would know the travel implications at least from tube to site or if driving the parking situation. By nature under pressure recruiters will aim to be as optimistic as possible as they think selling you the role and getting you in the door is what they need to do. A more seasoned recruiter will understand longevity and building a good relationship with you and the client is more fruitful long term so will not look to be overly positive about location, working environment, salary or other bits as yours and the clients long term happiness will yeild more than trying to force bums on seats.

JackeeBoy

I'm on my fifth job in 8 years.

First job 2 years 9 months
Second 1 year 10
1 year 3
1 year
And currently 1 year and 8 months.

When does job hopping become a problem on your CV? I work in professional services and the main reason for the moves is that I was made suddenly redundant in my second role. I was actually offered a new position but the salary was a massive drop so decided to move. Next job I did not enjoy and the one after I was let go after a year with the entire marketing team.

Now in my current job but thinking of leaving when I get to two years (if I get there) in the job

General_Grant

When your details are sent after telling you about the job, this is often to log with the client that the recruiter has engaged with that person and effectively marking territory, in a effort to protect that candidate learning about the role, dismissing the recruiter then going direct to the client in an effort to cut the recruiter out for one reason or another. I do a version of this where I report to the clients the names of the people I have engaged with rather than full CV,

Providing the name of a potential candidate is providing personal information covered by the DPA 2018 isn't it?