Job agencies question

Gaslamp

OK - so am still thinking of moving back to Ireland, depending on jobs etc. and I'm posting here again becusue I've finally found a forum where people give decent answers!

I've been looking at websites and it seems that loads of companies advertise through agencies. I've applied to a few, with CV and covering letter.

Now, is it OK to leave it at that, or is it done to give the agency a follow-up phone call?

I phoned one place earlier to find out if the position I was interested in was the same position I'd seen advertised with a different agency. I wanted to know the company name basically. They told me they couldn't tell me the company's name unless I applied for the job.

They told me to call back in an hour for a chat, and to send my CV in in the meantime.

Anyone know what the heck I should be doing? I've never applied for work through agencies in my entire life. Any comments on them?

Thanks!:D

WhiteWashMan

right, angencies like to meet people first.
which is a bit of a disadvantage i guess with you being in another country!

however.

they are great at getting your CV, and then forgetting about you.
there has been some policies in the last few years for agencies to put out fake job specs to draw in a pool of CV's. you may find yourself phoned out of the blue for some job you daont want that came up with you as a match on a CV database.
if you do apply for a job through and agency, hopefully they will send on your CV and hopefully you will get called for an interview. otherwise, they dont tend to get back to you to tell you that the company doesnt want to talk to you. remember, sending in to an agency does not mean you will get an interview.
they are basicallt crap at getting back to you. and they will try to tag you along, so be hard on them. if you think they are stringing you along, tell them so.
other than that, i guess some other people can tell you exactly what sort of experiences they have had with agencies.
mine are mostly all bad to be honest, adn the only one i have ever had success with has been www.cpl.ie who got me 2 jobs in ireland.
but i have been given the run around by plenty of other ones.

by the way, never stop applying direct to companies....

Gaslamp

Thanks for that:)

I've been applying for company jobs but, unfortunately, a lot of them can't seem to be bothered at recruiting themselves and go through agencies.

I've followed them all up with a phone call though, so we shall see.

Also nearly applied for the same position several times through different agencies (didn't though, just started thinking 'surely there can't the THAT many pharmaceutical companies in Westport:D)

Fingers crossed......

RicardoSmith

I reckon 80% of the jobs you see advertised in agencies are speculative. A lot of them are advertisted in almost every agency and you see lots of them readvertised constantly. I've seen some jobs advertised over and over again for over 12 months. I dunno what they are playing at but I've basically given up on agencies. That siad I got my current contract through and agency. But I reckon that was by accident.

missionary

I completly understand your current position. Im from the UK and emmigrated over to Dublin approx 4 months ago. As yourself I wanted to secure a job before moving over. Unfortunetly agencies still are the best way of getting a job if you need one quick. You could also try knocking door to door depending on what you kind of job your looking for and how desparate you are. Also agencies have very funny people working in them (I don't mean funny ha! ha!) who tend to give stupid excuses about the availability of work unless you make yourself completly disposable to them. Good luck with your search and try nixers.com and recruitireland.com who send regular email updates on jobs.

GuanYin

Hilariously (and coincidently) , Richmond recruitment rang me at 11am yesterday to see if I was still looking for a job.

I told them I had been over a year in my current position and he made some excuse about him taking over for someone else and going through the files to update them.

Its really weird, coz I'm not in a recruitment agency sorta profession. Out of curiosity, I checked my e-mail archive to see when I last e-mailed richmond recruitment. It was 3 years ago. From the mail it seems I e-mailed them the CV and followed up with a phonecall...to a person with the same name as the guy who rang me.

3 years!!!!!!

Now a few agencies have rung me a year later, (one keeps ringing me asking me if I have any friends who speak german fluently and have tech skills...I have no idea why) but none have taken 3 years.

Anyways, rant aside. Agencies are close to journos on my list of profession-predjudices. I'd say apply direct to the companies in all cases. Its usually the first thing they ask you anyway "what companies have you applied to".

Gaslamp

Hmmmmnnn - I don't like agencies already!

They told me yesterday that companies will happliy sit back and wait for the right person to come along, however long it takes and they con't accept anyone with jsut 90% of the skills (why??)

ALSO, I don't like the fact that if the AGENCY doesn't feel you're suitable, they don't send your CV to the company! No offence agencies, but how on earth do you know anything about my line of work and what I can and can't do?

Anyway, fingers crossed for me folks - I'll also 'knock' on a few doors and send my CV off to a few companies and see what happens.

Does anyone know how I can get a list of food companies in Ireland? Is there a directory or something?

Thanks!:)

GuanYin

Not exhaustive but a good place to start.


http://www.idaireland.com/investments/index.asp

Sleepy

Try the means I used to get this job: Google for "job title" vacancies on the google.ie site and select "search ireland only".

Granted most of the sites you'll find will have been advertising something in the past, but that at least means that they do their own hiring. From what I've found, there's still a lot of scope for "on-spec" applications out there in Ireland...


Best of luck!