Recruitment agencies - name, shame (and praise)

steveLFC24

Oh I've had my fair share of run in's with recruitment agencies, what a bunch of idiots.

About a year ago I applied for a job on a website and got a call back from the recruitment agency (sorry, can't remember name) working on there behalf. The women seemed very nice and told me that I fitted the job spec perfectly and asked would I like her to forward my application to them (duh, I didn't apply for the fun of it).

Anyways, about 2 weeks without hearing anything and I get a phone call on a friday evening from the same women saying that they would like me to go for an interview on the SUNDAY...less than 2 days time. The job was at a clinic and apparently the doctor that would be interviewing me was so busy that he didn't have time to do the interviews during the week. That sounded fair enough, but why would they contact everyone so late? To make things worse I was in Spain on a stags so there was no way I could have made it. C'mon, who in there right mind would be able to forsee a sunday interview thats arranged on the friday?!

So I explained my situation and she said she would see what she would do. Last I heard from her. Out of curiosity I rang the clinic to apologise that I couldn't make it, but secretely wanting to know what was with the short notice and odd interview time. Turns out they had sent out the times and details for the interview a week earlier, so she had basically FORGOTTEN to contact me. I was absolutly raging because the stags was a last minute thing and could have easily been missed. Plus this was a for a great job. Emailed her asking what the story was and even tried ringing here but nothing.

So there you go, this is the reason I DO NOT trust or like recruitments agencies. Luckily I won't need to apply for a new job for at least 3 years, but when I do I will be avoiding these idiots like the plague!!!!

cedissapointed

I had a bad experience with FAS (i was a ce worker),and had a very bad brush with a supervisor who gave me a bad reference (which is illegal to do).I had incidents whereby she told me to take to a ladder with a bucket and water with a mop and clean the outside of a three story building not caring if i take a fall! This was outside my job spec also and i have a natural fear of heights.I found other ce workers doing odd jobs like this outside of their own job spec.There was bullying,and harrassment,ce workers were not treated with dignity and respect by any of the staff bar two.This was not just my experience,this was the experience i have later found of many.I am now on my own journey into working for myself.As this previous welfare letch with eight+ children off eight different fathers,has damaged MY CV,needless to say i will be eliminating my FAS experience on my CV.I did later complain her to the FAS officer who was somebit helpful(who probably had an idea of what she was like to work with),and to one of the area managers,her own boss stood by her in many circumstances when she shouldnt have,boring old devil wench.The supervisor(i kid you not) and her bf stole personal property of mine,and she even saw him with the item in his possession.I was on my lowest ebb in that scheme and she did nothing to boost morale on the ce scheme.It is supervisors like these who compromise the integrity of other staff members and the local companies who choose to get free labour from FAS.
I would not reccomend the FAS experience to anybody.And with the set up of FAS ce workers/ ces could replace full time workers so there will be no paid jobs left for any of us at the rate things are going..Be under no illusion this FAS is a scam dressed up as recruitment and employment agency for the underpriveledged.They are no friend of the unemployed.In some circumstances they.. cherry pick the unemployed they wont take on anybody with zero work exp,those they proport to be helping..

They (FAS) rob from our local community and talk in their ad about getting jobs or that one step up bull****,when the reality of it is they steal billions off our community and give nothing back by way of employment(do you think the local business getting your ass for free courtesy of FAS will turn around and give you pay when they dont have to?).They (FAS) do not attract paying jobs to ireland,in fact they are taking jobs we should have.FAS cost the government billions they should shut it down,and forget the namechange as this justifies more trips to waterford and junkets,and multi million adverts for their new name launch..Where does the community (you and i) fit into this?
Not one person who 'graduated from FAS has secured employment.As employers who are serious about thier job and the integrity of their company are willing to invest in people who have the right skills education and interest in the job they are doing.
FAS HAS ROBBED US FOR LONG ENOUGH.FAS IS NOT ABOUT JOBS IT IS ABOUT FREE LABOUR THEY DO NOT HAVE SCHEMES LIKE THIS IN INDIA!If you are serious about getting a job or volunteer work.Do not sign up with FAS as they only pay the rate of whatever you are getting on your dole.Free labour like FAS is replacing real jobs that should be there for you or i..People wont take you seriously if you say you 'worked' for FAS.As they know the kind that lurk there,the cons,the frauds and the fakes and of course the unemployed and unemployable,im making no bones about it these are the facts of the matter.If you want to smear your CV go for a FAS job with an inept bullying fat ignorant retarded supervisor!
They are robbing us of our entitlement to work.We can thank FAS and Fianna Fail and our local representatives for the LACK OF PAID EMPLOYMENT.

FAS RUINED MY CV.FOR MORE READ THIS LINK OF HOW FAS IS SMEARING JOBSEEKERS NAMES..Most employers if they hear FAS would not hire you..FAS have even employed ex cons to do their dirty work for free..Dont sign up with the lie that is FAS.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/kfkfojidauid/rss2/


http://www.facebook.com/pages/End-the-FAS-work-place-programme-WWP1-WWP2/109792949040367?v=wall&viewas=0&ref=ts

cedissapointed

Job fit has had 32 million euros spent on it...and here is a breakdown of your 'work placement',you can get anything from one day and the limit is up to fourweeks training to prepare you for 'job readiness'..

It is clear our government has NO BRAIN between the lot of them!


It is semi state vampire agencies like these that need a corporate executioner to cut them loose!

FAS have been responsible for stealing jobs from the community and demanding the most sizeable wad of cash of our government,the set up here is very much the same,there is an NGO on board a semi state corrupt network and of course our brain dead government blindly handing them the euro,if jobfit does not provide a real way of the disadvantaged to secure tax returnable employment then what is the point?

In fact i would go as far as to say 'EMPLOYMENT AGENCIES' like Jobfit and FAS can hog up the jobs market.

Any AGENCY that suggests even suggests..that they can get you employment ready or placement is misleading and should be challenged..

I could walk into a recruitment agency in dublin and have a job in a call centre at least you can say that is progress...and there is no bull**** about preparing you for job readiness,or 'work placement'.

Agencies like these are stealing paid work from the community..

It is another useless quango draining our money and stealing what could have been a full time job for someone out there..

cedissapointed

And this 32 million euros only covers 12,000 job fit welfare recipients(who of course get to keep their welfare if the means test is given the all clear),i wonder lol..will this 12,000 be employed by whatever companies are interested enough to get this free labour minus any recruitment charge?:rolleyes:

i suppose we will have to wait and see..maybe they will be on their best behaviour and employ them all..who knows


i hear they even got together some extra funds for a television commercial on the very expensive radio telefis eireann..

:eek:

cedissapointed

wonder how many of these workplaces who approach job fit will take on workers on a rotational basis of every four weeks?

mkahnisbent

cedissapointed wrote: »

I had a bad experience with FAS (i was a ce worker),and had a very bad brush with a supervisor who gave me a bad reference (which is illegal to do).

For the record, it is not illegal to give a bad reference. Not sure how that myth started.

Malice

mkahnisbent wrote: »

For the record, it is not illegal to give a bad reference. Not sure how that myth started.

True, employers give bad references by basically not saying anything. If they give out a reference consisting of "John Smith worked here from <start date> to <end date>" then you can be sure that any prospective employers will be wary.

See here for more information.

cedissapointed

it is actually illegal it was an employment law for employers that was passed recently,and i have read up on it,so i am in no doubt about this.

This would prevent some employers who had let say..a personal gripe with an employee(who may have been hard working and honest),would wrongfully start making things up about their employee..

mkahnisbent

cedissapointed wrote: »

it is actually illegal it was an employment law for employers that was passed recently,and i have read up on it,so i am in no doubt about this.

This would prevent some employers who had let say..a personal gripe with an employee(who may have been hard working and honest),would wrongfully start making things up about their employee..

It is not illegal.

Post the law if it is illegal. Let us see the law.

Dempo1

Its not technically illegal for an employer to give a bad reference however an employee is entitled to have his/her term of employment, role they were in & length of service confirmed. Where there may be confusion is the fact that employers are not required in law to give a written reference.

Most previous employers will avoid giving a negative reference (certainly not in writing) as they expose themselves to litigation.

dionsiseire

I was out of work there for 5 weeks.

Recruiters.ie contacted me. Met me and discussed what I wanted to do and other possibilities I would be willing to try.

Suggested a Role I wouldn't have normally applied for based on the technical spec and after 3 interviews I've actually been hired in the job. To celebrate Recruiters took me out to lunch too.

Can't say I'm too disappointed with that

HellFireClub

socio wrote: »

videojobs.ie = shameful marketing practices.

The same people who are behind the videojobs.ie website, are also behind menupages.ie, cbg.ie, indublin.ie and a few other sites. This business would put the worst recruitment agency you have ever run into, to absolutely shame. They have a well known reputation throughtout the "media" industry for using and abusing staff, firing folks on the spot, playing psychological mind games with employees and basically screwing people over and they are in a league of their own for this kind of unprofessional nonsense. If you are thinking of taking a job with them, then be sure to check out the threads below before you make any decision:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055748355

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055964113

Diddler82

Mike Strutter wrote: »

Well I finally got a job all by myself after 12 months.

This was the first job search that I have used recruiters.

Here are my experiences with these vermin.
All in all any dealings I had with recruiters left me feeling tired, depressed and demoralized.
Thank god for my friends and family who kept my spirits up through out the last 12 months.



HRM - Waste of Time. Met recruiter. Reviewed a job spec. Said he would be in touch.
Never heard from him again.

Accountancy Solutions. - Waste of Time. Met recruiter. Reviewed a job spec. Spent more time asking me who I had been looking for work with.
Obviously fishing for leads. Gave her some red herrings !

Hudson - Phoned me about a laser systems job. Ended up telling the recuiter to fcuk off and stop wasting my time asking me about laser systems as she couldn't tell me the difference between a class 1 and class 4 system.

Reed - As useful as a chocolate fire-guard

Sigmar - Promised so much. Delivered sweet FA.

GilliganBlack - Started asking my did I know different program languages. I asked her did she bother to read my CV - just under the header in bold font that reads Computer Languages, on the 2nd page - of 2
Its not that difficult

Eden - Wanted to put me forward for a clinical research job in Dublin- huh wtf?

Executive Connections - Despite many attempts we didn't 'connect'. It was like trying to find Lord Lucan.
Couldn't reach the point of contact for jobs to follow up.

Cant remember the company - Maybe its a deliberate mental block. Recruiter told me to lie on my CV and forward it onto him. I never contacted him again

FK International - Met recruiter. Went through my CV. Told me he had no positions but would keep me in mind.
Time Waster !

Irish Recruitment - Never got a reply despite many attempts of following up with recruiter.
It would have been easier to make contact with Lord Lucan, Jimmy Hoffa, Amelia Earhart or Alien Life !

Stelfox - Real enthusiastic on the Phone. Didn't deliver a job interview though.

COLLINS MCNICHOLAS RECRUITMENT - Delivered nothingNoel Recruitment - Another fruitless waste of my precious time

An observation

If your attitude came across anything like it did in this post then I'm not really surprised that they didn't help you. Your comments about Hudson and Gillian Black particularly stand out and I for one would not be calling you back if that attitude came across.

Its an employers market and yes it is frustrating but people like yourself with that attitude make our selection process a little easier.

Dempo1

Diddler82 wrote: »

An observation

If your attitude came across anything like it did in this post then I'm not really surprised that they didn't help you. Your comments about Hudson and Gillian Black particularly stand out and I for one would not be calling you back if that attitude came across.

Its an employers market and yes it is frustrating but people like yourself with that attitude make our selection process a little easier.

Are you a recruiter or just naive about whats going on with recruitment agencies? whilst i would not be as graphic in my description of same there is a general consensus recruitment agencies are appalling to deal with.

HellFireClub

Diddler82 wrote: »

An observation

If your attitude came across anything like it did in this post then I'm not really surprised that they didn't help you. Your comments about Hudson and Gillian Black particularly stand out and I for one would not be calling you back if that attitude came across.

Its an employers market and yes it is frustrating but people like yourself with that attitude make our selection process a little easier.

In fairness, if you were sitting at the other end of the desk and running into this degree of unprofessionalism you'd be pretty despondent and negative yourself. I can remember dealing with them as an employer, cold calling me when they saw a job on my site trying to match me up with one of their candidates, CV's completely inaccurate, and the fee's sought were 8K or something, insane!

pollypocket10

Dempo1 wrote: »

Are you a recruiter or just naive about whats going on with recruitment agencies? whilst i would not be as graphic in my description of same there is a general consensus recruitment agencies are appalling to deal with.

Are you naive? If you went to an interview and a potential employer asked you about your experience would you tell them it's on your CV? If so, it's not the recruiters fault that they can't find you a job.

_Kaiser_

Well I've FINALLY (after a year of searching) gotten a new job

No thanks to any of the agencies I dealt with though. I applied directly to the company for another job a little while ago, and while I lost out at the last stage, they were apparently impressed enough to call me back to offer me something else.

While I did come across a few agents that seemed genuinely interested in helping me find something, the vast majority were timewasters and even getting a reply from them was a challenge!

If they didn't place you on the first attempt you'd never hear from them again, and one got fierce snotty when I told her I'd previously applied for the job she was putting me forward for.. I didn't realise this myself at the time due to their generic copy-and-paste job specs, and general refusal to tell you who the client is from the start.

So my experience and advice would have to be to check the option to "exclude recruitment agencies" on jobsites and then start from there.

Dempo1

Kaiser2000 wrote: »

Well I've FINALLY (after a year of searching) gotten a new job

Sincere congrats on your new Job, good to get some news from this depressing thread. It speak volumes to see more and more recruitment sites offering the "Exclude Recruiters/Agencies" option and an increase on sites dealing with Companies recruiting only.

Handsome Bob

I found Match Employment to be gross timewasters. They brought me out to them to tell me that I lived too far away from the place that I applied for and that my experience isn't recent enough. Of course though, they wanted me to give my info and "register" with them. It really puts me off recruitment agencies in general.

donkey balls

Looks like this crowd has gone into liquidation had dealings with them would not touch them with a barge pole.

http://www.insolvencyjournal.ie/news/10-11-02/Appointment_of_liquidator_Q_E_D_Recruitment_Specialists_Limited.aspx

Dempo1

donkey balls wrote: »

Looks like this crowd has gone into liquidation had dealings with them would not touch them with a barge pole.

http://www.insolvencyjournal.ie/news/10-11-02/Appointment_of_liquidator_Q_E_D_Recruitment_Specialists_Limited.aspx

Yep, and i suspect a few more will be gone by christmas!

donkey balls

And people have got to remember that if a company goes bust etc they will find it hard to get paid.

Ulysses Gaze

Diddler82 wrote: »

An observation

If your attitude came across anything like it did in this post then I'm not really surprised that they didn't help you. Your comments about Hudson and Gillian Black particularly stand out and I for one would not be calling you back if that attitude came across.

Its an employers market and yes it is frustrating but people like yourself with that attitude make our selection process a little easier.

Same experience with Gilligan Black about a year ago. Completely unprofessional.

Another to add to the list is GKR Search and Selection.

Saw an ad for a job on one of the job boards, rang up and was greeted by the principal ( I think) of the company pretty much grunting down the phone at me. Sent off CV, for a job I was well qualified for btw, and of course received no feedback, no thsnks, nothing.

Job is still on the boards I saw it and on their website.

3 months later.

Batiste

Never got a job,since FAS entered our community certain jobs got mopped up by this free labour BS and another billion will probably be down the line for a similiar jobs scam JOBFIT,mopping up more jobs from us..

safetymanager

Recruitment Agencies are a waste of time and I don't understand why companies deal with them in the first place. If the companies put a good HR system in place and dealt with candidates themselves it would save a lot of grief. I am waiting for weeks for an update on two roles I was submitted for by Pharmeng and have heard nothing. I would have thought it was common decency to keep the candidate updated but apparently in this "new Ireland" manners are no longer commonplace.

Dempo1

safetymanager wrote: »

Recruitment Agencies are a waste of time and I don't understand why companies deal with them in the first place. If the companies put a good HR system in place and dealt with candidates themselves it would save a lot of grief. I am waiting for weeks for an update on two roles I was submitted for by Pharmeng and have heard nothing. I would have thought it was common decency to keep the candidate updated but apparently in this "new Ireland" manners are no longer commonplace.

Yes indeed, Decency and Manners sadly don't feature in Recruitment agency training manuals, however common words used in their vocabulary include

• Placement: (at any cost)
• Harvesting: (CV's for no logical reasons other than waste candidates time and perhaps justify their positions
• Fee's: (Nothing else counts)
• Poach: (Wait a few months until fee has been paid, contact the candidate and encourage them to consider a new position promising sun moon & stars but certainly not integrity)
• Exaggerate: Extremely important to hype up the position and of course salary on offer, normally nothing near what is on offer.
• Time waste: Be sure to get candidates to call in, register (get as much info from them as possible but give nothing away), promise more sun moon and stars and avoid like the plague.

I'm sure this list could be extended, disgusting profession!

Handsome Bob

Indeed, I have begun to hit the "advertised by employer only" button when searching for jobs now.

Dempo1

LZ5by5 wrote: »

Indeed, I have begun to hit the "advertised by employer only" button when searching for jobs now.

Yes its the only option and delighted to see more and more sites are offering this facility.

safetymanager

I no longer include them in my searches either. I have become so sick and tired of their games. I have received calls and submitted my CV on numerous occasions for jobs that simpy do not exist. The agencies want the best CV's on their books so they invent jobs with wide ranging specs, put them on their websites and they remain there forever with only the "update" icon clicked everyday. It surely costs companies a fortune to work with agencies who are clearly not putting either the companies or the candidates first. I have also been encouraged to "alter" my CV to fit the job description which is unfair to me and to the company involved. This is surely more than just a "moral" issue and the companies who use the agencies need to wake up to this. I would prefer to remain unemployed than to deal with a crooked agency who only have their own interests in mind.

genericguy

I have gotten jobs through agencies, indeed i'm working now having gotten a job through one.

the reason you don't get a job when you apply to an agency is simply because you aren't the best candidate - having "transferable skills" doesn't cut it anymore. there are enough people with real experience in every discipline out there for companies to fill their jobs that way, and agencies simply act on what they are told by these companies, who are paying for their services.

and to expect anybody to sift through 500 applications for a job, 495 of which are from unsuitable people, and call everyone up to say thanks for their application is fooking ludicrous.

safetymanager

I wasn't referring to job applications, I was referring to occasions when the agencies contacted me, submitted my CV when my experience matched the job spec precisely and then never hearing from them again. I obviously don't expect agencies to reply individually to all applicants, the auto reply is sufficient for applicants who don't get submitted for the job as their experience is not relevant. As for your "f***ing ludicrous comment, no need to go there !!!

Ulysses Gaze

genericguy wrote: »

and to expect anybody to sift through 500 applications for a job, 495 of which are from unsuitable people, and call everyone up to say thanks for their application is fooking ludicrous.

No. Simple to mass mail a generic reply though. 2 minutes 'hard' work to do that!

Handsome Bob

genericguy wrote: »

I have gotten jobs through agencies, indeed i'm working now having gotten a job through one.

the reason you don't get a job when you apply to an agency is simply because you aren't the best candidate - having "transferable skills" doesn't cut it anymore. there are enough people with real experience in every discipline out there for companies to fill their jobs that way, and agencies simply act on what they are told by these companies, who are paying for their services.

and to expect anybody to sift through 500 applications for a job, 495 of which are from unsuitable people, and call everyone up to say thanks for their application is fooking ludicrous.

When an agency calls you in for an interview just to tell you that you have no chance of getting the job and that your experience within the field isn't recent enough, then they are wasting your time and acting quite poorly. Simple as. I'm sure there are good agencies, but I've yet to come across one.

safetymanager

Well said Ulysses Gaze, a simple solution which would make the applicant at least feel there was a measure of respect on the part of the agency.

On another point, my CV charts ten years experience of many computer packages along with all of the Windows applications and I was recently asked by an agency to do a "typing test" to establish if I could actually use a keyboard and a little exam on Word, Excel etc. Does ten years of experience and excellent references not confirm my abilities !!!!

Ulysses Gaze

safetymanager wrote: »

Well said Ulysses Gaze, a simple solution which would make the applicant at least feel there was a measure of respect on the part of the agency.

On another point, my CV charts ten years experience of many computer packages along with all of the Windows applications and I was recently asked by an agency to do a "typing test" to establish if I could actually use a keyboard and a little exam on Word, Excel etc. Does ten years of experience and excellent references not confirm my abilities !!!!

Hate to say it, but that sounds like the old 'C'mon in and we'll talk to you' (ie waste your time and 'register' you) rather than get you a job.

My belief is that between 75%-85% of jobs advertised on jobs boards by agencies are fakes.

Ulysses Gaze

LZ5by5 wrote: »

When an agency calls you in for an interview just to tell you that you have no chance of getting the job and that your experience within the field isn't recent enough, then they are wasting your time and acting quite poorly. Simple as. I'm sure there are good agencies, but I've yet to come across one.

I've been dealing with them since I started working 11 years ago.

I can name 4 agencies in that time that were any good.

Only one of them was Irish and I must have applied to pretty much every agency in Ireland at this stage.

The other three have been UK ones who seem to have a much higher level of professionalism.

Dempo1

It occurred to me tonight that in my many years experience dealing with agencies, i actually had more contact, return emails, phone calls and feedback from agencies based out side Ireland, most notably the middle east. Sadly contact of any kind from Irish based agencies is sadly lacking apart from when they wish to waste time.

safetymanager

And it has just occurred to me Dempo1 that the recruiters probably like to look busy by getting people into the office to do their tests and fill the day for them as they are certainly not spending their time keeping in touch with and updating candidates !!

Dempo1

safetymanager wrote: »

And it has just occurred to me Dempo1 that the recruiters probably like to look busy by getting people into the office to do their tests and fill the day for them as they are certainly not spending their time keeping in touch with and updating candidates !!

Absolutely and most of these agencies rent squalid, dirty and horrid cheap office accommodation which hardly inspires candidates on arrival.

I was in Noel Recruitment (office) in newbridge about two years ago, i never saw such filth in my life, it was akin to a halting site absolutely dreadful, holes and stains in the carpet, office desk looked like it had been purchased second hand from a national school, stuck on paint by the looks of the walls and the rudest people i had ever encountered, any wonder their primary business is temporary, just like their memories.

robd

My general opinion of recruiters is that they are a necessary evil.

I've dealt with recruiters on both sides of the fence with mixed results. I also tried the direct route to jobs. Problem with direct route was that I found employers salary expectations were very unrealistic compared to market rates. This was never the case with recruiters as in this three way relationship, all parties tended to be aware of market. To a certain extent recruiters are interested in the match rather than the employer or the candidate. You got to remember who they work for, i.e. themselves.

I've certainly had many cases of lack of response to applications and individuals who are completely uncontactable after submission of CV for a job. You get used to it after a while to be honest. I've seen that with direct jobs too though.

The name of the game in finding a job is getting your CV in front of as many employers as possible. To do this you need to apply directly and also apply through recruiters. You defo build up a list of recruiters to avoid but some of them might surprise you. With the rise of social media such as Linkedin that's a 3rd approach. Then there's plain old face to face networking, that's a 4th.

The name of the game in recruiting is about getting a healthy selection of candidate CVs in front of you. Recruiters are part of this as they can fill your Inbox very quickly. They have to be managed though. Most employers will only accept a limited amount of CVs per recruiter and then only interview the top candidates from each. Again social media, networking and Careers section on company website and direct advertising should form part of your strategy.

allandanyways

Had an interview with FirstStaff where one of their staff members had advertised for a Junior Position and said I was perfect for it, and she would be in touch the next day.

That was 4 weeks ago. I have tried to contact her several times and she is ignoring me. Extremely unprofessional.

rebel_rebel

I have been looking for a job now the past few months and have registered with 10+ recruitment companies mainly in the Accounting/Finance section. I suppose recruitment companies are necessary but I hate the fakeness when they pretend they have your best interest when all it is they want to place you to get commission.It is basically a sales job I know friends in the industry and there are targets they have to hit everyday,contact a certain number of candiates,place people etc. I think its a career you have to be headstrong in. This is my experience of some of the recruitment agencies:

FK International: Went into register basically,strange office location looked like someones house,doubt if job even existed,but recruiter got back with me to "touch base" just to say there had no jobs that would be suitable for since

Accountancy Solutions. Was called in to register went them. Told her what I was looking for. Not a word since,pity because they seem to have a lot of good jobs.

Premier,or what ever they are called now. Was called into register when them no word since again.

Michael Page. Was called in for a role that I was interested. No word obvisously did not called for interview by company but was fine. She tried to contact me since,sent her a mail to "touch base" (hate the phrase!)

Careers Register-Thought they were good

Quest-Thought were quiet unprofessional,well the person with over the phone was anyway

Mark Sattin-Went in to register for a role I was interested in. Said he be in contact bit no word. Think a lot of recruitment companies have the same role and think its on the company website so lot of interest I'd imagine

Executive Connections. My biggest rant. Went in to register for a role was interested in for a grad program in a bank,AIB. Went for alpitude exam(just as well it was not a spelling exam) ,fairly long took bout 3 hours and was tough. Got called for interview. Went into executive offices for interview prep,was nothing that I did not know myself. Done loads of preparing myself for interview,had to do SWOT analysis for company but in loads of work for that and was happy with my result. Done interview was hard enough but felt I done well and gave some good answers. Executive connections were in contact before and after interview. AIB said they be in contact with recruitment agencies. Was really interested in role and would have loved to get it. No word from executive connections after a week so decided I would give them a ring,said they had heard nothing yet so give them more time. Rang next week said they still head nothing,thought bit odd. Rang week after,still nothing apparently. Interview was in September so I know I have not got the job,but I would have loved some feed back because I put a lot of work into the interview. Thought it was very very bad form. Made me feel like a fool for ringing up trying to get an answer. Pissed me off big time. Rang me up since asking with another job which I have no interest in,felt like telling them f off. Suppose I dont have a contact in AIB as I was dealing with them though recruiters. And I see the job is up in other recruiters now again.

Got a second interview with job I was dealing with through the company directly so fingers crossed.

Berty

rebel_rebel wrote: »

Got a second interview with job I was dealing with through the company directly so fingers crossed.

Best of luck with that.

Im about to be back on the heap in a few weeks and Im getting back in touch with the usual suspects. Necessary evil I guess.

The usual are simply the same as they were 6 months ago. Nothing will ever change unless the job market did a U-Turn when it would become a Job Seekers Market.

Berty

This deserves it owns posts Im afraid(post whore :rolleyes: )

Matthew Duane of Sure Candidate is probably the most sincere man I have ever spoken to. He is the Director of IT Recruitment for the agency and as LinkedIn connection of mine.

I contacted him, even though outside of my skillset, and he basically ran through my CV, got me to change things, e-mailed back, changed more things, e-mailed back and changed more things until the CV read a million times better than before.

He has really done his homework on CV preparation and I can honestly say what he did for my CV would have cost money with those so called Experts on websites.

He did this for free. He would never have a position for me as I have ZERO IT experience.

So, If you are in IT and looking for a role then look him up.

http://www.surecandidate.ie/

CareerGuru

I've just been reading some of the posts about shocking service with recruitment agencies and I have to agree at the moment . I've worked with agencies in the past (I now coach people past them)- and yes you can apply directly yourself if you have the right contacts. I have not heard ONE positive story from job seekers about registering with agencies:mad:. But it can be beneficial to stay registered with them, but you do have to pester them if you want them to remember you!!. Most of the roles at the moment that I hear about are contract roles and are going to people who either apply directly or know somebody. Don't believe all the hype about there being no jobs- there are but you have to approach it in a different and innovative way!

Chatswood

I'd say in the last 6 months I've had the misfortune of meeting with about 7 agencies and to be honest I do agree that on some levels they are a necessary evil but on other levels they are utterly useless.

I'd only have anything positive to say about 1 agent (guy from Brightwater) who keeps in touch with the odd call and email and seems to give it to you straight about whether there are or aren't jobs there.

Most seem to be totally happy to bring you in for "interview", to run through your CV from scratch and to ignore you then for eternity !

The most frustrating experience I had recently was with HRM. I went for an interview with an organisation in Dublin. I felt the interview went well and the feedback from the HR guy was - I'd be told in a couple of days. In a couple of days HRM still knew nothing but had been in touch with a friend about the same job wtf?

When I told HRM a full 2 weeks later that I thought the feedback, professionalism and courtesy levels were seriously lacking and that I wasn't impressed - I was told that it was the employers prerogative to take as long as they liked, to interview whom they pleased and to just accept that.

In the 2 weeks since the interview I had received shoddy feedback from HRM, had to explain who I was and what role I had been interviewed for to some guy who was supposedly covering the work of the agent I was dealing with and was told that the reason it was taking so long was because I may have mentioned that I was going on 5 weeks holidays in January ? At no point did I mention holidays and I am certainly in no financial position to take such a holiday ! To me this was just a red herring thrown in by the agency to me while they got their story straight !!

At this point I told HRM where to go.

I understand it’s an Employers market but seriously - do they expect to just string candidates along and dangle them on a string in the hope they might actually treat them with respect ?

All candidates want is:

1) to deal with someone who will be honest and open with them on roles that do/don’t exist
2) to get prompt feedback on interviews
3) to deal with someone who has some actual sector experience
4) to be treated with some courtesy and respect.

Sadly, most of the above is seriously lacking. I suspect agencies are up against it now due to lack of actual roles in the market but if that’s the case then maybe there's no place for many of them in today’s economy.

Handsome Bob

The thing that pisses me off is that when you use the option to cut out jobs advertised by recruitment agancies it dramatically decreases the amount of vacancies available. On a certain website, without fail, every time I refine my search I find about 29 vacancies advertised, and about 25 of them are from the SAME agency without fail. You just know that it's a scam.

Dempo1

LZ5by5 wrote: »

The thing that pisses me off is that when you use the option to cut out jobs advertised by recruitment agancies it dramatically decreases the amount of vacancies available. On a certain website, without fail, every time I refine my search I find about 29 vacancies advertised, and about 25 of them are from the SAME agency without fail. You just know that it's a scam.

Good point but unfortunately most of the recruitment websites are primarily financed by adverts placed by these sharks. I was checking two of the biggest sites this morning, Hotel & catering section. Using the "employers/companies only option", i was amazed to find supermacs posted 100% of the jobs on offer and on the other site It's a Bagel. Hardly inspiring Job opportunities in this sector! Most of said jobs i might add have been on these sites for over 12 months!

CareerGuru

We could talk for years and waffle on (and give them FREE PR) about the recruitment agencies- why are you not taking your job seeking into your own hands and doing it yourself. Take back control- ALL employers at the moment want to hire directly themselves (who in this climate wants to pay up to 15% to hire somebody). Granted if the role is contract they may want the agency to put you on their books, but again this can be done at the end of the process.
You have to treat job seeking like selling a product (do you really want the middle man to take a cut from your product price? Do you want the middleman selling your product directly to your customer- do you trust them enough. Why are you so hung up on having to use the agencies/ getting them to represent you.....??? or not as is almost always the case.
Then start by getting a target list together of all the companies you would like to work for and get the right contact names to send your CV to. This approach is what is getting job seekers hired. How do I know? This is what I do with job seekers and it WORKS. It's almost all contract roles out there but hey it's a start!

Chatswood

Who would you say is the best person to send applications to ? HR Manager ? CEO ? Financial Controller ?