Recruitment agencies - name, shame (and praise)

L.Jenkins

I called there bullshít and they had to take it down.

Gael23

Having some positive dealings (so far) with Brightwater. I applied for the role on Sunday and he contacted me yesterday np morning to say he'd like to send forward my CV and again later in the evening to say I was being taken forward for interview. He still hasn't confirmed this yet but that's not all his fault as I was committed to another interview the day he suggested so he has to sort that out.
It's go hard for me to know at this point for genuine he is and I'm aware recruiters promise the earth at times and let you down.

I'm not impressed with CPL retail. I met with one of their staff 2 weeks ago on Monday and my CV was sent forward and I still haven't heard anything.

spider_pig

KellyM87 wrote: »

anyone have any dealings with Cougar Recruitment? I got phonecall from them saying they found my CV on a job website and had a job that would suit me said they would forward on my CV to the employer and would get back to me later that day about an interview the next day but never heard from! Wanted to know if this was common practice as I've had this a few times with recruitment agencies

Biggest time wasters going,I travelled from drogheda to lucan to sign an application form and given a day for interview which I was told kept getting put back,
then was given numerous job offers that they were just waiting on a start date from the company ,which they said never got back to them so they offer me a new one which I'm still waiting on

allibastor

spider_pig wrote: »

Biggest time wasters going,I travelled from drogheda to lucan to sign an application form and given a ti

Couger are a joke, they advertise for roles they dont have in the hopes of getting a good candidate to then sell back to the company, but they are not good at either

spider_pig

allibastor wrote: »

Couger are a joke, they advertise for roles they dont have in the hopes of getting a good candidate to then sell back to the company, but they are not good at either

That is exactly the way it has been with me, numerous times iv been told iv a job here for you that's looking to start during the week that he will call back with a start date to be called back with oh they never got back to us here's another one if I'm interestd and it happens over and over.
I'm applying for a forklift Driver position, I'm finding the same jobs been offered from most agencies everyday over the past few weeks QED especially and no reply what so ever.

darlenmol

Does anyone think that charging 16 euros an hour for a worker to a company and paying the worker 10 an hour is exploitation?

L.Jenkins

darlenmol wrote: »

Does anyone think that charging 16 euros an hour for a worker to a company and paying the worker 10 an hour is exploitation?

The joys of contracting. I'm on over €200, I can only imagine what the agency who got me my job are making before I get paid.

donkey balls

darlenmol wrote: »

Does anyone think that charging 16 euros an hour for a worker to a company and paying the worker 10 an hour is exploitation?

Unfortunately that is how agencies make their money by charging the employer a fee,Is the €16 they charge the employer including the €10 they pay you.

It also depends what the job you are doing about 3 year ago I had an agency call me asking me if I would be interested in doing some petrol tanker work,They told me the pay rate was €10 but could probably get me €11.
I just laughed at the lad and told him that I get multiple of what he was offering me,Since the downturn the amount of agencies that have sprung up is unreal I can speak from experience here the majority of them haven't a clue about some of the jobs they advertise for.
One part of the industry I work in we use industry standard abbreviations which is the norm throughout the world,Yet I came across a job advert were the wording and job description was unreal.
If I was the employer and saw the advert I would be calling the agency to tell to Foxtrot Oscar.

darlenmol

donkey balls wrote: »

Unfortunately that is how agencies make their money by charging the employer a fee,Is the €16 they charge the employer including the €10 they pay you.

It also depends what the job you are doing about 3 year ago I had an agency call me asking me if I would be interested in doing some petrol tanker work,They told me the pay rate was €10 but could probably get me €11.
I just laughed at the lad and told him that I get multiple of what he was offering me,Since the downturn the amount of agencies that have sprung up is unreal I can speak from experience here the majority of them haven't a clue about some of the jobs they advertise for.
One part of the industry I work in we use industry standard abbreviations which is the norm throughout the world,Yet I came across a job advert were the wording and job description was unreal.
If I was the employer and saw the advert I would be calling the agency to tell to Foxtrot Oscar.

I got a call to start a 2 week temp job so i said feck it, might as well. 3 of us temps got hired at 10 euros an hour. we were up in the office waiting for the induction. I spot a bunch of print offs of emails scattered all over the desks, the place was a mess. Anyway i see the details of our contracts being haggled and they settled to pay the rec agency 16 an hour for 2 weeks x 3 workers. I asked a lad in the canteen about wages and he said we were lucky to get 10 an hour.

It really bothered me to the point i only did 2 days and quit. i needed the money but I refuse to fund these thieves. Employers need to get the finger out and do the bloody interviews themselves instead of giving these vampires money for nothing.

uck51js9zml2yt

darlenmol wrote: »

I got a call to start a 2 week temp job so i said feck it, might as well. 3 of us temps got hired at 10 euros an hour. we were up in the office waiting for the induction. I spot a bunch of print offs of emails scattered all over the desks, the place was a mess. Anyway i see the details of our contracts being haggled and they settled to pay the rec agency 16 an hour for 2 weeks x 3 workers. I asked a lad in the canteen about wages and he said we were lucky to get 10 an hour.

It really bothered me to the point i only did 2 days and quit. i needed the money but I refuse to fund these thieves. Employers need to get the finger out and do the bloody interviews themselves instead of giving these vampires money for nothing.

People need to remember that from that extra 6e they are covering employers prsi, your holiday pay and their overheads and staff wages.

Gongoozler

darlenmol wrote: »

I got a call to start a 2 week temp job so i said feck it, might as well. 3 of us temps got hired at 10 euros an hour. we were up in the office waiting for the induction. I spot a bunch of print offs of emails scattered all over the desks, the place was a mess. Anyway i see the details of our contracts being haggled and they settled to pay the rec agency 16 an hour for 2 weeks x 3 workers. I asked a lad in the canteen about wages and he said we were lucky to get 10 an hour.

It really bothered me to the point i only did 2 days and quit. i needed the money but I refuse to fund these thieves. Employers need to get the finger out and do the bloody interviews themselves instead of giving these vampires money for nothing.

how did you think they were getting paid?

darlenmol

Harry Young Lanyard wrote: »

People need to remember that from that extra 6e they are covering employers prsi, your holiday pay and their overheads and staff wages.

ya but there's no way it represents value for money. The profit they make off such deals must be crazy when they add them all up.

neil_hosey

They honestly believe they know what I should be saying in an interview better than me. I cringe talking to them as a result of the drivel that comes out of their mouths.

The ones that are good in my books are the ones who dont come across as arrogant arseholes, who think they have any knowledge of my business.

An arts degree and 3 months forwarding emails between a candidate and a company gets you a "senior recruitment specialist executive" position.

The whole recruitment industry is so full of horse shíte.

CatFromHue

Just on the hourly wage thing. If companies didn't want to pay it they could just do the recruiting themselves and I'm fairly sure they know how much the worker will be getting, either directly or through guesstimation.

whatnext

Harry Young Lanyard wrote: »

People need to remember that from that extra 6e they are covering employers prsi, your holiday pay and their overheads and staff wages.

Roughly it works out as
10/hr + holiday pay 0.90 + Bank Holidays pay 0.4 = 11.30
11.30 + employers PRSI 1.20 = Total Cost to agency of 12.50

So income for the agency is 3.50 per hour.
Out of that the pay for insurance, bank charges, payroll costs etc, recruiters commission and contribute to the overall overhead of the business.

They would need to have a hell of a lot of people out working to make that a viable business

Saint_Mel

neil_hosey wrote: »

The whole recruitment industry is so full of horse shíte.

As can be seen in IT recruitment ad's asking ... "Are you a <insert language here > Rockstar"

Back to pointless agencies ...
FirstStaff ...
Had a call a few months ago and told them my experience and preferences ... got a call yesterday with a load of completely unsuitable jobs ... explained why they were unsuitable ... Agent apologised ... 25 minutes later I got an email from same agent asking if I'd be interested in the following jobs ... and all the jobs listed were the ones I had just spoken to him on the phone about!

CobraClan

Do agencies blacklist people? A few years ago I had a bit of barmey with an agent from Manpower, he kept on giving me the run around and would always fob me off about jobs so I pulled him up on it which he didn't like! Since then I have never gotten a job, interview or even a reply from any agencies iv applied with for a job.

spider_pig

CobraClan wrote: »

Do agencies blacklist people? A few years ago I had a bit of barmey with an agent from Manpower, he kept on giving me the run around and would always fob me off about jobs so I pulled him up on it which he didn't like! Since then I have never gotten a job, interview or even a reply from any agencies iv applied with for a job.

You're not alone, iv been applying to agencies for jobs listed and haven't got any response what so ever from them,
I have everything listed in the description and not even a no.
It's got to the stage now iv applied to so many of them that I'm saying to my self what is the point in sending another pointless email to them when I know I won't even get a response.

CatFromHue

CobraClan wrote: »

Do agencies blacklist people? A few years ago I had a bit of barmey with an agent from Manpower, he kept on giving me the run around and would always fob me off about jobs so I pulled him up on it which he didn't like! Since then I have never gotten a job, interview or even a reply from any agencies iv applied with for a job.

I'm only guessing but the only reason why a person would be black listed by one agency was if they were placed in a job and screwed up massively.

I can't see why multiple agencies would black list one person as they're all competitors.

CatFromHue

spider_pig wrote: »

You're not alone, iv been applying to agencies for jobs listed and haven't got any response what so ever from them,
I have everything listed in the description and not even a no.
It's got to the stage now iv applied to so many of them that I'm saying to my self what is the point in sending another pointless email to them when I know I won't even get a response.

What's your CV like? Maybe you could re do it up or look at it again.

allibastor

spider_pig wrote: »

You're not alone, iv been applying to agencies for jobs listed and haven't got any response what so ever from them,
I have everything listed in the description and not even a no.
It's got to the stage now iv applied to so many of them that I'm saying to my self what is the point in sending another pointless email to them when I know I won't even get a response.

Sometimes the requirements on the spec are not what is needed for the job.
a good recruiter will read your cv and then call you for fives mins to fill in the gaps. If a cv looks 60% correct chances are there is another 20-30% to be found in a conversation.

I bet no recruiter calls many back as it is all the quick win now for the sale.

sob1467

Quick question related to a meeting with a recruitment agency and I do not think it is worth its own thread.

I am going to meet an Irish recruiter from a recruitment agency on the continent. What should I wear?

The area is accounting and finance by the way. I have had no previous experience with recruitment agencies. I am wondering whether I should wear the same as if I was at a proper interview. He said it is a meeting to discuss vacancies and the market generally and potentially go through a few positions and see what I think.

J Mysterio

I would wear like suit pants with a shirt and a knitwear jumper (like a proper interview). Depends what the venue is but I presume twill be in the office.

Katgurl

Dress as if you are interviewing

Gael23

It RELLY annoys me when a recruiter tells you on 2 occasions they will do something and they don't either time.

Gael23

Has anyone got anything good to say about Eden Recruitment? Dealing with a fairly new consultant and she's good so far

legs 11

Has anyone any feedback from experiences with Grafton Recruitment or QED Recruitment?

Laura_A

Has anyone ever come across either 'Software placements' or 'Clever Techies' ... Both have been in touch recently but im skeptical about agencies!

dmakc

What annoys me is that the nature of the industry feels like one big conflict of interest. Recruiters are on their agenda (from my experience, giving me irrelevant opportunities I'm overqualified for / high probability of getting / likely to get them commission) whereas I'm on mine (searching for more specific roles with medium probability of getting / unlikely to get them commission).

I'd be more lenient towards this if the recruiters didn't display such ignorance when it comes to the contents of their applicant's degrees and previous roles, instead just skimming CV's for buzzwords. Why is an 11-months-into-intended-career-dropout the only option in deciding my next career move?

Both Sigmar and The Panel have been poor in terms of the above. The Panel in particular have been poor in that most of their roles I've found to not actually exist!? How many agencies do this?

L.Jenkins

Laura_A wrote: »

Has anyone ever come across either 'Software placements' or 'Clever Techies' ... Both have been in touch recently but im skeptical about agencies!

Yes, neither of them replied to my previous applications.

CreepingDeath

Reperio seriously annoy me.
They keep calling/e-mailing to the point where it's borderline harassment.

Many years ago I told them to f*** off and I'd never deal with them again.
But I liked the look of an advert last year and gave them a call.
They've been calling me ever since, even though I changed my mind and said I wasn't in the market for a new role.

Last week, two missed phone calls, one e-mail which I replied to, then the next day they call me up despite me replying I'm not in the market.

summonerm

I'm trying to find an IT job for the last 2 months and so far the vast majority of agencies seem completely unprofessional. Numerous empty promises, false smiles, spam mails, unanswered mails or phone calls...total lack of any professionalism or empathy towards candidates, like they aren't there for us and because of us.

Yeah, they are salesmen, but even from my humble IT perspective, there are some obvious and basic rules which, beside others, make a successful salesman - provide a decent, honest and professionally ethical service to the one, see a person behind that damn CV, find him a suitable role by making at least some effort throughout the process, and what will you get?
A satisfied person who will recommend you to anyone and will return to you in case of searching for another job.
Consequently that means for a recruiter that he, a successful salesman aka recruiter, will not only earn a commission once, but will increase it exponentially when thinking about future expectancies. For that, though, you'd need to be a successful salesman, but not the automated robot with a bunch of standard questions for candidates and the one who completely ignores the humane part of a recruitment process. And really, being a human and making some effort shouldn't be that hard, especially if you've chosen that profession to work in.

evey3624

I hate having to deal with recruitment agencies I have found nearly all I have dealt with really poor but the worst has to be CPL Limerick!!

I am never using them again.....they just waste your time, never reply to your mails/calls and they certainly do not get to know you.

J Mysterio

Thimas Hogan in CPL Limerick is good

evey3624

J Mysterio it was Thomas I was dealing with!!.......maybe he just doesn't like me

summonerm

evey3624 wrote: »

J Mysterio it was Thomas I was dealing with!!.......maybe he just doesn't like me

They don't like to be asked too many questions.

that jack

It is a while since I looked for a job in Dublin. Do agencies just operate online now, or are there any that you can arrange an appointment with and speak to in person?
As far as I can see, they mosly just post new openings on line and wait for applicants. Is that it?

Also, can anyone recommend an agency that deals specifically with financial services / banking / office positions?


Any advice would be appreciated.

on_my_oe

They only want to meet you in person if your CV has gone through to a company and the company actually wants to meet you - the agency only wants to give you the once over if it's worth their while.

Try Brightwater for finance roles.

that jack

ok.

thanks for the info, i'll try brightwater

J Mysterio

When I was jobhunting last year, I picked out 5-10 agencies and went around to them. They were all surprised I just dropped in. One of them was like, 'if only more candidates had your approach' and then proceeded to do fck all for me (la creme)

micromary

No surprise there that they did feck all for you. Sounds like a typical agency alright. Full of the brown stuff. Yet to meet a decent genuine agency person.

BC-KK

Not sure what the recruitment agency business model is exactly but they do precisely nothing you can't do yourself with an internet connection and a bit of patience. I've sent cvs to several now and I may aswell have sent them to timbuktu for all the use it did my job search... While applying directly to employers has always gotten some kind of acknowledgement (be it positive or negative, sooner or later etc etc) ... whereas [insert agency name] just seem to be collecting them for their own personal amusement or something - or maybe they sell yr data to marketing companies? Anyways they fundamentally suck at helping people get jobs.

benzy00

Hi I have been working in the banking sector in recent years and with the likes of LinkedIn, it's easier for recruiters to source potential candidates. I usually would not go near recruiters, as they are at best glorified salesmen,However I had a bad day in work one day,looked at my phone and had a voicemail from Kaizen recruitment,Colm Reynolds was his name. He gave me the whole spiel about what he had available,I bought it. After calling him back and sending two emails,including updating my cv for him he never got back to me. Not even a courtesy email to say I wasn't suitable for any roles. I often get calls of hays, who are the biggest cowboys, Reynolds shoud work for them. They will do anything for a Job placements, square peggs in round holes. I was recruited by them out of college, they placed me in a role. Fair play got me a job etc, but then it all went down hill. I was made permanent by my employer,so were a couple of other temps. Hays told us about a course that they were running with NCI regarding bank exams,that would be nationally recognised,at a level of the QFAs. Registered for the exams,paid for them only to be told they were not recognised at all. The whole sage brought and end to the bank doing any dealing with hays. You had to log hours weekly with them(normal enough procedure) always found them rude and totally unprofessional.one lad was sick,genuine,got a call from a girl in hays giving out to him,when the bank had granted him leave as obviously if you're not in hays were not getting paid. Absolute cowboys Ted.

allibastor

benzy00 wrote: »

Hi I have been working in the banking sector in recent years and with the likes of LinkedIn, it's easier for recruiters to source potential candidates. I usually would not go near recruiters, as they are at best glorified salesmen,However I had a bad day in work one day,looked at my phone and had a voicemail from Kaizen recruitment,Colm Reynolds was his name. He gave me the whole spiel about what he had available,I bought it. After calling him back and sending two emails,including updating my cv for him he never got back to me. Not even a courtesy email to say I wasn't suitable for any roles. I often get calls of hays, who are the biggest cowboys, Reynolds shoud work for them. They will do anything for a Job placements, square peggs in round holes. I was recruited by them out of college, they placed me in a role. Fair play got me a job etc, but then it all went down hill. I was made permanent by my employer,so were a couple of other temps. Hays told us about a course that they were running with NCI regarding bank exams,that would be nationally recognised,at a level of the QFAs. Registered for the exams,paid for them only to be told they were not recognised at all. The whole sage brought and end to the bank doing any dealing with hays. You had to log hours weekly with them(normal enough procedure) always found them rude and totally unprofessional.one lad was sick,genuine,got a call from a girl in hays giving out to him,when the bank had granted him leave as obviously if you're not in hays were not getting paid. Absolute cowboys Ted.

Kaizen are a joke!!!!
Any agency that has its own staff turnover every few months are not worth their salt.
And that is most of them!!!

micromary

2 agencies Aedin Fiel of Orange Recruitment and Philip Lawlor or Brightwater were supposed to call me at certain times during the week. I tried to get in touch but now cannot get through. Really annoying:mad:

Curb Your Enthusiasm

CEM in Cork are to be avoided. Unprofessional and dodgy in how they advertise the jobs.

seachto7

They're sales people. I haven't had any great experiences with them to be honest.

They get in touch with you and are all about you initially with the job spec, but if you deviate one bit from what the job spec requires or what you want in relation to said job spec, they will drop you.

I realise they are trying to match people to jobs, or is it the other way around!

I do my best to try and avoid at all costs.

I get in touch with them saying I'm looking for something in area A, and they get back to me with jobs in area B, which is what I used to do and what I want to get out of.

micromary

I think you hit it right on the nail when you said "but if you deviate one bit from what the job spec requires or what you want in relation to said job spec, they will drop you".

I have just got a new contract on my work which I am delighted with. However last week I was dealing with plenty of these guys. I sent an email to one guy I had a telephone interview with last week and was hassling me every day. He wanted me to come in the next day to meet him. I wrote back why - I would meet him if they asked me to the interview and did not see any reason to meet him in person beforehand. Since then no answer back!

allibastor

micromary wrote: »

I think you hit it right on the nail when you said "but if you deviate one bit from what the job spec requires or what you want in relation to said job spec, they will drop you".

I have just got a new contract on my work which I am delighted with. However last week I was dealing with plenty of these guys. I sent an email to one guy I had a telephone interview with last week and was hassling me every day. He wanted me to come in the next day to meet him. I wrote back why - I would meet him if they asked me to the interview and did not see any reason to meet him in person beforehand. Since then no answer back!

That is shocking!!

I know they do want to meet candidates in advance due to them needing to see if the person is a nutter/smelly/drunk etc. But some places make an allowance for long travel

seachto7

I'm trying to look for opportunities in the UK, and have been toying with the idea of trying to meet recruitment agencies over there.

But at the same time, I'm thinking: "Why go over to England to meet people who may or may not put me forward for a job?"

I spoke to a guy yesterday who I had contacted, and he told me "I have several roles, and one in area X, which might be of interest".

They're always very cryptic when it comes to giving you the details of the actual bloody job!

I got back and said, while I would be interested, it's not the area I'm really looking to get into. I haven't heard back from him, and I probably won't.

A month or so ago, an agency in Dublin rang me, and I was on the phone with them for ages going through my experience etc, and how I'd be "great for this role", and then I never hear back from them.

There's also one guy in Limerick, who is a complete bullsh**ter, but I won't name him. It bugs me to see him driving around in his fancy car.