Job Agencies Sucks

V

Vbstein

Member
Seriously they are so Annoying as they don't do anything! I'm trying to find a new job as most people in my department at work. I have applied for 100s of job and registered with so many agencies, yet i get the same old crap. "Sorry we dont have anything right now" Are these jobs that they advertise real?

I starting to think that they are not real at all :(

Sorry I just feeling very annoyed!
 
Is it agency work you're looking for or a permanent role?

When i was younger i found agencies very much the same - they're only as good as the staff working there. I can't say i have a high opinion of recruiters though. :evil:
 
Good jobs are given to the recruiters mates. gotta know someone in the agencies to get the creamy stuff

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A lot of agencies produce job specs where there is no actual job, but they frequently get requests for people with a specific set of skills.

So when a client asks if they have any candidates they can instantly produce a list of 100's of them.

We recruit a fair amount (through a list of preferred suppliers) for projects and some of the candidates don't even meet the minimum criteria - which just goes to show that some of the agencies think bigger numbers are better than quality.



I also remember (early in my career) being put into a temporary DTP role for a catalogue company by my agency, and while I was there I realise they were actively recruiting for the full-time role I was temping for. Put my application in, with a letter of recommendation from the department head I was working for, and didn't even get an interview.

The girl that got the job had no background in design at all, and 'just wanted to try something different'.

Left after the 4 week stint was over and thought nothing more of it until the department head called me and asked why I hadn't applied for it. I told him that I had, and he then investigated and found out my agency hadn't even bothered submitting my application as they had enough candidates already :headbang:

3 months later I was called up again, but by the line manager, and asked if I was still interested as the girl had left. I said I was, but was 2 months in to a 12 month project in Brussels on double the pay. Didn't take it any further.
 
Yep, I'm currently trying to get a recrucitment agent to fill a post for me. 4 months and he just keeps giving me the same candidates.

What are you looking to do?
 
Ye they suck big time… trying to get a job myself and I have found more success by contacting companies, even if they don't have jobs advertised.
 
tomscott said:
Ye they suck big time… trying to get a job myself and I have found more success by contacting companies, even if they don't have jobs advertised.
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Mine is all through my 'network'.

Haven't had a job through a job application or agency for about 15 years.

Every time I come to the end of the project I simply update my network on my availability and they let me know if any projects are coming up. I've also learnt which companies/contacts in my network have a realistic view of 'potential' to 'actual' projects as some are converting about 10%, whilst others are closer to 90%.
 
apparently 80% of jobs get filled via personal networks or direct contact and the Job Agencies only actually fill 20% of the job market (so I am told).

We hire using linked in and our networks and will not use agencies at all because they are completely useless.

my advice would be to contact the companies you might like to work for - ask open questions around how they hire and what they are looking for culturally and attributes and skills wise, you will get helpful clues about how to fine tune your application and any interviews you may get.

we actually offer candidates coaching on interviews and presentations we may ask them to do, the ones that listen tend to get hired.
 
now i feel a little awkward as I work for a recruitment company :cry:

but before I feel the hate from people the firm I work for is an independent (only 5 of us including MD) that specialises in Shipping, logistics, HGV1 driving and industrial.
I can't comment on the way the chains work as i've not worked for any.

What's really annoying for us is that website like reed and totaljobs seem to repost jobs from our site, but then don't ever take them down!!
we never post on any other site to our own yet we still have people ask about the jobs they've seen on them :headbang:
 
Not all recruiters are bad - but lots are. I have about 3 in my contact list that i found to be useful and would immediately contact again to probe for roles if i was jobless. I think it varies heavily with each industry and location. I get the luxury of London Finance/Tech so it's probably about as good and equally about bad as it can get. Plus in London the default "i dont know what job to do" lands young grads in recruitment jobs they don't want or like - so that's never helpful.

Some recruiters know they're going to make big bucks placing you in certain institutions, so they go the extra mile - others just play the numbers game and send hundreds of applicants in the hope the company will accept one and pay them their 20%.

The problem is it can be very hard to get a role if the recruiter doesn't think they will easily place you - however on the flip side, if your CV is sh*t hot and they're gona make money from you - you'll hardly have to do anything and they'll be the ones chasing you. Usually a good indication if you're going for the right roles/seniority/salary bracket etc.

Hopefully it's not too difficult for you - i found re-uploading your CV nightly puts it at the top of the "new CVs in the last 24 hours" for recruiters in their morning scan of job sites so they actively look at it a lot more, if you don't refresh it you get less calls - even if you're not actually changing anything.
 
mmm-five said:
A lot of agencies produce job specs where there is no actual job, but they frequently get requests for people with a specific set of skills.

So when a client asks if they have any candidates they can instantly produce a list of 100's of them.

We recruit a fair amount (through a list of preferred suppliers) for projects and some of the candidates don't even meet the minimum criteria - which just goes to show that some of the agencies think bigger numbers are better than quality.



I also remember (early in my career) being put into a temporary DTP role for a catalogue company by my agency, and while I was there I realise they were actively recruiting for the full-time role I was temping for. Put my application in, with a letter of recommendation from the department head I was working for, and didn't even get an interview.

The girl that got the job had no background in design at all, and 'just wanted to try something different'.

Left after the 4 week stint was over and thought nothing more of it until the department head called me and asked why I hadn't applied for it. I told him that I had, and he then investigated and found out my agency hadn't even bothered submitting my application as they had enough candidates already :headbang:

3 months later I was called up again, but by the line manager, and asked if I was still interested as the girl had left. I said I was, but was 2 months in to a 12 month project in Brussels on double the pay. Didn't take it any further.
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Thats sucks dude :(
 
Wildfire said:
Yep, I'm currently trying to get a recrucitment agent to fill a post for me. 4 months and he just keeps giving me the same candidates.

What are you looking to do?
Click to expand...

Well Im just looking for Accountancy work nothing major, as my last job was Accounts payable.
 
Vbstein said:
Thanks guys for the helpful posts :)

I just hate the thought of being out of work
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You'll be better applying for jobs yourself, we always view individuals that work for any agency as "people who are always one step away from getting their P45" in other words the few days in a third party's office shows how useless they are.

Best of luck OP :thumbsup:
 
I found when I was looking for a job recently that the best recruiters will insist on interviewing you before they do anything to actively look for a post for you - they're the ones using their own personal network to good effect, and want to be sure you won't embarrass them and get placed someplace they'll get a good £ for doing so. They'll also advise you on how to present your CV and honestly appraise what kind of role they think you'd fit.

If you just stick your CV on a load of sites you're not standing out from the masses and they'll either ignore you, or it'll end up with complete randoms who pick up your CV from automated net searches and proceed to just bury you in inappropriate shite job specs. Quite a few failed to spell my name right, or had patently sent out a standard email using mail merge...

I eventually got my job through a direct application for a role I'd seen and ignored a couple of times. Turned out it was my skills not my knowledge they were looking for. The next closest I came to a job was through personal contacts. Make sure you have a LinkedIn profile that is half decent and matches your CV too - it's the first place potential employers go to, and they appear to think you're dysfunctional if you're not on there...
 
Hi there.

Try to go through sites that allow "Direct Employer" searches - guardian is one of them. The other is the jobseekers one. I have been successful going directly.

Hope this helps.
 
I got nothing useful for the jobseekers website in 6 months of being on there. Not that there weren't jobs on there, but it trawls the net too and I found loads of duplicates. Direct employer searches is a good shout though :thumbsup:
 
They are generally horrendous in my experience. Registered at one today, emailed me yesterday to bring proof of all my qualifications with me. Never had to do that before. Dug out gcse, a level etc not looked at them for 20 years, spent time copying them. Today he said they weren't required :headbang:
 
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