Recruitment agencies - name, shame (and praise)

Thumpette

mrpink6789 wrote: »

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!

Exactly, we were always told then to try to convince the person that you are a partnership, and you need to be honest with each other blah blah. Dont fall for it. Dont fall for these people acting like they want to be your friend, they want to go for a drink with you etc etc. They want the commission you can earn them, that and that alone.

I dont mean to sound all bitter, there are some lovely people working in recruitment and a lot who genuinely do want to help. I dont think they are the in the majority though. Just be careful and sensible, recruitment agencies can be a nessesary evil, just be smart about what you say and you can use them to your own advantage.

Capt'n Midnight

kittensoft1984 wrote:

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

You could try volunteering in a charity shop to get some experiance.

Oasis44

I USED to be a recruiter so I know all about how the agencies 'work'. To be fair there is a lot of good ones out there but so many cowboys also. The problem I think is that is so easy to set up an agency and the agents themselves generally have few if any real qualifications. Basically they are chancers and wafflers just trying to make a quick buck or as we used to say in my old agency 'if you throw enough mud at the wall some of its going to stick' meaning send out as many CV's as possible to your 'clients' and I'm sure they'll want to interview some of them.

At the end of the day its a glorified telesales role with no career path so dont bash the agents feel sorry for them. IMO ALL agents should have a CIPD qualification or at least be on the path to getting one - it would give them more credibility AND it would make them better recruiters. The fact that you actually had to study to begin with would put a lot of the cowboys off entering the industry. The good thing about this recession is that it will wipe out half the agencies in Ireland (the bad ones mainly) and that will be a good thing for the industry in the long run I KNOW.

Oh and I'm actually on the market now - fully qualified in my area with 6 years experience. I registered with a 3/4 agencies I actually rate at the start of the year. Number of phone call in last 2 months: ZERO :rolleyes:

Oasis44

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

You could try volunteering in a charity shop to get some experiance.

Take my advise here - write up a list of 10 retailers you would like to work for then find out the e-mail address for their HR dept or manager and send in your CV directly. You dont really need experience for retail sales as they will train you up if they like you in the interview - dont bother with the agencies!

matrim

I've been dealing with computerfutures a bit lately and find them quite good. Although it does seem to depend on who you are talking to in there.

jkmanc1974

matrim wrote: »

I've been dealing with computerfutures a bit lately and find them quite good. Although it does seem to depend on who you are talking to in there.

Will be dealing with these next week(waiting on a call ref couple of things that came through last night), heres hoping!

Brgds
Johnny

Farls

matrim wrote: »

I've been dealing with computerfutures a bit lately and find them quite good. Although it does seem to depend on who you are talking to in there.

Found them the worst of the whole lot, still receive irrelevant emails from them every week even though I've asked countless times to be taken off their mailing list.

matrim

Farls wrote: »

Found them the worst of the whole lot, still receive irrelevant emails from them every week even though I've asked countless times to be taken off their mailing list.

I do get a good few irrelevant emails from one or two of the guys in there. But I've also gotten 2 interviews with them and found the guys for those very helpful in giving me info on the company and helping to get me prepared for the interviews.

breadmonkey

I recently dealt with the company "Recruiters" and found them excellent. They seem to be mostly IT focused. PM me for the guy I dealt with directly.

flash harry

Oasis44 wrote: »

I USED to be a recruiter so I know all about how the agencies 'work'. To be fair there is a lot of good ones out there but so many cowboys also. The problem I think is that is so easy to set up an agency and the agents themselves generally have few if any real qualifications. Basically they are chancers and wafflers just trying to make a quick buck or as we used to say in my old agency 'if you throw enough mud at the wall some of its going to stick' meaning send out as many CV's as possible to your 'clients' and I'm sure they'll want to interview some of them.

At the end of the day its a glorified telesales role with no career path so dont bash the agents feel sorry for them. IMO ALL agents should have a CIPD qualification or at least be on the path to getting one - it would give them more credibility AND it would make them better recruiters. The fact that you actually had to study to begin with would put a lot of the cowboys off entering the industry. The good thing about this recession is that it will wipe out half the agencies in Ireland (the bad ones mainly) and that will be a good thing for the industry in the long run I KNOW.

Oh and I'm actually on the market now - fully qualified in my area with 6 years experience. I registered with a 3/4 agencies I actually rate at the start of the year. Number of phone call in last 2 months: ZERO :rolleyes:

I am a recruiter with a double qualification (accounting and psychology) - in what way would thE cipd "qualification" make a difference to my candidates???

eth0_

erasmusstudent permanently banned for spamming.

mrpink6789

Oasis44 wrote: »

I USED to be a recruiter so I know all about how the agencies 'work'. To be fair there is a lot of good ones out there but so many cowboys also. The problem I think is that is so easy to set up an agency and the agents themselves generally have few if any real qualifications. Basically they are chancers and wafflers just trying to make a quick buck or as we used to say in my old agency 'if you throw enough mud at the wall some of its going to stick' meaning send out as many CV's as possible to your 'clients' and I'm sure they'll want to interview some of them.

At the end of the day its a glorified telesales role with no career path so dont bash the agents feel sorry for them. IMO ALL agents should have a CIPD qualification or at least be on the path to getting one - it would give them more credibility AND it would make them better recruiters. The fact that you actually had to study to begin with would put a lot of the cowboys off entering the industry. The good thing about this recession is that it will wipe out half the agencies in Ireland (the bad ones mainly) and that will be a good thing for the industry in the long run I KNOW.

Oh and I'm actually on the market now - fully qualified in my area with 6 years experience. I registered with a 3/4 agencies I actually rate at the start of the year. Number of phone call in last 2 months: ZERO :rolleyes:

I agree with flash_harry, CIPD won't help you be a better recruiter. CIPD is generally for HR professionals. Recruitment is 100% sales, you are either good at it or you are not, no amount of training will help you if you are not a natural sales person. I work in IT recruitment and I have a degree in Computer Science which helps me quite a bit when talking to IT professionals.

eth0_

mrpink6789 wrote: »

. I work in IT recruitment and I have a degree in Computer Science which helps me quite a bit when talking to IT professionals.

Am I right in thinking that is a rarity in I.T. recruitment? I've dealt with so many I.T. recruiters who haven't a clue about the area they're recruiting for.

helimachoptor

eth0_ wrote: »

Am I right in thinking that is a rarity in I.T. recruitment? I've dealt with so many I.T. recruiters who haven't a clue about the area they're recruiting for.

A massive massive rarity. I dealt with a crown on Leeson street a few years back name escapes me though, the guy ask me a lot of tech questions as he freely admitted he didnt have any idea about the roles he was recruiting for and he was trying to find out about various technologies.

mrpink6789

eth0_ wrote: »

Am I right in thinking that is a rarity in I.T. recruitment? I've dealt with so many I.T. recruiters who haven't a clue about the area they're recruiting for.

Yes the vast majority of people I used to work with would have not had the bacground in IT so it was tricky for them to learn about the technologies etc. However it is sales so to be successful you must learn about the "product" you are selling so you will find a lot of seasoned recruiters knowing quite a bit.

It is terrible to hear of recruiters just reading off a job spec not having a clue what they are talking about. Hopefully during this recession a lot of those will be gone.

Oasis44

mrpink6789 wrote: »

I agree with flash_harry, CIPD won't help you be a better recruiter. CIPD is generally for HR professionals. Recruitment is 100% sales, you are either good at it or you are not, no amount of training will help you if you are not a natural sales person. I work in IT recruitment and I have a degree in Computer Science which helps me quite a bit when talking to IT professionals.

Will have to agree to disagree on this one - having a CIPD qualification would give you more credibility with candidates and it will give you the recruiter a better understanding of what HR people actually do i.e. your 'clients' the people you talk to day in day out:rolleyes:. Of course recruitment is a sales job but in an age where the industry has been filled with cowboys and flash in the pan recruiters it would make you stand out from the crowd. It would be better than an accountancy qualification thats for sure;)

Farls

helimachoptor wrote: »

A massive massive rarity. I dealt with a crown on Leeson street a few years back name escapes me though, the guy ask me a lot of tech questions as he freely admitted he didnt have any idea about the roles he was recruiting for and he was trying to find out about various technologies.

I have to agree with this, having dealt with a lot of recruitment companies only 1 guy in vanrath recruitment in belfast knew his stuff, or at least was good at letting on he did anyway! BUT and this is a big BUT what he had in technicality he definitely lacked everywhere else.

Most recruiters just know the buzz words and talk a lot of rubbish. Ask for 3 things when they call you. 1. Company Name, 2. Job Spec and 3. Salary range.

DON'T and I mean DON'T tell them anything about where you work or any other companies that have contacted you.

You'll probably not get 1 but with 2 you can normally figure out 1 so then you can apply direct if 1 and 3 make sense to you and the position.

flash harry

Oasis44 wrote: »

Will have to agree to disagree on this one - having a CIPD qualification would give you more credibility with candidates and it will give you the recruiter a better understanding of what HR people actually do i.e. your 'clients' the people you talk to day in day out:rolleyes:. Of course recruitment is a sales job but in an age where the industry has been filled with cowboys and flash in the pan recruiters it would make you stand out from the crowd. It would be better than an accountancy qualification thats for sure;)

....but you'd have to agree from other posts that candidates want someone who knows their industry so unless you are suggesting the recruitr get a second academic "major" for want of a better word this may not be possible. Additionally most clients want a solution to a problem (key skill they cant find) and most candidates want the job of their dreams, not to see the recruiters credentials.

But as you say, agree to disagree..........

mrpink6789

Oasis44 wrote: »

Will have to agree to disagree on this one - having a CIPD qualification would give you more credibility with candidates and it will give you the recruiter a better understanding of what HR people actually do i.e. your 'clients' the people you talk to day in day out:rolleyes:. Of course recruitment is a sales job but in an age where the industry has been filled with cowboys and flash in the pan recruiters it would make you stand out from the crowd. It would be better than an accountancy qualification thats for sure;)

I can see where you are coming from on this but it is a flash_harry says an agree/disagree scenario.

Most recruiters especially in IT don't like dealing with HR at all because we feel they just get in the way and slow down the process. They hate us as well because we won't follow their "recruitment process" they put in place. I primarily deal with the hiring managers directly because I know about IT myself and it speeds up the process.

jkmanc1974

Would be interesting to see how long some agencies last in this climate, especially with the complete lack of customer service/courtesy displayed by several, ie folk ringing you promising sun, moon and stars, then not another word about said job, and person is never available/does not respond to mails following up!!!!

It is also interesting to see how many different agencies that companies are using at present.......have seen a couple of vacancies that are with at least 7 different agencies!!!

Brgds
Johnny

Oasis44

jkmanc1974 wrote: »

Would be interesting to see how long some agencies last in this climate, especially with the complete lack of customer service/courtesy displayed by several, ie folk ringing you promising sun, moon and stars, then not another word about said job, and person is never available/does not respond to mails following up!!!!

It is also interesting to see how many different agencies that companies are using at present.......have seen a couple of vacancies that are with at least 7 different agencies!!!

Brgds
Johnny

This is one of the main reasons I got out of the industry i.e. the fact the companies give out the same job to so many agencies - dont they realise that agencies will work 10 times harder to fill it if they think only 2/3 agencies are working the role?? Contingency recruitment as its known is so messy for everyone. If the service was actually run on a retained basis (i.e. like accountancy and legal firms) then the whole service would be better for everyone and have a lot more prestige. As a professional service is just got so watered down and saturated with new entrants that I just couldn't continue to work in it. Shame as it was enjoyable for a while specifically '98-'02. Would hate to be in it now as I'd say most recruiters are spending 50% of their time business developing - Nightmare!

Farls

Farls wrote: »

DON'T and I mean DON'T tell them anything about where you work or any other companies that have contacted you.

Why do they ask where you work and other companies that you have applied to?

eth0_

salonfire wrote: »

Why do they ask where you work and other companies that you have applied to?

So they can steal the jobs by putting their candidates forward for the jobs you say you've applied to, and then also steal your current job by contacting your boss a few weeks down the line after you have given your notice!

Thanks for that. I wondered what they were up to!!

herya

salonfire wrote: »

Why do they ask where you work

Isn't your current position on your CV anyway?

salonfire wrote: »

and other companies that you have applied to?

If the agency keeps the name of the company they put you forward secret (something I don't agree with but some agencies do this and some companies even require this) they need to know what companies you've applied to as to avoid duplication. If your CV is already with the company and they put you forward again:
- they look unprofessional as they haven't checked your jobseeking history
- you look unprofessional as you don't care what you apply for.

If you don't want to tell the names, you should be given some general info on the company they send you to (location, profile etc) and on this basis you can tell them whether you've recently applied to any such companies. I presume that you keep track of your applications and do some research on the companies you try to get in so you're able to check it.

herya

Farls wrote: »

You'll probably not get 1 but with 2 you can normally figure out 1 so then you can apply direct if 1 and 3 make sense to you and the position.

And this is exactly why some agencies do not give you the name of the company - because there are candidates like you who learn about the job from an agency then want to go direct.

Farls

herya wrote: »

And this is exactly why some agencies do not give you the name of the company - because there are candidates like you who learn about the job from an agency then want to go direct.

And rightly so. Cut out the middle man.

As for putting you forward secretly I totally disagree with this. When I was job seeking at the end of last year I kept a list of every company I applied to whether through an agency or direct, I then asked all the recruiters who the company was they were recruiting for and told them to not put me forward if I had applied already. On two occasions they put me forward anyway even after I told them not too, one of them rang me back with an interview date set up so I rang the company involved directly and told their HR department what had happened and cancelled the interview behind the recruiters back.

You should of heard some of the voice mails she left me from 3/4 different numbers for days after that.

// Just as I hit reply I received an email from Rachel Kelly in Computer Futures about a Team Lead testing role in Dublin...Nothing got do with me what so ever!!!

herya

Farls wrote: »

And rightly so. Cut out the middle man.

Fair enough, but then do not rely on their jobs and their research. If they informed you of a job you were not aware exists and you try to cut them out it's plain dishonest and giving out about evil recruiters is the last thing you're entitled to...

helimachoptor

Farls wrote: »

// Just as I hit reply I received an email from Rachel Kelly in Computer Futures about a Team Lead testing role in Dublin...Nothing got do with me what so ever!!!

Yeah I get them a lot, very annoying!

shoegirl

masterK wrote: »

The most annoying thing is when you tell them your only interested in Dublin, that they ring you back countless times over the space of a few weeks telling you about the great position they have in Limerick or Cork and then sound surprised when you tell them you're not interested. It must be even worse for those based outside Dublin who don't want to come to Dublin I'd imagine.

Absolutely. I was tormented to such an extent for years by agencies trying to talk me into moving back to Dublin I eventually removed my CV from all sites. Then every now and again I would get a call from an agent with a 3 or 4 year old version of my cv with some role paying 10-20k less than I was currently on.

What annoys me are the ones who ring you up with an offer you might be interested in. You phone or email them back for more details and then hear nothing. Why waste their time and yours phoning if they are not going to follow up? Same thing for those who ask you to come in and talk face to face but then don't get you any interviews - they are obviously not selling you if they can't get you an interview. Loads and loads of these.

I found most CPL agents in Dublin good, Skillsoft have hugely improved over the years. I found Eolas very good years ago, they put out a lot for me at the time.

Now the only thing I will say is that the last agent who hired me also hired a colleague who happens to be one of the worst co-workers I've had the misfortune to work with (i.e. comes to work with appalling body odour, his hair unkempt and stuck together like it hasn't been combed in a few days, full of dandruff), then again a lot of candidates are good at overstating their real skillsets.

shoegirl

helimachoptor wrote: »

A massive massive rarity. I dealt with a crown on Leeson street a few years back name escapes me though, the guy ask me a lot of tech questions as he freely admitted he didnt have any idea about the roles he was recruiting for and he was trying to find out about various technologies.

A lot of them are just salespeople. I know a guy who works in recruitment whose background was behind the counter in a fashion store. He has close to zero IT knowledge.

shoegirl

mrpink6789 wrote: »

I agree with flash_harry, CIPD won't help you be a better recruiter. CIPD is generally for HR professionals. Recruitment is 100% sales, you are either good at it or you are not, no amount of training will help you if you are not a natural sales person. I work in IT recruitment and I have a degree in Computer Science which helps me quite a bit when talking to IT professionals.

Its basically sales but there isn't much point in selling your client a product they didn't want if there were better products out there that would have satisified their needs. Yes you might have got that transaction but forget about any repeat business. CIPD and HR is about much more than just that. You need to be able to get a real feel for the company what they are looking for and what their needs are. Obviously the more you understand their business the better you will be able to do that.

One of the big problems I find is that the job titles of many IT jobs don't reflect the work people may actually do. Increasingly I find a lot of IT work is becoming more and more process and business focussed rather than technical. I see a lot of colleagues who have entirely focussed on the technical side and have little or no business skills and in some cases, zero empathy with our clients. Some of these guys are actually a liability to the business.

kittensoft1984

I had a very positive expierience with CPL recently.

Having been looking around for a full time postion, I contact Ronan Mooney in CPL as I had previously been dealing with him. He was very professional and kept me updated on everything that was happening with my application. Within the space of 2 days I had a new job!

I now have a job I love doing.

I would really recommend him to anyone looking for a sales position!

Johnny Volume

herya wrote: »

Fair enough, but then do not rely on their jobs and their research. If they informed you of a job you were not aware exists and you try to cut them out it's plain dishonest and giving out about evil recruiters is the last thing you're entitled to...

Do you work in recruitment by any chance?

dazzday

From recent graduate experience id watch out using an agency to flood companies with cvs.
Recently got a couple of phonecalls for interviews for jobs, but as soon as they found out they got my cv from an agency they told me to reapply directly myself to HR.

Apprently in recession times, nobody wants to fork out agency fees...

Madge

Have never had a good experience with recruitment agencies. A good few years ago I was invited to meet a recrutiment agent in Galway city bout a telesales job, can't remember the name of the agency. During the meeting I ended up spending 20 mins having to input my own details onto their system! I also spent another 20 mins there filling out a big long application myself. They also failed to tell me about all the documentation I needed for the job before I travelled down to meet them, so there was a lot of messing afterwards trying to fax in things to them before the job application closing date. After all that I never heard from them again, even after leaving a message. Terrible service.

More recently have been dealing with an English girl in Manpower in Dublin as regards a financial position. Have never met someone so patrionising. During the mock interview she was constantly interupting me and spouting rubbish like "you have soooo been practising haven't you?!" and "gosh your're reallllly good at interviews aren't you?". Didn't get the job but she told me she had others lined up. Never heard from her again. Didn't really care as I didn't want to deal with someone who was so false.

Thank God I have a job now so I don't have to deal with these dopes again

Keano

Hays IT seem to have plenty of IT jobs but never answer emails and never seem to fill the jobs they advertise :rolleyes:

DTTfan

I had this thread up already on another forum and have just found the original thread so here are my comments. A
And before the are commnets like, do you work for an agency or u should register with an agency, or they do all the work for you, this is my answer...........

When an agency advertises bogus jobs just to get you to register with them and then sends out your cv to employers without your permission , its not on.
When an agency does not contact you in rerlation to an appliciation or feedback but continues to use your cv in appliciation, its not on. Duplicate appliciations to the same employers only wreack your chances of employment.

I could list the agencies who are good in my eyes but im not, if they are not listed here then there is not a problem.
Why I am doing this?
Ive been unemployed for some time now and have been using quite a number of agencies. A lot have been very good, supportive and helpful, A lot unfortunatly have been disgraceful.

So i have decided its time for the employees to start fighting back, we have no rights and have been exploited by some agencies resulting in appliciations been doubled up, and been seen by potential employers as non employable.

i am going to list some agencies and the reasons why in the hope that they get the message and start treating us better.

BMS Dublin: Have sent my CV without my permission to potential employers resulting in 2 appliciations been sent out. No feedback from interviews and no back up. When i was employed BMS were one of the first to contact me to see if i had any vaciencies within the company, I wont be using them again.

People Group Dublin. Arrogant to say the least, I have met with them face to face, and applied to numerous positions and have heard nothing from them. I have phoned my contact and never been able to get through.

Executive Connections,
Met with consultant, advised me that if i did not send exact figures and contact names to help with my appliciation i would not be successful. I will not pass on confidential information to anyone unless i am face to face in an interview and even then it will be censored.

Adecco, A joke of an agency, promise you the world but is there even people working there.

Sigmar Dublin,
totally rewrote my CV and i got no interviews, consultant said my CV was rubbish, funny seeing as i got help with it from another top agency and when i did use it i got a number of interviews. Found the consultatnt arrogant and thought he knew everything, IE, he put me forward for a merchandising role thinking i had the correct qualificiations, I was a sales manager for 6 years and sales rep for 15!!!

Brightwater Dublin,
Uslesss, No contacts after first contact, will not return calls, will not submit appliciations.

I could go on but im not.
My advice to anyone out there registered to agencies is drop all the ones that you hear nothing from and concentrate on the ones that are helpful. When this climate turns and employers start employing again they will all be fighting to get you.

As for the recruitment web sites well thats another

02-07-2009, 15:14

Tiesto

HRM!
As mentioned by another poster, dont even have the manners to return your calls.
I went for a job which i was well qualified for, so the recruiter lady was happy out. I think she seen dollars signs .. She was to send off the cv the following day. Never heard back from her. Tried calling her, she wasnt about. Sent emails with read receipts to see what the story is. She read the emails but never replied..

All these recruitment people are the same shower if you ask me..

donkey balls

grafton recruitment.

there looking for truck drivers and get this you must have gardai clearance i.e via the vetting office in thurles which is foc yet there charging 10euro &you also must do an induction morning with the company at your own expence.

talk about rubbing it in

Oasis44

Tiesto wrote: »

HRM!
As mentioned by another poster, dont even have the manners to return your calls.
I went for a job which i was well qualified for, so the recruiter lady was happy out. I think she seen dollars signs .. She was to send off the cv the following day. Never heard back from her. Tried calling her, she wasnt about. Sent emails with read receipts to see what the story is. She read the emails but never replied..

All these recruitment people are the same shower if you ask me..

Bottom line is if they cant make money out of you they wont call you

Once their 'client' isn't interested in interviewing you the agency automatically goes into 'what was your name again'? mode.

kizzyf

HRM and Brightwater are useless.
HRM sent me an email about a job I had been thinking of applying for. it didn't mention the company name but job spec was so similar. I rang them up and spoke to agent. At first he was enthusiastic and helpful asked him who employer was. He confirmed what I had thought. I then told him I had applied directly already. Attitude changed immediately saying that I shouldn't have and that I didn't stand a chance of getting the job now etc. Never heard from him since apart from occasional group email.

donkey balls

i think tom dunne said some thing a few posts back about getting in contact with ASAI and complaining about the false jobs advertised.

how about getting it brought to the attention of the media i.e matt coopers last word/ news talk etc and piont out the obvious i.e with the amount of jobs on the 3 websites(jobs.ie irishjobs&recruit irl) the unemployment rate should be down by a good bit.

jkmanc1974

Ref ComputerFutures, got a call from this crowd a while back on a Saturday morning(contact as mentioned above) for a job in the midlands(Cavan), which was advertised with about 20 agencies seemingly, the role was for a Project Manager with Quinn.........surprise surprise after chasing for updates for a couple of weeks the job was filled internally(apparently!)

Not overly impressed with La Creme/Premier either, travelled down to Cork(from North Mayo!!)for an interview with them, chased them for an update for several weeks, before finally finding out that the job was now on hold and there was no requirement for the role to be filled in the near future, amazing how the job was SO urgent when it first became available!

Brgds
Johnny

KarlDrake

Seems to be the mantra globally that recruiters are evil. I know that's not 100% true, but perception is reality.
What I find shocking is that there is no effort seemingly to address this perception with candidates, who after all, are the "commodity" here.
The current situation with recruiters strikes me as "score settling" during a war...and they're first against the wall....

Mairead1975

Hi

Ok - coming at this at a different angle. I used to work in recruitment for 9 years. Escaped over a year ago thank god!!

To be honest, I dont think recruiters can win at the moment. It's a nightmare of a job. As Im sure most of your know, most recruiters work on commission. At the moment, they are dealing with up to 100 CVs per consultant per day, as well as having to make up to 250 cold calls a week to get new jobs in. There's also alot of admin that goes into recruitment so they are just swamped. This is not a reason to treat people badly, but they generally get the bullet within a few months if they dont make target, and as a result they do whatever they have to do to keep their own jobs. As a result it's the jobseekers who suffer. I dont believe it should be a "sales" job.

It's not really about agencies anymore as they are all jumping at the same jobs. It#'s about getting an experienced consultant who knows how to treat people. Most recruiters are in their early 20's and dont have a clue.

Just one thing in their defence, clients are a nitemare, and they are IMPOSSIBLE to get through to....especially at the moment. Id say HR people are picking up between 30-40 voicemail messages from recruiters everyday, so they dont answer their phones anymore. As a result, recruiters have no information on the jobs they are meant to be selling, if they are inexperienced they wont know about the company they are hiring for ( ie - are they an awful company, is the line manager a tyrant ). If they could get this information they would as it makes it easier for them to sell jobs. There's nothing worse than know nothign about the job you are speaking to a candidate about. You have the pressure of your boss on top of you, and you cant get through to the HR person in the company, you have people bombarding you with CVs ( I had one guy who sent me his CV 846 times )

You dont need any experience to get into recruitment. It's like sales, if you're outgoing, aggressive and motivated by money, you're in! It's all wrong - when you think of sales, you think of selling products, not people!

Everyone slags off recruiters and this thread maybe therapeutic, but if you get to build a rapport with a good, experienced recruiter I would expect your experiences to be more fruitful

I wouldnt use agencies in todays market. If you think about it, if you were a business owner would you pay €10,000 to an agency when you can get people directly or by word of mouth.

Over the years the recruiters I would recommend

Science - http://www.lifescience.ie - Eamon O'Raghailligh
Supply Chain - http://www.nextgeneration.ie Linda Davis
Legal & HR - http://www.hrm.ie Bryan Durkan -Legal, Joanne Reid HR
Sales / Marketing - http://www.peoplegroup.ie

Thanks
Mairead
http://www.careermentors.ie

joehandyman

Think that Brightwater has to be up there. A friend who got promoted to manager about 18 months ago in one of the largest Banks in Ireland, which is a permanent pensionable employment, keeps getting calls from the recruitment agency about fantastic opportunities in financial services at present. These opportunities, by the way, are all contract positions of up to 6 months duration.

After explaining that she is happy with her job on several occasions and that it is permanent and so on, they keep pestering her about these contract positions that will supposedly enhance her career. When she was initially searching for a job about 3yrs ago after being made redundant, while times were good, they did absolutely nothing for her.

They would do anything for a sale. Personally, I think they are all a waste of time and it is best to go directly to the company to cut out the additional cost of agency fees, which are crazy high anyway.....

Columbo

Having read through all these posts, it's plain to see recruitment agents are not very popular.

I am considering setting up a new job board (maybe crazy at this time, but there you go) and I was thinking of only allowing companies advertise. This way there will be no "fake" jobs advertised and candidates will deal with the company directly.

Would this appeal to job seekers?

mrpink6789

Columbo wrote: »

Having read through all these posts, it's plain to see recruitment agents are not very popular.

I am considering setting up a new job board (maybe crazy at this time, but there you go) and I was thinking of only allowing companies advertise. This way there will be no "fake" jobs advertised and candidates will deal with the company directly.

Would this appeal to job seekers?

there's already quite a few of these and judging by the companies they have on them it's not kicking off as well as they though.

think it's a very bad idea in my opinion. all job boards will tell you that agencies account for 70-80% of their revenue.

maxcelt

Hey guy's sorry to reitterate if it has been already asked before but i was wondering if anyone could give me some info on a company called prosperity.ie?? never heard of it myself and i was just wonder if any of you heard of them and if so are they legit or whats the story with them.

Any info at all would be much appriciated.... cheer's!!:)