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I am looking to relocate in the next few months, I'm not sure where to, but just fancy a change of pace from Bristol; I kind of miss Cardiff so I am going to start there. I have tried changing jobs, changing house, changing state of mind, however, I think it's time to move on and taste the air of somewhere new then maybe, just maybe, I can start to relax when I turn 30 in June.
I am looking for jobs in the local areas. As I work in recruitment myself, I'm not at all surprised when I discover that it's difficult to find a job without going through a recruitment agency. New locations are tricky to work out; who does what, where, when and how etc. You would think that a recruitment agency would be able to help wouldn't you?
Here's the problem. I am looking for a change of pace with a new job in another sector or change of career doing something completely different, however I seem to be pigeon-holed into this one category of work. It's not the employers that are doing that. A well trained HR officer or manager should be able to peel away the layers of a CV and work out if you will be good for business. Yet the dumb recruitment agencies I've worked with so far can't see past the box they've neatly dumped me into! They tell me that they're not putting me forward for other jobs to protect the client. Hello? I'm sure they can make their own minds up and tell the difference between a dodgy CV, and someone who just wants to expand their horizons! All that I am asking is for an opportunity to get my CV and a covering letter in front of a potential employer. Maybe that could then lead to sitting down and having a conversation with them if they like what they see. Is that too much to ask?
As far as I can see, it's the recruitment agencies that are putting up all the road blocks to self development. They are making it impossible for candidates to make contact with the right people in a company because they interfere too much. Everything out there is seems to be bogged down with 'new business preferred suppliers' and Christ knows what else for that matter. Recruitment agencies are an unnecessary evil and I'm hoping that this credit crunch will shut some of them down. With their KPIs and targets, no wonder the recruitment market is like this.
If you're in this line of business already, I bet your thinking 'Why can't you find your own job then if recruitment agencies are such a stumbling block?' The reason I can't is because of the commitment and the long hours I put in to do a professional job in my chosen sector. It's hard to find enough time to do all the searching that would be required.
My gripe is really about those unprofessional agencies that are stuck in this world of KPI's, CV's to interviews, and interviews to placements. They way I do things, I'm more interested in getting the right candidate to the right job. I make as much, probably more than the 'KPI monkeys' and my candidates respect me when I say 'No, they don't fit'. I also don't make false promises that I can't keep.
Honesty is missing in recruitment and the dishonest car salesman type recruiters are everywhere!
By: Derek
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Under GDPR you have the right to 'be forgotten'
I've got rid of the PSL, made the HR department aware of their responsibilities. The agents still ring daily but now when we need temp staff we employ them on our contract for 3_6 months pay them the same as perm staff and save around £65,000 p.a. Everyone's a winner, except the recruitment vampires!
1. Buy a payg SIM that you can bin when you get work or change your number, giffgaff are a good choice because they allow you to change your number.
2. Set up an email you can close when you get work, Yahoo or Gmail are good options.
3. If you can get around it never give them your address/real address.
I regularly get calls in work from agencies touting for business and more often than not I just put the phone down on them, unprofessional but satisfying!
I have stopped using them. Despicable low-lifes in the main. I do, however, use their efforts. From their adverts I track down the company that is really looking to employ someone. This should, in theory, give a competitive advantage over someone being 'sold' by an agency. No recruitment agency commission.
I actually did this yesterday. Agency called me about a role and they suggested my CV was a waste of time for the employer as I lived too far away. I said, "Fine." I tracked down said company using the details provided by the agency and have an interview next week.
have gone in house. They are all time wasters. There should be a law out .
You have no choice but to use these useless individuals as the market has nigh on been swallowed up with these low life talentless retches who base everything on face value and the entire procedure of being able to verbally sell yourself to a prospective employer has been lost as a result.
They never ring you back when they say they're going to, they make promises of jobs that don't exist to keep you on a lead, they use your LinkedIn account and email in an attempt to harness your popularity to promote their vile advertising campaigns, bombard you with jobs of no relevance bar a keyword embedded in the text and most annoying of all, they take a huge cut for it for your prospective employer.
What exactly do they do to earn their money, it's not like they're rushing about ringing you up, they're just glorified CV pickers, slimey arrogant twerps who rummage through clients to pick the 'best ones', judging candidates, in a lot of cases, badly, while basking in their own deluded self importance.
Oh and they lie, they don't even think twice about it, the lies come streaming out of their mouths like pinocchio on crack, just to make sure they clinch that deal and make their commission. If it means the job later turns out to not be what you thought because they lied, it matters not to them, you're just cannon fodder - as long as they can make sure you stay for 6 months so they can get paid, their 'job' is done. ASSHOLES.
I am amazed that employers still stand for it, I've noticed larger companies still do the employment process themselves, saving themselves money and forcing away these blood sucking maggots with a long pole, just like all employers should.
Hopefully more employers will start to see sense and then we can get back to the good old days where the employment process wasn't such a time and money consuming chore.
I had no idea how bloody useless these agencies were until this year, when I found myself unemployed (left my job due to a serious illness in the family) and ended up dealing with them frequently. It is astonishing how THICK some of the girls who I've spoken to have been (and as a 35 yr old woman, they really are girls to me) One was reading from my CV and found it impossible to pronounce the name of the area I lived (4 letters, plain English) couldn't say the words 'Blenheim Palace' -she pronounced it 'Blen-hym Place'!! And actually had to ask me what a BA was!!!! And this girl earns more than I've ever earned in my life, that's the maddening thing.
Others have emailed me after I've applied for a job, clearly a generic email, and haven't had the common courtesy to actually write my name after 'Hello' or 'Dear..'- they just leave it blank.
Another agency knew I really really wanted to be put forward for a particular role, said they would, then a few days later oh so casually tell me the position was filled a few days before, and immediately want to know if I'd be interested in this or that, desperate to get me to go for something else, not seeing how insensitive they have just been.
I loathe them now, and hate the fact that it is almost impossible to avoid using them. Sadly the majority of jobs are through these fools.
Jen