Recruitment agencies - the truth

I run my own agency and agree with your comments. I don't make sales calls. Many companies can't recruit for themselves and search on the internet and call me. Why do they do that? Because we get things done -we maintain a large exensive database, hunt for candidates, take a rubbish CV interview the candidate and write what they say tailored to the job they want, we contact the client when we have a great candidate, we vet the client on the candidate so they don't have any preconceptions, some candidates are successful, help their companies grow and we get paid. Simple really. It's like anything if I wanted to I could learn to do my own accounts, fix my own IT problems but I don't have time as I am doing my job. Same with other companies they don't have time to go through all the processes to enable them to recruit good people so they call us - we save them time and money otherwise being the successful business owners they are they wouldn't bother.

To Nichola: get a real job, you pathetic parasite. People like you make people like me feel sick to our stomachs.

I've been unemployed for a year now and I know I can do a multitude of jobs that I apply for, but these little festering buckets of poo don't have a clue. Agencies suck. I was interviewed by one idiot who was stupid enough to put his CV online. He has no background in recruitment. He has no experience relevant to that field. He used to sell phone contracts. So what makes him so special? And all the time, I'm getting more and more depressed because I can't get a job. And morons like that are making me dance on the edge of the point of no return.

I am a secretary with many years experience in all the relevant packages. I have worked for Sirs to Lords and directors and six months down the line I still cannot get a job? I am also security cleared to secret, but apparently that is not essential to anyone or anything at the moment. I feel I have wasted all these months applying through these agencies and getting nowhere fast. All the jobs are the same two weeks down the line, saying these are new job vacancies, when they are not. Thanks for your advice and I am going to apply direct to these companies in future, as all the agencies I have dealt with are a big con, which you already verified. I had one ring me up the other day and when I tried to ring them back their number was unspecified, another con. Had an interview for me etc etc and could not even contact them again, when I tried. The unemployed feel useless about themselves, all the people I have talked to, fully experienced and excellent in their fields, even the job centre which churns out these jobs cannot even help and think you are not bothering to try and find work. So I am glad to have read your helpful article which is very true!

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I had real fun recently.
I had to recruit 6 senior engineers for the Middle East - so I posed as a potential candidate and sent my 'perfect' CV off to 5 agencies - 4 of them treated me like *$£(£ or totally ignored me. One was great and honest enough to tell me that they didn't normally deal with recruitment in the Middle East ........... so I gave them the £100k worth of business !

Digby Morris in Wiltshire............ you losers

"We only get paid if we actually place a candidate"
And there we have an example of how up yourself you wa*kers are. You don't place people you sift CV's and tick boxes. The employer then decides who they want to interview. People then get offered jobs based on what the employer thinks of their interview performance. Make no mistake you are nothing more than a telesales middleman, the person despite having to get past all your Barry White gets the job based on their merit as unlike you they have a talent. The good news is many Hr people have asimilar view.

Not all recruitment agencies operate in this way. Yes we make money in the recruitment business but in my company we don't get paid on just meeting KPI's. We only get paid if we actually place a candidate and we offer a 8 week refund period therefore it is in our interest to make sure we find the perfect candidate for the perfect job and to make sure it's a good match!! Maybe some recruitment companies operate like this but not all and I am still earning around £50k a year without being 'sharky'!

Top post! Especially since you work (or maybe you've left now) in the recruitment industry itself. I have had dealings with recruitment consultants throughout my eleven years in the world of employment and I am able to confirm that not even one of those companies have been of good chracter and able to recommend to anyone else.
I found they were a sales industry when I briefly worked in recruitment advertising. (Very short lived not too keen on sales companies either!)
I simply have no time for recruitment companies and their staff, having been undermined, patronised and lied to over the years it's a joy to not have to deal with them anymore and I won't do for the rest of my life.
Granted, there probably are some good ones out there but I just don't know of them.

Recruitment agencies are the biggest waste of space and time! They talk so much tripe it is truly unbelievable, promising you this that and the other. As per the article they have no respect for the candidate whatsoever. Most of all the jobs advertised by many are generally not there when you call up and when they are ready to talk to you about a role it's either not relevant to what you want to do as they're just filling numbers or they get hold of vacancies which can't be filled internally because no one wants to do that job. Just my opinion but direct applications are the best way forward.

Here's a good one.
I applied for a position that was about a mile from where I live. It was advertised on the Job Centre website and yes, it was through a very well known agency (something Street). A day after the closing date of the vacancy, I received a call inviting me for interview in three days time......twenty miles away at the agency office. Non the wiser, I agreed and on the morning of the interview I called the agency to confirm I would be attending. I arived for the interview fifteen minutes early and everything seemed fine.
I was then told the position had been filled three days earlier. However, while I was there, I could take some IT and typing tests and have my details updated.

Hang on a minute, three days earlier, thats when I was first invited for an interview.

Needless to say, I told them where they could stick their tests.
This deception has to stop. In my view, its fraud, and fraud is unlawful. If Joe Public tried anything like this, he would be locked-up within a week.
It is also a sad fact that recruitment agencies now use free advertising of 'so called' vacancies through the job centre website. Gone are the days when they would have had to pay to advertise vacancies.
Clean up your town now.....get rid of recruitment agencies.

What you have written has made so much sense to me and I congratulate you for being so honest.
I have been registering with agencies for a couple of years ago and even though my CV shows I have a lot of experience I just cannot get a permanent job (through an agency).
One particular job I applied for I was unsuccessful (I was actually doing the job as a temp but - the best man wins I hear you say!! - she was awarded an £18,000 salary)) . One month later I was back doing the exact same job (as a temp on £6.00 per hour) as the "successful candidate" was on long term sick due to the stress of the job. She came back after 8 months and I was out on my ear only to go back again a few weeks later as "the best candidate" was off sick again!!. - This was a HR position in a Bank!
I believe agencies do a hell of a lot of untold damage (certainly in my case) and truly believe they deliberately keep you in a temp position as they get more money.
Yes, they are doing a hell of a lot of damage to industry and a hell of a lot more damage to peoples moral and confidence. _ Anyone agree?