Recruitment agencies - the truth

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.

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.

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.

Project Partners in London - avoid them like the plague! You have been warned!

On behalf of myself and my daughter I would like to say it is not just happening in England. It happens in Australia too.

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...

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

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

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!

One Internet website asked you to review the Agencies you allpied to, but I think that has stopped now, by the AGENCIES?

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 !

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!!