Recruitment agencies - name, shame (and praise)

dade

AARRRGH wrote: »

I have never lived in the UK and I never plan to live in the UK. I have no idea why they are sending me UK jobs.

they use to do that to me to now you mention it, Reed did it to at one stage all they gave me was uk based stuff.

janullrich

Well folks I think I have got a new low with regards recruitment companies. Lets name and shame. Well the name is SCC. Last Friday I got a call from them and they nicely advised that I would be top man for this job blah, blah, blah.(I won't name the company because it ain't fair) After sorting out my cv to make it look like what the company want, he advised that there would be a telephone interview. It was a collections role but he advised that I would need to go thoroughly through the company and mortgages and how the process operated. He also advised that there would be role play but not at the inital phone interview. Of course he was very keen. Well the lady asked nothing about the company and mortgages. She did a roleplay which was horrible. I felt crap afterwards particularly after a few hours work was literally wasted. I rang the agency afterwards to give them a b*****ing but the guy was not there. He has not rung back either. Typical! Thank God I just heard good news and I am starting a new job on Tuesday.

Pyjamarama

Honestly I think pretty much all the jobs advertised by agencies at the moment are fake and they are just fishing for CVs to use to attract companies to use them again. When I first started jobhunting in December I applied for about 50 admin jobs advertised through agencies (I had the relevant, if not more than the experience required). I received not one phone call back, I sometimes received an email saying that the job has been put on hold or some other rubbish even though the exact same job is still being advertised by them on numerous job sites!!

I talked to a recruiter that I've dealt with in the past and she admitted having no roles right now. Despite this her agency still have ads up for admin roles!!

A lot more companies are no longer using recruitment agencies as they are an unnecessary and expensive middle man. On most websites you can exclude agencies from your search which is what I do now, it's much quicker than sifting through lots of fake jobs.

And I'm sorry but the people who are saying that recruiters don't advertise fake jobs are delusional!!

flash harry

janullrich wrote: »

Well folks I think I have got a new low with regards recruitment companies. Lets name and shame. Well the name is SCC. Last Friday I got a call from them and they nicely advised that I would be top man for this job blah, blah, blah.(I won't name the company because it ain't fair) After sorting out my cv to make it look like what the company want, he advised that there would be a telephone interview. It was a collections role but he advised that I would need to go thoroughly through the company and mortgages and how the process operated. He also advised that there would be role play but not at the inital phone interview. Of course he was very keen. Well the lady asked nothing about the company and mortgages. She did a roleplay which was horrible. I felt crap afterwards particularly after a few hours work was literally wasted. I rang the agency afterwards to give them a b*****ing but the guy was not there. He has not rung back either. Typical! Thank God I just heard good news and I am starting a new job on Tuesday.

what an asshole, over preparing you for the interview, you should report him........and the role play was horrible too? OMG!!!!!

I'd have definitely rang you back though


Pyjamarama - agree with most of what you say, companies especially not using recruiters (me btb) especially in the lower to mid level roles as they can attract directly at the moment. Only thing I would argue is that we do have "open" jobs where the client legit has them on hold "temporarily" since December......

jkmanc1974

Think that in general most of the agencies are not the best, especially at even letting you know that a vacancy has been filled and no feedback from an application, however fully understand that the market is desperately quiet at the minute both here and in the UK, have lost count at this stage of the amount of applications that I have made since October, and have 15 years experience in the IT and Telecoms industry!

Brgds
Johnny

wratch

they are all crap:mad:

CorkFenian

Very very few IT support roles out there yet Real Time have at least 15 on irish jobs....Pack of f**kers!!!!!
Recruitment for IT, 99% of agencies havent a clue..I'm surprised those agencies are still standing to be honest.....

boggerboy

sukikettle wrote: »

Very helpful dedicated guys at Sales Placement and Headhunt....the sort of guys who remember they got you a job nine years ago

Have to agree with sukikettle on Sales Placement. When they placed me in a sales role 3 years ago they couldn't do enough, even after i got the job. Anyway fast forward to about 6 months ago and I received a call from them to tell me that their MD wanted to talk to me as she had heard I had left the job I orginally got - they found out by ringing that company to see if they had anymore vacancies.Anyway cut a long story short,MD was interested in why I left etc and also asked me if I was interested in some solid Senior Sales jobs, told her I was leaving sales to pursue something else and she was delighted for me,gave me her mobile number to use for myself or friends anytime I wanted! Class from start to finish..

On another note, i'm on the hunt again due to "current economic situation" - sick of hearing that.. so I'll report regularly on the not so good agencies or good ones

John Mason

I used to be a legal secretary.

i changed jobs about 4 years ago - leaving legal completely.

i had registered with a number of legal agencies 5 years ago. i am sick of them phoning me now to tell me they have the perfect legal job for me.

i actually said to the last one that called last week - "i registered with you 5 years ago, and this is the first time you have called me, it has taken you 5 years to get me an interview, i dont think a lot of your agency" she hung up on me LOL


i was a senior conveyancing secretary with 7 + years work experience. anyway, this agency sent me off to a large firm of solicitors, great package the works. i get into the interview and they start asking me all these litigation question - cue me staring blankly at them (i would have some knowledge of litagation but as indept as conveyancing)

the agency sent me for a senior litigation role - wasting my time and the company's time

i will never use agencies again

That was Meaghan legal recruitment

then there was Reed, who sent me for a job interview phone me to say i had been offered the job and was i interested, i said yes, definately and never heard from them again. left numerous messages looking for start dates and contracts - nada

John Mason

Oh yeah then there is Mary Bee

who has a job on their website for my current company at the moment. even though we have a recruitment freeze in places since last September and have just let 74 go.

one of the girls who was made redundant in january found it on their website and was very upset that she had been made redundant but her job was being advertised on a website :rolleyes:

catsalleycru

Hey anyone heard of or had dealings with the venn group, got an email from them this morning ?

Rb

pink fluffy bunny wrote: »

Oh yeah then there is Mary Bee

who has a job on their website for my current company at the moment. even though we have a recruitment freeze in places since last September and have just let 74 go.

one of the girls who was made redundant in january found it on their website and was very upset that she had been made redundant but her job was being advertised on a website :rolleyes:

I applied for a position advertised on MaryB in the middle of '08. Soon after I got a call asking me to come in to discuss the application, get "on file" and progress with the application.

So, off I went in to their office in the city centre. The agent wasn't ready for me despite us having arranged a specific time, she never told me I needed photo I.D and never once mentioned that there was a typing test involved. Ok, not a big issue, right?

I finally get to sit down with her and she informs me that the job I had actually applied for was now "closed" and starts talking about other similar specs, asking if I would be interested in them and making a list of anything I expressed even the slightest interest in.

She then ends the meeting and has some other agent who sorts out temp work come over and ask me about my experience in data entry and what I'd be interested in doing in the field, even though I've nothing on my CV to suggest I have the slightest inclination toward the area and never said anything about it whilst there! It seems they just read the result of my typing test and thought I'd enjoy doing it for a living!

Anyway, time goes by and the original agent is calling me with all these job specs that I've no interest in, or even in areas that I've explicitly said I didn't want to work in, trying to convince me to apply. I gave her the go ahead on one or two applications and she seemingly never heard anything back.

After nothing happening for quite some time, I log on to their site and see a load of jobs that I'd be interested in. Pages of them, infact, that I was not only interested in applying for but was well suited in both skill and experience so I ask the agent I was talking to about applying for them and here's where I really got a laugh;

She said that every single one of them was closed and they'd meant to take them off the site but hadn't gotten around to it, though subsequent checks showed that they regularly alter the content on their site without removing so much as one of the ads. Nice try MaryB.ie, for that alone I will never recommend you to even the most desperate of jobseekers.

During 08 I contacted quite a few agencies and most kept calling me with the promise of loads of money and fantastic benefits...in outbound telesales roles

My worst experience was with the Premier Group/La Creme.

I saw an advert for a job within their company as a recruitment consultant, and having a good sales and customer service background decided to throw in my CV and see what happened.

I got a callback pretty promptly and was told they were really impressed by my experience and wanted to get me in to interview for the position, and she mentioned that she'd get me to have a chat with some other agent about other internal and external jobs they had when we were done.

So closer to the time I get a call from them again, this time from the other agent telling me that the original interviewer wouldn't be available and that she'd have to carry it out instead. ALright I though, no harm.

On with the suit and in I head. First they had me fill out some forms to put me on their database and then I was brought in for my "interview".

The entire "interview" consisted of the agent telling me she'd this great job with o2/Vodafone/Meteor in New Business Development that she thought I'd be great at. Any time I mentioned that I was there on the premise that I was "interviewing" for the r.c job, she kind of acknowledged it and then quickly moved on.

I left fuming, the whole thing was quite clearly a farce and a sneaky way of getting me in to sell me some crappy b2b cold calling job. I had played along though and found myself on the mailing list of her trainee who had been attending the whole thing, to which she got a pretty hard reply and I haven't heard from the f*ckers since, thankfully.


I've had various other bad experiences with recruitment agencies, but those two spring to mind.

I have had a good experience with an agency before.

Shane Holton at Careers-Register

I put in his personal name so hopefully others can find him useful in the future. A few years ago I was new onto the full time work force and was aiming to get a job in a bank. Contacted Shane through CR, he got straight back onto me and arranged an interview with one of the big banks for me, then had me come in to his office the day before to prepare me.

He spent over an hour going through the questions they asked and giving me info to learn off to nail the interview and sure enough the next day I went, gave a great interview and got the job I applied for. He followed up with me after the interview, wasn't intrusive about what was asked, asked how I thought I got on etc and then followed up when I got the offer.

Unfortunately I arrived in for my first day and found out that the bank itself had changed my role and location to their headquarters in D4, instead of a smaller office beside the luas without consulting anyone. Stuck with it though until it got unbearable, but Shane still got paid

Randomly enough he actually left me a message recently asking how things were going, was I still down in the same place etc.

Sound guy and would recommend him to others seeking a job.

I also had a good experience with Manpower.

I applied for a job through their site that I was just about qualified for, would have liked to give it a go anyway and one of their agents rang me back saying that I didn't have enough experience in the particular area but would I be interested in going in for a chat anyway. Went in, didn't have to fill in those silly forms and had a long, informative chat wth one of their guys in a south Dublin branch who basically said that there was f*ck all available at that time but that he'd keep my details and keep an eye out if he saw something he thought would match me well.

Never heard back from him, which is far more respectable and appreciated than the chimps who'll follow up with you and try to sell you telemarketing jobs in tobcacco companies as though they're the opportunity of a lifetime.

flash harry

again it amazes me that other threads get moved/closed becuse the mod thinks its been done to death BUT this unsubstantiated allegations are allowed to be put in the public domain anon.

Pink Fluffy your a mod right?? shouldnt you know better.......

Moderators shame on you for faciliatating it, cowardice of the highest order.....NRF to complain anyone??? NO??? easier to post anon on boards as always, what a joke.....

FH

Rb

flash harry wrote: »

again it amazes me that other threads get moved/closed becuse the mod thinks its been done to death BUT this unsubstantiated allegations are allowed to be put in the public domain anon.

Most are merely comments about peoples experience with a service, and I don't see why anyone would feel the need to lie about the service from a recruitment agency as most people consider them shit irregardless.

flash harry wrote:

Pink Fluffy your a mod right?? shouldnt you know better.......

She's the moderator of PFJ, not Work&Jobs. Here she, like every other non-work&jobs moderator, is merely an ordinary poster and is subject to the same rules.

This stands for every other forum on this website and you should get that into your head before making further similar comments.

flash harry wrote:

Moderators shame on you for faciliatating it, cowardice of the highest order.....NRF to complain anyone??? NO??? easier to post anon on boards as always, what a joke.....
FH

Just because you don't like what you are reading, doesn't mean it shouldn't be said/talked about. Peoples experience with services should be spread, it'll ensure the good providers get the most customers and take care of them, whilst the bad ones are left to (hopefully) go into liquidation and never be seen again.

The feedback could also be useful for those agencies who are getting blasted to fix themselves up but more than anything, it is a good warning to those who are slightly vunerable (being unemployed and resorting to an agency is vulnerable as far as I'm concerned) about the bad companies that will attempt to screw them over.

If whoever you're working for is a "good company", then surely you've nothing to worry about, right?

So relax, or stop reading altogether.

John Mason

flash harry wrote: »

Pink Fluffy your a mod right?? shouldnt you know better.......

err.....why should i know better, i havent done anything wrong?

the other thread was closed, as far as i can see, it was identical to this thread

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

flash harry wrote: »

again it amazes me that other threads get moved/closed becuse the mod thinks its been done to death BUT this unsubstantiated allegations are allowed to be put in the public domain anon.

Pink Fluffy your a mod right?? shouldnt you know better.......

Moderators shame on you for faciliatating it, cowardice of the highest order.....NRF to complain anyone??? NO??? easier to post anon on boards as always, what a joke.....

FH

We are raising awareness. If the companies didn't take the piss out of us, stopped wasting our time and began to take us seriously, being honest with us and what not, then we wouldn't have these threads.

We have every right to have these threads. Recruitment agencies are scum.

Please gtfo

herya

Abby Witty Snack wrote: »

Recruitment agencies are scum.

Tell it to all these people we placed... You do seem very frustrated indeed but lashing out will not help.

As a recruiter I have no issues with people posting comments on agencies, good or bad. Agencies are companies who provide certain services and as such can and should be reviewed.

These reviews should however be informative and substantiated not just "X are scum" or "Y are muppets". And I'm not sure if naming actual agents is helpful, their personal details are personal after all and in many cases it's actually down to personality clash more than to professional service (or the lack of it) provided.

Rb

Most agents names are available on the websites anyway, and some agents in the companies could be really good while others could be terrible so I don't see how naming and shaming is any harm.

Trying to pass off the amount of bad experiences people have had with recruiters as personality clashes, as opposed to sh1t service/unprofessional service is hilarious.

Regarding the "Tell that to all the people we placed", in truth your agency and every other have probably had about 20 times the amount you've placed walk out and never contact you again.

herya

Rb wrote: »

Trying to pass off the amount of bad experiences people have had with recruiters as personality clashes, as opposed to sh1t service/unprofessional service is hilarious.

I'm not saying it's the majority of cases, in fact it's probably the minority and small at that. But I wonder how many posters here would have the courage to sign their name slating their named consultant?

Rb wrote: »

Regarding the "Tell that to all the people we placed", in truth your agency and every other have probably had about 20 times the amount you've placed walk out and never contact you again.

Generalise much?... Yes for every job out there there's one successful candidate and plenty who are left with nothing as no agency can promise they will have an identical job ASAP. It would be naivety to state otherwise. The only thing we can do is to make the process fair and transparent. In fact I believe it's one of the reasons why the industry is perceived in such a way: the vast majority of customers do not get their goods at the end and repeated rejection is not a nice feeling.

Rb

herya wrote: »

I'm not saying it's the majority of cases, in fact it's probably the minority and small at that. But I wonder how many posters here would have the courage to sign their name slating their named consultant?

I wouldn't do it on this account purely because I don't want my full name being linked with this account, I would however sign up a second account to do so if it were allowed under the sites T&C's, however as it stands it is not.

herya wrote:

Generalise much?... Yes for every job out there there's one successful candidate and plenty who are left with nothing as no agency can promise they will have an identical job ASAP. It would be naivety to state otherwise. The only thing we can do is to make the process fair and transparent. In fact I believe it's one of the reasons why the industry is perceived in such a way: the vast majority of customers do not get their goods at the end and repeated rejection is not a nice feeling.

Lol, how delusional are you? Have you read this thread at all?

The overwhelming majority of peoples complaints with Recruitment Agencies are that the company, and their agents are full of shit and are no better than used car salesmen at the end of the day. They ring you up and try to force you to pursue shit roles that they've been handed, and then try to be condescending when you tell them it's not what you're after.

The overwhelming majority provided extremely poor service and are, at the best, dodgy.

Trying to convince yourself, or the management in your agency, that the reason people hate you/your company/your industry is not because people get rejected, but because the standard of service provided is so, so low that most would genuinely prefer to remain unemployed and sort themselves out, than approach a dodgy company full of liars who, at the end of the day, can't really do their job in itself properly whatsoever.

Sorry to be so blunt but it seems you really need to be brought back down to earth, you're in an industry which has a horrible reputation and with good reason and if you, your management, the company etc ever want to change that, you should take the feedback on board rather than trying to blame the "customers". It's pathetic.

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

herya wrote: »

Tell it to all these people we placed... You do seem very frustrated indeed but lashing out will not help.

As a recruiter I have no issues with people posting comments on agencies, good or bad. Agencies are companies who provide certain services and as such can and should be reviewed.

These reviews should however be informative and substantiated not just "X are scum" or "Y are muppets". And I'm not sure if naming actual agents is helpful, their personal details are personal after all and in many cases it's actually down to personality clash more than to professional service (or the lack of it) provided.

Fustrated that "people" like recruitment agents have jobs and I don't. The fact that they don't know the first thing about how to properly run a service.

You didn't put people in positions because you wanted to help the candidate or anything like that, you put people in positions because it benifited you. Try not to bullsh!t me with that one.

I have a woman that said she would contact me in one form or another about 3 months ago to see how I was getting on she "really wanted to help me". I went to an interview, for a job that was closed overnight. she rang twice with the same crap of "I really want to help you" but no, she didn't, if she did she could have persuaded some employers that my experience shouldn't be such a problem, that they should consider given me an interview. This doesn't happen though, because they simply do NOT care

I had one genuine agent, I applied for a job on his website, there were no positions available for me. He did send me an email with tips and pointers. He also offered help in the form of mock interviews, going over job specs and helping me with any future interviews. Now that's a service...

Yenwod

As regards temping work, I went to about 3 or 4 agencys which all promised me the sun, moon and stars and never got me any work.

Went to Osborne and they had me in a temp job the next day. Very good

CaraFawn

It is a fact there is un-qualified and time wasters people in all industries, recruitment agencies included, but I have seen people going to interviews un-shaved wearing jeans with their iPod speakers on the hears also so the blame can not always be put into agencies like I see often.

It is pretty obvious the way they work and also it is easy to understand the truth from the fake. So just make sure you fully understand what is being asked to you before you lose your time going over a meeting etc.

Also it is a fact many of them will never reply to your email or even ever call you back again. Just get over it, be more positive with a winning attitude and things will get better.

Also always be positive with people, even if they talk shiit to you. You are simply worth more than that. And who knows they might call you back later for a real opportunity, this has been seen before. So being in good terms in their books is a priority.

My 2 cents. I am not in recruitment biz.

flash harry

Rb wrote: »

Most are merely comments about peoples experience with a service, and I don't see why anyone would feel the need to lie about the service from a recruitment agency as most people consider them shit irregardless.



She's the moderator of PFJ, not Work&Jobs. Here she, like every other non-work&jobs moderator, is merely an ordinary poster and is subject to the same rules.

This stands for every other forum on this website and you should get that into your head before making further similar comments.



Just because you don't like what you are reading, doesn't mean it shouldn't be said/talked about. Peoples experience with services should be spread, it'll ensure the good providers get the most customers and take care of them, whilst the bad ones are left to (hopefully) go into liquidation and never be seen again.

The feedback could also be useful for those agencies who are getting blasted to fix themselves up but more than anything, it is a good warning to those who are slightly vunerable (being unemployed and resorting to an agency is vulnerable as far as I'm concerned) about the bad companies that will attempt to screw them over.

If whoever you're working for is a "good company", then surely you've nothing to worry about, right?

So relax, or stop reading altogether.

RB I'm merely pointing out that completely unsubstantiated claims against a given recruiter is unfair. How do you know its just not company x slagging off company Y, it's competition??

I dont mind it being said in general, even as a recruiter, I know the standards are appalling, but I still feel anon posting of names is cowardly.....and RB surely my views are just as valid as anyone esles even if you dont like what you're reading???

DTTfan

Hi all, Ive been reading through this thread for a while now, and agree with some of the comments on all the agencies. i have dealth with almost all of them at this stage, however has anyone got any comments on BMS sales in Dublin, i found them initially very pro active, putting me forward for some good roles but the last one was a dreadful experience. I was put forward for a role well below my experience but one i had to consider due to the current enviroment, i spent 5 hours at an interview broken down into a number of stages. After the interview was told we would be contacted the following week, Waited 1 week no call, 2nd week called BMS they had no news, 3 week called agency called BMS and was informed i didnt get the job, with no reason, feed back etc, I asked agency to find out why and to get the feed back. 5 weeks later i have heard nothing back from BMS. Anyone with similar stories.

John Mason

flash harry wrote: »

RB I'm merely pointing out that completely unsubstantiated claims against a given recruiter is unfair. How do you know its just not company x slagging off company Y, it's competition??

I dont mind it being said in general, even as a recruiter, I know the standards are appalling, but I still feel anon posting of names is cowardly.....and RB surely my views are just as valid as anyone esles even if you dont like what you're reading???

i would have absolutely no problem giving my name but due to my current job and usual surname, i wont be giving my real name here

Rb

flash harry wrote: »

RB I'm merely pointing out that completely unsubstantiated claims against a given recruiter is unfair. How do you know its just not company x slagging off company Y, it's competition??

To be honest, if that were going to happen it'd usually be a case where we'd see a few new accounts or ones with only a handful of posts to their names start making accusations. Long term posters here generally won't muck around like that, simply because there's a good chance that they will be found out. If you need to ask more questions about Shills, just drop DeVore a pm

flash harry wrote:

I dont mind it being said in general, even as a recruiter, I know the standards are appalling, but I still feel anon posting of names is cowardly.....and RB surely my views are just as valid as anyone esles even if you dont like what you're reading???

Your views are certainly valid but I wouldn't say "as anyone elses" purely because, as a recruiter, there will be a level of bias even on a subconscious level.

flash harry

Rb wrote: »

Your views are certainly valid but I wouldn't say "as anyone elses" purely because, as a recruiter, there will be a level of bias even on a subconscious level.

no but someone who is unemployed and agency cant get them a job is equally as psychologically tainted..........

and if you look at my posts you'll see I never say "the recruitment industry is great" - far from it but the truth is there are a few decent people in it, and despite my sainthood probably a long way off, I have 2 people working for me who in all liklihood will lose there jobs if things stay the way they are. Not because they are bad at their job, but because of the sectors we are exposed to, and no they are not bad people (before people start saying good recruiters are scum, glad they're losing their jobs) they treat people with respect as it should be......

0ubliette

Pyjamarama wrote: »

Honestly I think pretty much all the jobs advertised by agencies at the moment are fake and they are just fishing for CVs to use to attract companies to use them again.

I would pretty much agree with this. Im workign at the moment in IT but want a change of scenery as this one isnt agreeing with me too well, so i looked on recruitireland.com and lo and behold, theres a ton of jobs advertised by Realtime, exactly what im looking for, well paid, city centre, too good to be true! I applied for about 3 or 4 jobs, and didnt hear back about one single position, despite calling the Agents named in the adverts and telling them i specifically wanted to apply for job reference:XXXX, i just got fobbedd off with other positions either miles away for me or just stuff i had explicitly stated i didnt want to do.
I definitely think most positions, at least in IT, advertised by recruitment agencies are 100% fake. Glad to see other people with the same opinion as i was beginning to worry i was doing something wrong :rolleyes:

eth0_

RealTime are well known for that. Stay away from them!

M@21

I am glad I came across this subject because I was beginning to think that all those jobs advertised on the various web sites were just not my cup of tea, if the agencies were anything to go by.
I have had dealings with a number of them and some are good and some are just unprofessional.
A few of the one's mentioned already and the way they deal with candidates rings a bell, from their telephone conversations / spiel to your cv disappearing into their database only to resurface months later when your in a job.
I can understand if some people want to defend their profession but how can you justify phantom jobs being advertised on an internet "jobs" site.

How do you think people would feel if I posted up the following fictional adverts knowing they were just that?

Detached 4 Bed House for sale on 1 acre of land (with F.P.P for a separate dwelling), close to Dart / Luas / Airport / City Centre. Local sports amenities and shopping centre close by. Price in the region of 300K

2 year old BMW 320i, low mileage, sports version, 1 lady owner, Alloys, 10 Disc CD changer, owner emigrating, needs a quick sale - 15K Ono

Until there is more regulation of these agencies, we will keep on seeing these issues raised.
And of course the current economic climate does not help when people are being laid off and finding the market is not as it seems.

CorkFenian

eth0_ wrote: »

RealTime are well known for that. Stay away from them!

Some shower...i would advise people not to be fooled by Ray there..he is a prize f**kwit!!!!!

0ubliette

CorkFenian wrote: »

Some shower...i would advise people not to be fooled by Ray there..he is a prize f**kwit!!!!!

Thats the one i was talking to. And oddly enough he called up MY job the other week looking to see if we needed anyone! Felt like telling him to shove it

CorkFenian

Thats all Real Time do..They cold call the company you're leaving...I have heard so many bad things about them its unreal.....How are they still in business I'd like to know...They have loads of jobs on irishjobs at the moment..Very disheartening to see them all every day...

Redgraffle

I've sat down and read all 20 pages of this thread (Liverpool game v boring...)

I worked in recruitment agencies for several years and am now doing recruitment in a company. Most people here have a point of some shape or form. But I think people are judging the industry too easily... I've figured out some of the main issues and will attempt to address them...

Cold calling companies:
Guys seriously how else do you expect RC's to get clients... this is business development and is a part of every sales job since the dawn of time....

No contact from Recruiters:
Someone mentioned it a while ago - as RC's you get HUNDREDS of applications. Automated responses are the norm and the potentially good ones will be called. If you're called in for an interview and nothing happens after that its probably you are not a fit for the role they had in mind, or you're not good enough (harsh and a very difficult call to make...). I fully agree that candidates should be given feedback but constant updates to a candidate who is a fit for any live roles is not feasible... RC's do let themselves down by chickening out of making the difficult call to let someone know they were unsuccessful. Guys be proactive - call your recruiter for an update - if he avoids you then drop him and move on to someone better....

Advertising FAKE roles:
Probably the biggest complaint here. I don't agree with it but look at it rationally. Client A rings you in the morning saying they want a German speaking Sales person. You need to have all these candidates interviewed, checked out and ready to go when that role arrives. Any suggestions on how to convince someone to meet me to discuss a role "that might come up" ??? Like I said I don't agree with it but there are not many other options... You need to have candidates ready for all types of roles...

No understanding of the roles...
This is tough. Most recruiters recruit for a broad range of positions and if you think about it we're not Java Developers or programmers - we're sales people... Most people in software sales are pretty clueless and rely on pre sales to take care of the technical side of things... You should be able to explain yourself in plain english... the interview panel in the company will not all be IT specialists - you'll have to impress HR etc as well...

Anyway match over so I'm off... like I said I'm not defending the industry but for every person that gets a job there are hundreds of applicants and dozens of people to say no to... they can't all go away with positive feelings...

What I will say if anyone out there has a question as to why agencies do anything in particular ask me here - I'll tell you straight out - I'm not in the industry anymore so I'll be straight with you !!!

See ya !;)

CorkFenian

Redgraffle wrote: »

I've sat down and read all 20 pages of this thread (Liverpool game v boring...)

I worked in recruitment agencies for several years and am now doing recruitment in a company. Most people here have a point of some shape or form. But I think people are judging the industry too easily... I've figured out some of the main issues and will attempt to address them...

Cold calling companies:
Guys seriously how else do you expect RC's to get clients... this is business development and is a part of every sales job since the dawn of time....

No contact from Recruiters:
Someone mentioned it a while ago - as RC's you get HUNDREDS of applications. Automated responses are the norm and the potentially good ones will be called. If you're called in for an interview and nothing happens after that its probably you are not a fit for the role they had in mind, or you're not good enough (harsh and a very difficult call to make...). I fully agree that candidates should be given feedback but constant updates to a candidate who is a fit for any live roles is not feasible... RC's do let themselves down by chickening out of making the difficult call to let someone know they were unsuccessful. Guys be proactive - call your recruiter for an update - if he avoids you then drop him and move on to someone better....

Advertising FAKE roles:
Probably the biggest complaint here. I don't agree with it but look at it rationally. Client A rings you in the morning saying they want a German speaking Sales person. You need to have all these candidates interviewed, checked out and ready to go when that role arrives. Any suggestions on how to convince someone to meet me to discuss a role "that might come up" ??? Like I said I don't agree with it but there are not many other options... You need to have candidates ready for all types of roles...

No understanding of the roles...
This is tough. Most recruiters recruit for a broad range of positions and if you think about it we're not Java Developers or programmers - we're sales people... Most people in software sales are pretty clueless and rely on pre sales to take care of the technical side of things... You should be able to explain yourself in plain english... the interview panel in the company will not all be IT specialists - you'll have to impress HR etc as well...

Anyway match over so I'm off... like I said I'm not defending the industry but for every person that gets a job there are hundreds of applicants and dozens of people to say no to... they can't all go away with positive feelings...

What I will say if anyone out there has a question as to why agencies do anything in particular ask me here - I'll tell you straight out - I'm not in the industry anymore so I'll be straight with you !!!

See ya !;)

I agree with some of what you're saying.Regarding cold calling.Its done fair enough.But that company I named indulges in it as their only source of jobs from what I can see and have heard.Getting someones CV and pretending to be linking them with a fake role while cold calling their last place of employment is a bit harsh.I have a couple of good contacts in recruitment who only contact me when they have something concrete.Best for everyone all around.

Couple of questions..

How long were you in recruitment and why did you leave recruitment?
Did you ever feel you had sold your soul lying and bu115hitting people you were dealing with?
What training do they get for their respective fields of recruitment? I dont expect them to know loads about the job area..Even a little would help sometimes..

herya

Redgraffle wrote: »

No contact from Recruiters:
Someone mentioned it a while ago - as RC's you get HUNDREDS of applications. Automated responses are the norm and the potentially good ones will be called. If you're called in for an interview and nothing happens after that its probably you are not a fit for the role they had in mind, or you're not good enough (harsh and a very difficult call to make...). I fully agree that candidates should be given feedback but constant updates to a candidate who is a fit for any live roles is not feasible... RC's do let themselves down by chickening out of making the difficult call to let someone know they were unsuccessful. Guys be proactive - call your recruiter for an update - if he avoids you then drop him and move on to someone better....

I agree that it's physically impossible to personally acknowledge every single application. But not to give any kind of feedback to a person who actually invested their time in coming in to talk to us or the company is unprofessional. If you don't know how to tell them they are not good enough or the company didn't like them work on your communication skills. I'm sure every single consultant has "excellent communication skills" on their CV.

kittensoft1984

hey everyone,

So can anyway tell me what is the best recruitment company to go to for retail sales jobs???

Farls

kittensoft1984 wrote: »

hey everyone,

So can anyway tell me what is the best recruitment company to go to for retail sales jobs???

I don't think there is a 'best' in class when it comes to recruitment companies, it all depends on who deals with you when you ring up and what jobs the company actually have on their books. Scan this thread and you should find a few though.

newballsplease

Can anyone tell me whats the best thing to say or do to convince an employer to give you a job if you have ZERO experience inthat line of work?????????

eg: a normal sales person... what are the best things to say/do etc in an interview??????????????
any tips would help.

Farls

newballsplease wrote: »

Can anyone tell me whats the best thing to say or do to convince an employer to give you a job if you have ZERO experience inthat line of work?????????

eg: a normal sales person... what are the best things to say/do etc in an interview??????????????
any tips would help.

Thats for another thread...do a search for interview techniques or similar.

dolly13

I am so sick of recruitment agencies posting fake jobs its such a waste of everyone's time! This morning I found an add for a job that sounded absolutely perfect for me it was added today and had "New" on the add I sent in my cv and got a call ten minutes later and the girl tells me she thinks I would be absolutely perfect for the role but unfortunately it was filled before christmas! WTF! I told her it had only been added to the site today and she tells me that they took on 3 new people just before Christmas so she was sure they would be on the look out for more new people in the coming months - then she wanted to know when I could come in and meet her??? What a waste of time - I wonder could they be done for false advertising! Its ridiculous that they can get away with wasting peoples time like this!

CorkFenian

Have been through BS with agencies, today was another example. Was called by them last week.They were going to put me through for a role , (so I was told)...Sent her an email to confirm this..No reply..Called her today..She said they could only put through one cv..(Its for a role I would consider myself over qualifed, but in a good way for company involved as its still short term contract work)..In the meantime I got called by other agencies for it..Of course I told them about me already put forward for it with someone else.So as not duplicate my cv....This agents complete inaction is really infuriarating..I know its par for the course...Their a crowd with a terrible name..Which I would only use during these times..When every avenue has to be explored...ITA what a bunch of muppets!!!..Very frustrating....

Kess73

The "come in and meet me" bit is very annoying sometimes when there is no role available. One recruitment company in Dublin seems to do this for every role you apply for, and when you say you were in with one of their colleagues the week beforehand, they say that unless they meet you themselves then there is not much they can do.


Now this may be fine when you live in the same county, but driving up from Limerick for what turns out to be a very basic 15 minute chat is a waste of my time, when the same chat was had with another person in their office the week beforehand, and is something that should be done on the phone when there is not a real role there. I mean how hard is it for them to go and check what their colleague wrote about you the week before once you give them the name of the person you were with?

Rb

kittensoft1984 wrote: »

hey everyone,

So can anyway tell me what is the best recruitment company to go to for retail sales jobs???

With regards to retail sales, just go out yourself and look for the jobs. Virtually no retail companies use recruiters so I'd be skeptical of any that need to use one.

Go into the stores you're interested in working for, ask to speak to the manager on duty and then ask if they're looking for any staff, if they're not then make sure to give them a CV and ask them to call you asap if something comes up. Dress well to give a good first impression, if you're a girl do your makeup and dress in clothes that are similar to what their staff are wearing.

Merely dropping your CV in won't get you anywhere, when I was a teenager I worked for one of the better high street retailers and if someone we didn't like the look of dropped a CV in, we just binned it and the management never knew they'd been in, hence why it's important to ask to speak to whoever is dealing with the jobs there.

jkmanc1974

Kess73 wrote: »

The "come in and meet me" bit is very annoying sometimes when there is no role available. One recruitment company in Dublin seems to do this for every role you apply for, and when you say you were in with one of their colleagues the week beforehand, they say that unless they meet you themselves then there is not much they can do.


Now this may be fine when you live in the same county, but driving up from Limerick for what turns out to be a very basic 15 minute chat is a waste of my time, when the same chat was had with another person in their office the week beforehand, and is something that should be done on the phone when there is not a real role there. I mean how hard is it for them to go and check what their colleague wrote about you the week before once you give them the name of the person you were with?

Completely agree with the above, I was dealing with an agency about a month ago ref a position, asked me to come up to the office in Dublin, fair enough but for a 5 minute chat and that was it!!!!!

Well worth the 3 1/2 hour drive from Mayo I think not.....

Brgds
Johnny

Thumpette

I worked in a recruitment agency for 6 months. It was the most horrible job I've ever had by a long long way. The working environment itself was awful, bitchy, backstabbing, unreal pressure, completely unprofessional.

It is a very competative industry- a lot of people jumped on the bandwagon when times were good, and a bit like estate agents etc, couldnt help themselves but make money.

Because of that there are now a lot of people who think they are amazing recruiters because of past success, but are having to be pretty devious to get any sort of success in the current market.

It was absolutely expected that you get information of everyone you speak to about where they are working and where they are interviewing. You are then expected to contact the company they are working for and try to get a job from them, and send other candidates in for the other jobs they are interviewing.

I would advise anyone who had to deal with agencies to never tell them who else they are currently interviewing for. Mostly they will probably know, but otherwise you can really jeapordise your chances.

I would aways now study ads from agencies and try to figure out what company the job is for and apply directly!

AARRRGH

Thumpette wrote: »

I would aways now study ads from agencies and try to figure out what company the job is for and apply directly!

Yeah, this is a sound idea. It's normally not too difficult to guess who the employer is, at least if it's in IT anyway.

CorkFenian

Thumpette wrote: »

I worked in a recruitment agency for 6 months. It was the most horrible job I've ever had by a long long way. The working environment itself was awful, bitchy, backstabbing, unreal pressure, completely unprofessional.

It is a very competative industry- a lot of people jumped on the bandwagon when times were good, and a bit like estate agents etc, couldnt help themselves but make money.

Because of that there are now a lot of people who think they are amazing recruiters because of past success, but are having to be pretty devious to get any sort of success in the current market.

It was absolutely expected that you get information of everyone you speak to about where they are working and where they are interviewing. You are then expected to contact the company they are working for and try to get a job from them, and send other candidates in for the other jobs they are interviewing.

I would advise anyone who had to deal with agencies to never tell them who else they are currently interviewing for. Mostly they will probably know, but otherwise you can really jeapordise your chances.

I would aways now study ads from agencies and try to figure out what company the job is for and apply directly!

Thats some good advice..TBH would never before tell agencies when asked who I've spoken to etc...Find it harder now,they definitely know they can apply more pressure at moment such is number of applicants..I will keep that in mind..So would you recommend saying that you're not applying anywhere else or just say that you'd rather not say..

mrpink6789

CorkFenian wrote: »

Thats some good advice..TBH would never before tell agencies when asked who I've spoken to etc...Find it harder now,they definitely know they can apply more pressure at moment such is number of applicants..I will keep that in mind..So would you recommend saying that you're not applying anywhere else or just say that you'd rather not say..

Just say yes youa re interviewing elsewhere but the other agencies asked you to keep it confidential. If they say something like "well I don;t want to waste your time by ringing you and finding out you are already with that company" Just tell them that all it will take is a 20 second phone call. All agencies try and find out as much info as possible from candidates, nature of the business. You don't have to give them the info unless they have you in mind for the same company as you don't want your CV going in twice!