Recruitment agencies - the truth
17-March-2010
*
* Your Gripe Gripe List Quick Gripe Comments Gripe Poll Resources Contact Us Advertise Home *
* prev
next *
 

Recruitment agencies - the truth

Leave a comment Leave a comment 
Related Gripes Related Gripes 
Random Gripe Random Gripe 
Feedburner Gripes by email 
 
 

I work in recruitment and have done for about two years.  I started at the bottom and worked my way up.  I was a yes sir man until the start of this year when I started working for a huge recruitment company.

A lot of you will not know that recruitment is sales driven, where YOUR CV is just a tool to be used to meet KPIs.  I can list all the agencies to stay away from on this site, but that would take up a lot of time so I’ll just say stay away from all of them.  There are a few amazing ones, but for every good story to be told there is 10 bad ones.  It's sad but true...

So what am I getting at? My gripe is that recruitment is run a bit like a car sales yard or perhaps one of those double glazing call centres.  Most consultants no nothing of the industry they work in. I am an ex-aerospace engineer, I have a degree in the industry and I once worked for the air force.  I know how to talk to an engineer and I understand how the companies work.  But 99% of the agencies you will deal with all have sales people dealing with your application.  They judge you on not what you have done over time, but on your most recent job.  From that basic precedent you have very little chance of getting the job you apply for.

Recruitmen agencies, the truth

If your CV is good however, be prepared to be sent to what ever company in your area that uses people like you, because these people have KPIs to meet. That is all that they are interested in.  They really don’t care if you get the job or not. If you do that's great, but they're more interested in that 6K threshold a month so they can earn commission.  You're just a number on the books, you're a meal ticket if you like!

Here is a bit of free advice.  Don’t bother to put references on your CV, this is used (or rather misused) as a contact into YOUR business, and they will call them without your permission.  If they ask you “Who do you currently work for?” - just make a name up, because they will call them and that’s the last thing you want... Really!

Job boards like “Monster” are looked at by millions of potential employers apparently (yeah right!).  Well, this is complete BULL, because it’s looked at by millions of recruitment agencies trying to find companies to call so they can get vacancies to chase.  They're just sharks on a feeding frenzy.

So why am I blowing the lid on one of the UK’s biggest growing industries?  Well these fast paced high turn over companies are destroying an industry that USED to be service.  It is now treated like a car lot, where you (the potential employee) are the next quick buck and they don’t care what you want, they just want your details to feed the KPIs.

My advice people, is just apply direct to the companies and not through agencies.  This recruitment industry and their agents are killing the UK.

By: Whistleblower


Other Related Gripes

Temporary recruitment agencies unhelpful
Getting a job after redundancy
Looking for a job and getting no response
Recruitment agencies are useless
I really hate job application forms
Interview for job that's already gone
Company meetings a waste of time
Doorstep selling and cold calling
My boss is a bully
Employers want too much
Sales and marketing jargon
Flexible lunch breaks
Lunch at my desk and phones ringing
Cleaner leaves desk in a mess
Nine to five and traffic jams
Management jargon and phrases
Working from home
Christmas office parties suck
Timesheets can be a real chore
Employers stingy with holiday
Why do females gossip all the time?





Visitor Comments

Please read this before you post

Enter your comments in the space below

Name or nickname


Remember my name



 
I am 33 degree educated experienced and out of work. The trouble is 99.9% of adverts is a recruitment agency. A lot of the jobs advertised don't even really exist or were filled months ago.

Apply for one and you will be given a million reasons why you are not right for that job and then told to register via an online form or to go in and register taking references with you.

What really used to annoy me was the way some of these people spoke to me and other highly qualified, highly experienced people like we were dog dirt on their shoe. Now I am not prejudiced but it does seem to be the case that these people are more often than not a certain type of female or a very obviously homosexual male. Why ?

Ever noticed ho long some adverts with a changed posting date seem to stay on Monster and Total Jobs.
The reality is there are no jobs.
*lllll  03-Mar-2010 22:39

 
If there are "some good ones," why not let us know who they are.

What you are saying is that there are some bad ones and some good ones and that the ratios are not equal. I believe that's true of most industries especially those that are not heavily regulated like ours (yes I am also in recruitment). From car sales to insurance we all know a horror story or two but we still buy cars and take out insurance!

Sounds to me like you have been trained wrong and have decided not to make the difference. Shame really when you clearly have the ability to stand out from the crowd.
*Anon  25-Feb-2010 13:57

 
I agreed with the advise that the candidate should apply direct to the company but consider the senario where companies dont bother to advertise their jobs and jobs get advertised through agencies and in that case, candidates dont have choices to reach to employer directly and thats actually kills so many things in the mid.
I have been in IT for more than 10 years and been dealing with IT recruitment agencies for long time and my only comment is that they only bother about their commissions nothing more or less and hence they are actually play with both parties: employer as well as candidate and because of all these circumstrances, talented candidates suffers because majority of them even cant reach to the employers and get filltered by the job agencies.
*SS  10-Dec-2009 14:37

 
Project Partners in London - avoid them like the plague! You have been warned!
*Ronnie  27-Nov-2009 11:40

 
On behalf of myself and my daughter I would like to say it is not just happening in England. It happens in Australia too.
*Kate Oz  22-Sep-2009 07:49

 
Well, I could list the crap agencies here right now but I'm not allowed. I've unfortunately been through a few and only one had ever got me a job that was worthwhile. The others have just failed to do anything productive and one only got me an interview and then that was it. They didn't want to know after.

I hate the ones that advertise saying "no experience necessary". Yet after you've applied for them, you get the response of "sorry, the other guy had more experience". WHAT?!?

Its true though. Once the agency has got you a job (whether its what you wanted or not), they couldn't care less about you. Most are 'run' by pathetic, spoilt little girls who just can't organise themselves to get anything done. I hate them and they've turned recruitment into a sorry state of bullshit...
*Roger  07-Sep-2009 22:15

 
What's the point in people who have been made redundant from shattered industry's re-training?, when you apply for a job through a recruitment agency they just say "you haven't got any experience so we are not putting you forward", it's to black and white now, some 18 year old kid at the end of a phone line saying you aren't right for the job based on a few tick boxes not being ticked!............how the hell would they know!!, I personally think the whole industry of recruitment agency's is actually causing longer term problems for the UK workforce, remember when the old job centers were about trying to find work for people, now it's about inexperienced middlemen (and women) earning a commission, it's a national disgrace
*thenewestateagents!  25-Aug-2009 11:23

 
I'm afraid I don't agree with you, Pants. I'm a published writer on recruitment and flexible working and have a lot of contact with industry representatives and flexible workers. RPOs have a lot of power and can really damage the prospects of work applicants they don't favour - even for the most spurious of reasons. That means that these applicants has no alternative recruitment supplier to apply for the same work as they would have if hirers only used employment businesses. RPOs also use employment businesses to recruit for them - so applicants can waste a lot of time using them for work applications.

RPOs are just employment businesses, just like any other - only they have more power.

If anyone wants more information on recruitment problems, feel free to contact me below:

Bel Grant
Writer on Recruitment and Flexible Working
www.twitter.com/BelGrant
www.belgrant0669@googlemail.com
*Bel Grant  16-Jun-2009 18:23

 
Gandalf, it was the big agencies like Reed and Hays that do stuff like that..

Recruitment agencies are coming to end of days due to RPO agencies, which in my opinon is the far better version of recruitment, yes they have targets... but your not a marketing tool as the RPO companies are all client facing on preffered supplier lists and are there for a reason... cause there good at there job! look for RPO recruitment companies, Manpower, elements of Reed are RPO, Wynnwith, Morson for engineers... Adecco are alright.. but keep away from the ones that are 100% new business sales... the way to tell this is look at the bit on there website that says work for us.. and if there is a job description there that is pure sales, new business walk away from them!
*Pants.  29-Mar-2009 12:33

 
One Internet website asked you to review the Agencies you allpied to, but I think that has stopped now, by the AGENCIES?
*Gandalf  19-Mar-2009 14:48

 
Why are you people complaining about recruitment agencies - they provide a valuable service.

They employ lovely ladies, well dressed, lipsticked with suntans. Just like a hot secretary!

Why deny these alluring beauties a sense that they're performing a worthwhile role?

That would be cruel.

I love them, long live the gorgeous recruitment babe!

A note to the blokes who do these jobs: Get a real job mate !
*EvilTory  07-Feb-2009 20:45

 
Mr Angry I wish I could give you my details for you to call me and see if there is anything I can do to help. How ever need to keep my ID on the down low. There are good guys out there working real vacancies... keep the faith in finding a job!!
*whistleblower  23-Jan-2009 17:18


View more comments on this gripe


 
*   *
* © 2000-2009 The Weekly Gripe. All rights reserved. Please see our privacy policy and disclaimer.   Site Map *