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 ...