Recruitment agencies - name, shame (and praise)

micromary

Don't worry about shaming anybody...These clowns need to be dealt with with. Between today and yesterday I received 4 calls and a number of emails from David Smyth of Next Generation despite me advising yesterday of my current situation. I wrote him a polite but hard-hitting email back. Fed up of been pressurised into ringing in the next half hour or need to speak you asap etc.:mad:

Tigger1603

Oh god this thread is starting to scare me! I have been in touch with a specialised recruitment agency in the UK about relocating. They told me about a perfect position in the UK and I actually got really excited about it- the location, benefits and role are exactly what I'm looking for. I looked up the company and they are advertising but it seems like they've have been looking for the same position for a while..

Now I'm afraid the whole thing was all bollocks! They are coming over to meet candidates for an informal chat in 2 weeks in Dublin (3 hour drive for me). Is this a waste of my time? I'm still going to go but from peoples experience, is this most likely going to come to nothing? I am so naive!

uck51js9zml2yt

Practically every job I have ever gotten over the last 25years has been through an agency.
Granted a lot of them are a waste of space and salesmen but once you know that they can be used to your advantage to get the job you want.

allibastor

One thing I always find hilarious is when an agency advertise a role after you have sent your CV in ages before which is exactly in your area.

They dont seem to have much in the way of CV recognition skills as many never call back. Considering an agency's biggest asset is the speed they respond to a company it always amazes me

BRITINDUBLIN

BRITINDUBLIN wrote: »

Hi All,

I am an IT recruiter from a well established agency in Dublin. I have been recruiting for Software engineers for 3 years now and have worked for 2 agencies during this time.

Its been interesting to read lots of these and to get an understanding of how we are perceived. A lot of it I have heard before and some things I haven't.

First of all, Let me clear up something. The way agencies make money is from a "finders fee" from a company who is looking for that certain skill set. Simple! A company would use an agency for a number of reasons. 2 examples are: A company recruits so may people across multiple skill sets that they don't have the time to recruit for niche skills etc, so would go to an specialist recruiter to do so. On the other hand a company may be so small they don't have a HR dept and don have time or the "know how" to do it. If they are recruiting sales people they could spend money on an advert and get 100's of applications then no time to siv through them all or; recruit Java developers and be looking at there inbox waiting weeks on end for a single CV. There are different reasons why a company would use an agency.

I read that a few of you think we are cowboys, we are dodgy sales people, we are only looking after number one. Lets not Jazz this up. We are all sales people in this job and if we aren't selling we aren't doing our job. BUT for a recruitment consultant to make the sale and to make sure that we have done right by candidate and company, there are a number of things that we need to make sure we do; and these things 9 times out of 10 ensure that we get the sale. I am talking about actually meeting the candidate, visiting the company so you know what the building looks like, i'm talking about interview preparation, CV writing, salary expectation management, managing expectations full stop!!!! This job is about networking and building business relationships. (Some of my candidates, i would still meet for a beer or a coffee).

I recruit Java developers(software developers). and my god. It is very very cut throat out there. and I have spoke and met candidates who have had some shocking experiences. Example: An agent saying there CV is with a company, the company turned out to be a client of mine and I spoke with the client regarding the candidate and the CEO of the company says we haven't received a single CV yet. Poor candidate has been waiting for 2 weeks for feedback. OUTCOME; i pick up the pieces represent the candidate "exclusively" and I get him the job.

My advice to you whether your a candidate in IT or sales or Marketing or whatever; YOU choose the recruiter who YOU want to work with.

If I was suddenly looking for a job and was going down the agency route. I would first of all avoid the jobs boards, ie. Monster, irishjobs etc. I would find out who the best agents are and speak to 2-3, and arrange a meeting. If the agent avoids to meet or isn't keen to meet then this is a good sign that they are not a good agent. During the meeting I would expect them to ask me about who I am and the type of role I want and to give me offer advice and tips(interview.CV). (People always make the mistake of working with every agent in Dublin spraying there CV all over the place. It is very very bad practice)
Treat this engagement with the agency like a relationship. there has to be that respect for one another. the best recruiters out there are proactive and will actually "represent" candidates by reaching out to there network to offer to introduce candidates to clients.

I could go on and on. I am happy to offer advice or information to anyone who wants clarity on how agency's work and can offer advice on how to find work regardless of what you do. Feel free to private message me.

Thanks

Its been a couple of years since I wrote this. Great thread!!!

allibastor

Just had dealings with FRS.


All I can say is very disappointing.

Saint_Mel

allibastor wrote:

All I can say is very disappointing.

Actually I'd forgotten about these. At least 3 times I contacted them about roles that turned out to be either put up by mistake or the client sent them in the wrong requirements!

Pure bluffers.

allibastor

Saint_Mel wrote: »

Actually I'd forgotten about these. At least 3 times I contacted them about roles that turned out to be either put up by mistake or the client sent them in the wrong requirements!

Pure bluffers.

Shocking is all I can say, 2nd interview. 1 month to hear anything back, then a mail merge email to say my application wasn't successful.

micromary

BRITINDUBLIN, you are one of the few recruitment consultants that sound half genuine. You are very much in the minority however!

seachto7

Forward Recruitment in Manchester/Nth West UK. A joke.

allibastor

Anyone any dealings with Seetec?

L.Jenkins

Oh how I love applying for jobs, then conversing with recruiters who ring me to discuss entirely different role, completely unrelated to the one I applied. Why thank you Eden Recruitment for píssing my valuable time down the drain.

For me, it's gotten so bad, I've send the recruiter away to get it right.

micromary

I have decided to stay in my current job. The thoughts of filling out long application forms ie Deutsche Bank or getting a useless recruitment consultant to do it for me makes it a no win situation.

Oh to meet a decent, genuine recruitment consultant who tells the truth and does not bull**** the whole time.....

Berserker

micromary wrote: »

I have decided to stay in my current job. The thoughts of filling out long application forms ie Deutsche Bank or getting a useless recruitment consultant to do it for me makes it a no win situation.

Oh to meet a decent, genuine recruitment consultant who tells the truth and does not bull**** the whole time.....

Keep the hunt going but steer clear of the agencies.

L.Jenkins

micromary wrote: »

Oh to meet a decent, genuine recruitment consultant who tells the truth and does not bull**** the whole time.....

You can go job hunting without the use of recruiters. I applied directly to previous Companies I've worked for, most without internal hiring and recruitment functions.

monflat

Anyone have dealings with ttm healthcare as temp agency??

Late to this thread but just thought I would post as I have used agencies and have found them all completely useless. Grafton recruitment avoid at all costs so unprofessional!

GiftofGab

Looking for a new job in the finance sector and dealt with almost every agency in Dublin. Never come across such a flaky bunch of people in my life. Absolutely useless.

They call me all the time, leaving voicemails, sending ne emails. I speak with them and they offer me positions. This usually ends with them sending me job specs by email. I tell them im interested and never hear back from them again. Never to return my calls or even reply to my emails.

GiftofGab

I have nearly 5 years experience working in the banking and finance sector along with a degree and postgrad. Also, looking to start my part time masters next sept in Smurfit. One guy from the panel called me to offer me a job of data entry, filling and preparing notes etc. Job specs states that candidates must be able to speak english, have worked in office environment before and is able to use Microsoft excel and word.

J Mysterio

lol

TrustedApple

Got a email of one today that i reg with in the IT area.

thought you may know of someone that could be interested in this job ?.

Job is a SQL Dev with 0 - 1 year of exp. Basically me .....

What do they be thinking at time ?.

L.Jenkins

TrustedApple wrote: »

Got a email of one today that i reg with in the IT area.

thought you may know of someone that could be interested in this job ?.

Job is a SQL Dev with 0 - 1 year of exp. Basically me .....

What do they be thinking at time ?.

It's like a marketing email of the recruitment world. A mass mail to see who'll take the bait.

seachto7

Got a call off Morgan McKinley last week about a few jobs, and haven't heard anything since. Now, that's not to say they didn't put my CV forward and other suitable candidates were chosen.

They did ask me for a copy of my passport which I haven't sent on. I'm not too comfortable sending people copies of my passport to be honest.

Andrew Laeddis

CPL are complete spoofers

Brightwater/Brightstar are excellent

micromary

Lucky you. My experience of Brightwater (Chloe Shiels) is the same as most other agencies. Full of the brown stuff and little else if I am honest. One of the few decent honest people I have dealt with as regards recruitment agencies is Carlos Belard of CMV Recruitment in Ballsbridge. At least he will get back to you and advise you of where you are at.

Tazzimus

Andrew Laeddis wrote: »

CPL are complete spoofers

I worked for one of their many segments and it's not just limited to recruitment..

Vantage were great to deal with, specifically Sam Rumball, got me my new job.

Berserker

seachto7 wrote: »

Got a call off Morgan McKinley last week about a few jobs, and haven't heard anything since. Now, that's not to say they didn't put my CV forward and other suitable candidates were chosen.

They did ask me for a copy of my passport which I haven't sent on. I'm not too comfortable sending people copies of my passport to be honest.

That's a new one on me. What did they want the copy of your passport for? Chances are they didn't have a role to suit your requirements but didn't want to say that to you.

Mr. Incognito

Recruitment agencies are a waste of employer and employee time.

Dont use them. Never have, never will. Go get the job you want. They wont.

micromary

I remember Orange Recruitment asked me for a copy of my passport about 4 years ago. Never heard from for a long time after that interview. More agencies are asking for it. They must think that the people that are applying could be terrorists:D

Mc Love

Submitted my CV to Harmonics, got a reply back and they spelt my name wrong.

Dealt with an Emma Banks from IT Retail People in the UK and she was lovely to deal with.

donkey balls

micromary wrote: »

I remember Orange Recruitment asked me for a copy of my passport about 4 years ago. Never heard from for a long time after that interview. More agencies are asking for it. They must think that the people that are applying could be terrorists:D

Under no circumstances would I let a recruitment agency take a copy of my passport,I have in the past had to show my passport and get it copied by my employers due to the nature of the work I did at the time.

Mc Love

Next Generation, judging by a lot of the posts on here, are really bad at what they do. So I'm on Irish Jobs and see a job with them, I always check the company/recruiter website as there is normally quite a few bogey/old job postings on the job search engines and lo and behold, absolutely no sign of the job on their own website.

Dont know what to think really.

Eugene Norman

I found agencies in Britain to be much better than here. They seemed to understand specific niches.

Andrew Laeddis

Do Recruitment people actually get paid well?

What's an average wage?

batman400

Approach People Recruitment

---

IT Guy here - Beginning there was good communication (when they were trying to hook me into taking an interview),
from there, communication dwindled to the point where they purposely avoided contacting me regarding my concerns once I had signed the dotted line.

Lead to the following:
-Start date was changed 3 times
-Was assigned the wrong job title on arrival.
-Didn't get paid for an entire month (left me stuck to try pay rent etc without salary)
-False information / assurances given to me
-Benefits of job were falsely described and not as initially described by the recruiter (pension, dental and health insurance and bonus all different to what I was promised).

Essentially I will summarize it like this, once they have you and get their bonus, they couldn't give a single phook about your conditions or concerns.

Will never ever deal with them again.

Reg

micromary

You were lucky that you got in contact with them in the first place. I always wanted to go to Blackrock to see if they existed. Approach People alone give Recruitment Consultancy a bad name.

micromary

I saw a few posts here about Next Generation. This is another recruitment company who a few of their consultants have got in touch in touch with me recently. One sent an interesting job description and wanted to meet with me. I am not sure at all judging by the comments here. Are they really full of the brown stuff?

Andrew Laeddis

Are Next Gen/Nu Parc the same?

TrustedApple

Brightwater

Do they even read a cv ?. Sent in my cv for a it help desk role have nearly 6 months experience working as that + IT degree and I am cert in both Windows and Linux OS systems.

I am not skilled for the job ?. Go way like

Really how are you post to get experience when they don't give you the chance to get experience?.

allibastor

Grafton Recruitment - Rubbish
Nu Parc- Rubbish
BMS- Rubbish
Sales Placement - Rubbish
Frs/ Turas Nua- Rubbush
Birhgtstar - Rubbish.


These are from client side by the way, all found to just fling a CV at you

Andalucia

Quest Recruitment - phantom roles is all they have advertised, as inept an organisation as you will find

seachto7

Morgan McKinley. I've also had the same experience with an English crowd. You'll send in a CV or apply for a job, and for a day or so, they are all about you, ringing you, helping to tweak the CV, then nothing. Zero.

Mc Love

So a recruitment agency I'm dealing with at the moment, had a job advertised that is no longer advertised on their website, but has appeared on other job sites however the agent said he is still waiting to hear back despite he saying that it was an urgent position. I can't see any opportunities for the company on their website. Is that normal?
Other jobs that I've come across on job sites, don't then appear on the recruitment website. Are these phishing type jobs? The sole purpose to get your CV?

Very frustrating for job seekers

Grafton recruitment are hands down the worst :P Was promised a job and a start date and heard no more!

Andy Magic

Andalucia wrote: »

Quest Recruitment - phantom roles is all they have advertised, as inept an organisation as you will find

So they're still up to there old tricks :eek:

micromary

Good God. Depressing news for December. Somebody tell me a good news recruiter story:D

Andalucia

Andy Magic wrote: »

So they're still up to there old tricks :eek:

I don't know how they are in business, I had to laugh a few weeks ago when one of my colleagues rang them for a role they had advertised - giving it socks about how great a role it was - went into detail on the role and the advertised salary - a) there was no role - it was advertised as for being on the team my colleague was working on and b) the starting salary was plucked out of thin air as it didn't reflect what people in the company actually earn

Still waiting on a phone call from one of their senior recruiters with a few weeks, I guess he hasn't rang me back as he knows I'll call him out again on his roles which don't exist

My condolences to anyone who works on a temporary contract with Morgan Mckinley - they appear to have difficulty processing those weekly timesheets which results in weekly phone calls about when am I going to get paid

allibastor

Manpower.

Got a call a while back saying they had a load of jobs which perfectly matched me, so could I have a chat about my CV.

20 mins later and the recruiter actually didnt know what i did. Dont think these jobs were as perfect as he said initially!!!!

New Ice Age

CPL and Computer Futures are just awful!

You apply for a job they've advertised..the next day you get a call from one of them saying "I came across your cv online and wanted to talk to you about a few opportunities you might be interested in." None of which are remotely like the job you applied for!

I'm beginning to doubt the existence of those advertised jobs.

I also got.a call from a woman in...I can't be sure...anyway...

...she starts off the phone call with "Hi New Age Ice, unfortunately you were unsuccessful for that role" etc.

I thought, things really are bad at the moment - I'm getting proactively turned down for jobs I haven't even applied nor interviewed for!

She was convinced she had the right person!

micromary

That is funny:D

Speaking of CPL in Percy Place I went to them yesterday. They are nearby to where I work so I said why not...Then the wasted experience started.

First of all the guy who I had sent my CV in a few weeks ago wrote to me yesterday afternoon advising that he had to leave the office early and would I meet my colleague who was working in a similar area as him.

- She had no idea what my CV was about
- No idea what I had applied for. The job had since gone
- No idea what I was looking for
- The two of them did not bother to speak to eachother beforehand. Asked why not she saidi the info was on the database.
- She worked in contract and not permanent roles. This despite me telling him that I was not interested in short-term contract work.

She then became completely pretentious and advised me that the best I can do is stay in the job I am in (This is after I advised her that my contract ends at the end of the month and may not be extended). To add insult to injury I had to bang on doors and windows to find somebody to led me out of the general building as the security guy had packed up. Ridiculous.:mad: