Ever felt pushed until an interview by an agency?h

FlyMeSomewhere79

I was made redundant last year, started a new role early Feb, I'm H&S by trade and the job was missold a bit and I was interested in roles that has more health and safety work involved but what I notice is that jobs seem to be preying on all the people suffering redundancy and desperate because salaries and annual leave entitlement offered seems dire now. An agency kept ringing me about a job that sounded good but the wage and annual leave entitlement was really poor and I said I wasn't interested, he rang me again and said he'd negotiated the salary up by 5k and said I still didn't want very minimal leave entitlement. He then said he'd negotiate it. Then several days later then get a call about an interview for said job, I've has a hard time getting the people to meet me in the middle with an interview that falls on my home working days, they want me to have a 1.5 hour interview on one of my office days where I'd have to arrange cover or in all honesty call in sick to avoid suspicion. Anyway I asked how negotiations had gone on the leave and he hasn't negotiated it and told me I'd have to do it it I got the job! I feel pushed into something if already said no to - am I bad to just say no to it? I'm 46 now and I don't want to go back to the kind of minimal perks I had as a young admin person 20 years ago!  

Apparently health and safety work is due to pick up in my current job according to my boss yesterday so I'd rather stay put with good perks and save some money and eventually be a freelance safety trainer and be in control of my own working week.

I think it's the first time in my career that I've experienced how complicated it is looking to better yourself when external companies either want to give you very little or tell you very little about what their company policy would be.

I'm sure I'll annoy the agency guy who wants his commission but I'm annoyed he didn't negotiate things or accept what I already said was a deal breaker.

Thank for listening ☺️

El_Torro

Employment agencies are interested in getting their commission, that’s their primary goal. There are some employment agents that are pushy, some that aren’t as pushy. If you really don’t want this job then you’ll be doing the employer a favour by not wasting their time interviewing you.

if the employment agent ends up being annoyed then so be it, I’ve annoyed quite a few in my day. Your main concern should be finding a job that’s right for you, not keeping employment agents happy.

You might end up burning your bridges with this particular agent. If so it’s probably not a big deal in the grand scheme of things. 

FlyMeSomewhere79

El_Torro said:

Employment agencies are interested in getting their commission, that’s their primary goal. There are some employment agents that are pushy, some that aren’t as pushy. If you really don’t want this job then you’ll be doing the employer a favour by not wasting their time interviewing you.

if the employment agent ends up being annoyed then so be it, I’ve annoyed quite a few in my day. Your main concern should be finding a job that’s right for you, not keeping employment agents happy.

You might end up burning your bridges with this particular agent. If so it’s probably not a big deal in the grand scheme of things. 

I do work with good people and the most generous company I've ever worked for and being told that my skills are going to get used more and more makes me want to stay and see how it goes - I loved my job that I got made redundant from avd think that does mentally scar but I'm happy as a pig in muck if they chuck enough h&S work at me. It's sad because I think would have enjoyed the job they want to interview me for but my god the wage etc for a health & safety advisor was poor and less than I'm on now and I'm not sure I totally trust that he's negotiated it up. 

I'm one of those people that feels guilt, i don't have it in me to pull a sickie for this interview for a job that offers crap perks.

TadleyBaggie

I was once contacted by an agency to go to an interview the same day because someone had dropped out, as has been said they get commission based on the number of candidates they send. It was clear when `I turned up that I had no chance of getting the position, I was just a warm body making up the numbers.

Marcon

FlyMeSomewhere79 said:

I was made redundant last year, started a new role early Feb, I'm H&S by trade and the job was missold a bit and I was interested in roles that has more health and safety work involved but what I notice is that jobs seem to be preying on all the people suffering redundancy and desperate because salaries and annual leave entitlement offered seems dire now. An agency kept ringing me about a job that sounded good but the wage and annual leave entitlement was really poor and I said I wasn't interested, he rang me again and said he'd negotiated the salary up by 5k and said I still didn't want very minimal leave entitlement. He then said he'd negotiate it. Then several days later then get a call about an interview for said job, I've has a hard time getting the people to meet me in the middle with an interview that falls on my home working days, they want me to have a 1.5 hour interview on one of my office days where I'd have to arrange cover or in all honesty call in sick to avoid suspicion. Anyway I asked how negotiations had gone on the leave and he hasn't negotiated it and told me I'd have to do it it I got the job! I feel pushed into something if already said no to - am I bad to just say no to it? I'm 46 now and I don't want to go back to the kind of minimal perks I had as a young admin person 20 years ago!  

Apparently health and safety work is due to pick up in my current job according to my boss yesterday so I'd rather stay put with good perks and save some money and eventually be a freelance safety trainer and be in control of my own working week.

I think it's the first time in my career that I've experienced how complicated it is looking to better yourself when external companies either want to give you very little or tell you very little about what their company policy would be.

I'm sure I'll annoy the agency guy who wants his commission but I'm annoyed he didn't negotiate things or accept what I already said was a deal breaker.

Thank for listening ☺️

Reading this and your previous post https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6638042/missing-previous-job#latest made me wonder if some assertiveness training might be of considerable value to you. Ever thought of doing that? Local authorities often run short courses in the evenings or at weekends at modest cost.

Savvy_Sue

Another thought, are you in a Trade Union? If you are, why not offer to be the union H&S rep? Keeps your skills up ...

MyRealNameToo

TadleyBaggie said:

I was once contacted by an agency to go to an interview the same day because someone had dropped out, as has been said they get commission based on the number of candidates they send. It was clear when `I turned up that I had no chance of getting the position, I was just a warm body making up the numbers.

Most agencies are employed on a contingency basis, ie they get commission if they place someone and get nothing if they dont. 

Like most roles with Agent in their job title its ultimately that they work for themselves and neither of the other two parties involved. Generally their commission is based on your salary/day rate and so they have a vested interest in getting you the most money possible as that makes their 20% better too but its better to get someone the job at £50k than push for £60k and find the employer goes with a £52k candidate from another agency. A notable proportion of the commission personally goes to the agent so it's not just about getting stats looking good but their take home pay too. 

Extra holiday days typically wouldnt get the agent anything so probably no surprise they arent willing to do too much on that front but sometimes it is better to ask for more after showing the employer how great you are in person not just on paper -v- asking for too much upfront and so never getting the opportunity to shine. 

The vast majority of roles in my space come via agencies on a contingent basis so I keep on good terms with them. Always confused by other contractors who you hear being rude to them on the phone etc and then when both of us are coming out of contract at the end of the project they keep asking why so many agents are phoning me and no one is contacting them. 

FlyMeSomewhere79

Savvy_Sue said:

Another thought, are you in a Trade Union? If you are, why not offer to be the union H&S rep? Keeps your skills up ...

I actually work for a health and safety consultancy on a h&s helpdesk which makes the lack of h&s work at times baffling. I think they are trying to raise the profile of the advisors in our team so that the field based advisors send more client work our way. I do miss having a plant or depot to look after but I just don't like how poor the offerings are for these roles and how secretive companies are about what salary or benefit package you would get if you got offered the job. It makes making an informed decision hard when you don't want to put your current role at risk. 

Wyndham

Agents are interested in placing someone so they get their commission. They don't care if it's the right person or the best person (so long as they do a half decent job), they just want to get someone in.

Part of having an agent is about being able to push back. But make sure 'no' means 'no' - and if you've already told them that, then remind them when they next call you! It's OK to do that, and they will respect you more for being firm.

MyRealNameToo

Wyndham said:

Agents are interested in placing someone so they get their commission. They don't care if it's the right person or the best person (so long as they do a half decent job), they just want to get someone in.

Very few employers are willing to pay the rate to get the best person but thats a compromise they know they are making when they set the budget/target salary to be around the middle of the range of salaries others pay. 

Agents need to care to a degree, most companies will maintain a preferred supplier list and only deal with agencies on there, if one agent consistently provides rubbish or candidates are always leaving after a few weeks their card will be marked and they will be off the PSL. 

In the contract market in my area agencies tend to get about 20% and the agent personally gets 5% from the agencies markup. Get an ok person in they may last 6-9 months, get a good person in then the rate may be higher and the duration longer as they decide to keep the person on for the next bit. With one contract the agent personally got about £20k extra from my engagement above what the job was initially priced/scoped to be. 

Certainly getting someone in front of the client can be better than getting no one, and there will be a cost benefit of spending too much time on trying to the perfect candidate for one vacancy -v- getting good candidates forward for 6 roles. Obviously depends on how the market is and if there are 6 new vacancies to work or if there is only one going at the moment.