A few people have commented on my obvious dislike for recruitment agencies.
Most people haven’t asked why… some have…
When I left college in the late 90s I ended up going to Italy for a few months teaching English. When I came back in early 2000 the Irish economy was supposedly booming, but I ended up on the dole.
My intense dislike for recruitment agencies stems from my experiences with a very large number of them in Cork, Dublin and Limerick during the period between when I got back to Ireland and when I left again.
Now don’t get me wrong. There are some recruitment agencies that are really good and professional. I can’t speak highly enough of the guys in Careerwise Recruitment.
They actually read my CV.
That was the basic problem that I had with recruitment agencies. They seemed to be incapable of reading CVs. Now, I know from my own experience with recruiting staff that some CVs are deplorable and impossible to decipher. In a lot of cases the layout is so bad that practically hurts to read them.
However my CV at the time was quite simple and easy to read. Skills were clearly categorised. Bullet points were used etc.,
But time after time the followup call from the supposed expert involved them asking me really inane questions. Or worse still, sending me to do job interviews with companies that asked me to fill out application forms where I had to tell them my Inter Cert results (Irish equivalent of GCSE / O Level)!
I don’t believe the world owes anyone a living, but if someone has a college degree it’s fairly safe to assume that they actually made it through secondary level education!
I could go on….
In any case, based on my poor experiences with recruitment agencies as a job seeker I can see absolutely no reason why I’d inflict their “choice” candidates on myself when I’m footing the bill. Maybe some of the recruiters have learnt to read and are now capable of matching job seekers with prospective employers, but I somehow doubt it.
Now if I was going to use a recruitment agency I know who I would use…
My experience with recruitment agencies has also been very bad. There is nothing worse than getting hounded for a job that I’m not even qualified for such as an Oracle Architect (if such a position exists) or an Engineer at a chemical plant.
Gavin
I didn’t even get into that side of it 🙂
Michele
Last year I was looking for permanent graduate positions in Cork, and recruitment companies kept sending me openings for people with 3-5+ years experience on 3/6/12 month contracts in Dublin.
I know of a certain recruitment agency that sent someones CV to their boss at their current job, who was not aware that that person was seeking a new job … in my opinion Recruitment Agencies are up there with sales people and politicians – mostly a bad lot with the odd good one now and then.
@Joe – that sounds so familiar.
@hostyle – Ouch!
A good recruiter needs to have experience, maturity and industry knowledge, and without these prerequisites their advice becomes questionable. Unfortunately, the driving force behind many recruiters is not to deliver thoughtful advice on which candidates are best suited for which roles, but to make a “sale” at any cost.
I went for an interview in the last couple of months, the recruitment co. gave me the completely wrong address. When I called them I received voice mail. Shower of …..
There are too many of these showers of parasites in Dublin. I have had dealings with CPL, Manpower, HRM, Contact, Match, SHRC, Capital, Southside Recruitment, Atlas, and so on, and so on.
I went in for an interview with Match and the person I was supposed to meet didn’t even bother to show up. I was told they would get back to me, and I have not heard a word from them since. Others try and send you to interviews that you are not suitable for, or have no interest in.
These people are raking in the money, and for what? They do F**K all for people looking for work. It would all be a lot simpler if these people didn’t exist and the actual company just posted the jobs themselves.
I sent a C.V. off to an agency recently and I got an e-mail back asking me to ring them to discuss my C.V. They couldn’t even be bothered to ring me, the lazy bastards. They get paid to talk some bulls**t to you, and waste your time, i.e. they get you to come in to them to fill out a form, even though they already have all this information from the C.V. you sent them.
I’m also certain that they post fake job positions up on their website just to get more people to send in their C.V. How many times have people sent in their C.V. to an agency for a job that looked interesting, only to be told that the position was no longer available?
Fake ads where jobs are not available that’s one thing. To be used as a Speculative Candidate (this is how they call it) that’s another thing. Many times people are interviewed for roles which are not live so there are no vacancies but recruiters/bullshitters are trying to sell them into companies.
TRY TO AVOID INTERVIEWS WITH AGENCIES AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE! AND NEVER TELL THEM WHERE ELSE YOU HAVE BEEN INTERVIEWED (AS THEY WILL SEND THERE CVS TOO)! EVEN IF THEY REALLY PUSH. NEVER!!! DO NOT HELP THEM!!!
What else? Many things. Many things are wrong. Agencies offer service of a high street standard.
Last week I went to Cork as CPL’s client wanted to see me there. It did sound like the opportunity I was waiting for all my life. And? There wasn’t any role like this! But a totally different one for a German speaker. I don’t even speak German. I lost €150 for taxis, Irish Rail, etc. Nice.
Some of them i.e. Celtic Careers send a CV across without permission. Happened to me twice!!! Gilligan Black Recruitment, CPL, Manpower,Fresh, Bond Personel, 1Stop, Synergy, Career Central or Sabeo are agencies of the same calibre. That really sucks. Here is a nice link, have a look guys:
http://iain.cx/words/recruitment/
And it happened to me many times.
Ever hear of an agency called principle hr? I’ve just received an email from them and as far as I can tell I have never used them before. I’ve ran searches within my gmail account and nothing has come up either.
Actually, the email suggests I submit my email address to receive a password for my account, smart or what?
Gavin
I’ve never heard of them, but I hadn’t heard of some lot in Yorkshire (!!) until they started sending stuff to my personal email address either (I’ll name and shame if my unsubscribe request is ignored)
Michele
Donal Reddington Recruitment Consultant!
I have been in Recruitment for about three years and have have many friends who have similar bad stories about Recruitment Consultants.
You can blame a lot on recruitment consultants but finding yoursef on the dole in 2000 or a company requesting you fill out your Leaving Certificate results is going out of your way to find blame. Did the recruitment agencies employ spies in companies to block you CV going direct?
Some actions like sending CV’s without permission are totally unacceptable but I think on of the big issues is a lack of understanding of our role.
We need to treat candidates with the utmost of respect because firstly they are fellow humans so deserve to be treated in this manner but also to generate a greater talent pool but that is where it starts and ends. We are not on goverment grants and our role is not to find people jobs, that is a consequence but not our role. Our role is to find companies people.
Companies come to us and go “We will pay you X amount for us to outsource the recruitment function to you” So just because Jonny Bones thinks he would make a great project manager or is unemployed and wants us to put his CV forward because he is desperate does not cut the mustard. If the company is paying my company a fee of 8K I need to get them really close matches. Its our job to find people who fit well for the opportunities we have not to find people jobs.
Also to the person who said don’t meet agencies, this is stupid. An Agency who does not belive in interviewing seems pretty poor to me. Instead do your research find out who is good in your field and seek them out. Also if its a process where we get paid really well and add no value.
Yes we get paid on placements so there is a carrot in place for us to have placements but please take a second to think about it. Firstly if I put someone into a company and they leave in first six months I lose my fee. Also if I keep trying to push placements through that I know are not right how in the blue hell will I have clients who will want to work with me or candidates willing to put their career in my hands.
I know there are bad cases in my industry but I think its often the case that its a tough industry with a high turnover rate. Only deal with people who you trust and are proven.