Recruitment Agency's Practices - Please Advice

gombean

(deleted)

DublinWriter

gombean wrote:

I would really like to hear people’s views on this, whether I agree with them or not. I would especially like to hear from people who work within recruitment.

How best to put it? Agencies = scum.

One practice I noticed a lot of agencies doing (especially in the UK) circa 2002 was ringing people up, pretending to have a job in their line and asking for a couple of references first.

There was no job and they basically cold-called your referees looking to place people.

As a rule I don't put references on my CV anymore.

Treat agencies like the scum they are, never trust them, they never serve your best interest only theirs and they are only interested in the short term.

Your experience is also a very good reason never to give agencies details of any other people. Will you even get a reward if your friend is placed?

leeroybrown

For a lot agencies ethics/morals would probably be defined as the point where being unethical/immoral no longer improves profit.

The Hill Billy

gombean wrote:

Have the agency not acted in a totally immortal and unethical manner towards me in not considering my position in all of this?

Pesky eternal recruiters!

Seriously though - I don't see what the huge problem is.

What exactly is immoral (deliberately violating accepted principles of right and wrong) & unethical (not conforming to approved standards of social or professional behavior) about what they have done?

You have an issue because a friend that was recommended by you to the agency has been placed in the same company as you. That's what recruitment agencies do. They place people & make money. Do you really expect them to look for your permission before they place someone you know in your workplace?

You don't want to mix your work & private life. Fair enough - but that is not, nor should it be, a concern of the recruitment agency.

seamus

I don't see what the problem is either. The company probably got his CV, then matched it to said position in your company. They have to make money, so they send him for the interview.

Your relationship with your friend is irrelevant. It's not up to the recruitment agency to police your life. If anything, most people would be delighted to have one of their mates start in their company.

mikemac

OP, are the agency going to pay you a referral fee?
Often they offer €250 in vouchers for a referral that's placed. You should be getting at least this.

I've had a few agencies offer me this but I can laugh at them as my employer pays €2,000 in referral fees providing your friend passes their 6 month probation.
Big difference between €250 and €2,000

Tom Dunne

gombean wrote:

Have the agency not acted in a totally immortal and unethical manner towards me in not considering my position in all of this?

Since when do agencies act in a moral and ethical manner?

They are down there with insurance- and used-car salespeople in my estimation.

As someone who was also misled by a recruitment agency, I have come to the conclusion that all they give a damn about at the end of the day is their own pay cheque. They will sell their own granny to the highest bidder if they could.

I think it bad form the way they mislead you.

mountainyman

Tell your boss that you are concerned because the agency is trying to recruit you for a different job.
That will **** them over and you will have your 'revenge'

MM

BuffyBot

Can't see that they have done anything wrong.

homeOwner

gombean wrote:

....they are currently recruiting for another position with a totally unrelated company to the one I now work for. They forwarded me the job spec and simply asked if I knew anyone interest in this position to ask him/her to get in contact with them.

Ok well if recruiter actually said to you it was in a completely different company and that now turns out not to be the case why dont you call him up up and ask him why he lied to you. Put him on the spot. Tell him he has put you in a very awkward position and that you are going to tell your HR department that they dealt with you in an underhand manner (whether you do or not at least pretend that you are going to).

If your company has an internal referral program, tell recruiter that you have already submitted your friend's cv to them. If you are good friends wth the person going for the interview, ask him if he wouldnt mind you taking credit and splitting the referral fee.

As an aside, once you got the spec for the job how did yuo not notice it was exactly the same as the job yo just applied for?

0utshined

Can the first post of this thread be restored?

The OP may not need the info anymore but there could be others who do. Without the first post it isn't clear exactly what this thread was about.

eth0_

Unfortunately not. He deleted the contents of the post. If he'd deleted the post itself it could have been restored.

irishproduce

Does anyone have any idea what it was about.
This seems like a very interesting thread and there are lots of opinions but I dont have a clue what exactly happened.
Am I correct in saying himself and his friend went for the same job through the same agency but now there is a problem??

Tom Dunne

No - he went for the job, agency was fine, professional and got the job. Agency call him asking if he has friends in the same business, have posts in other companies. Once agency gets friend's CV, agency sends his friend for the same job as OP. Basically lied to him about where they were sending the friend's CV. OP likes to keep personal life and work life seperate.

irishproduce

Ohhh, now I see.
Them little sneaks.
That wasnt very nice of them was it.
Is his friend ok about the whole thing.

Off topic, I wonder why he took the post down??

Red Alert

The basic fact about agencies that a lot of people forget is this:

The client is not you, the client is the companies they are recruiting for.

You are the fodder/raw material.

Implication: Expect to get screwed.
Recommendation: Avoid altogether unless you have a specific job that some company is using an agency to recruit for.

0utshined

eth0_ wrote:

Unfortunately not. He deleted the contents of the post. If he'd deleted the post itself it could have been restored.

That's a shame. I really dislike when people do that to their posts, thankfully it doesn't happen much on boards.ie

@Tom_dunne,

Thanks for the synopsis, it's a lot clearer now.

Tom Dunne

0utshined wrote:

@Tom_dunne,

Thanks for the synopsis, it's a lot clearer now.

You are welcome

TempestSabre

Red Alert wrote:

The basic fact about agencies that a lot of people forget is this:

The client is not you, the client is the companies they are recruiting for.

You are the fodder/raw material.

Implication: Expect to get screwed.
Recommendation: Avoid altogether unless you have a specific job that some company is using an agency to recruit for.

Exactly. Use them if you've no other choice. But once you've sucked everything you need out of them, simply ignore them till the next time.