Messed around by agency and company

LegacyUser

Hi all

Im just looking to know where i stand on this really

I applied for a role thru a very well known and reputable agency.. went for the role and had a great interview with the HR manager and my would be direct manager. I was told by them that the role needed to be urgently filled (I had come in for interview with 1days notice) and would i be able to start the next week if successful.

I have recently come back from travelling and this role suited me perfectly with a good salary/conditions etc so i said sure no problem.

Out of interview 1 hr and was called by recruitment agent saying they wanted to offer me the role conditional on refs which i duly provided and are good quality refs. Considering i had been asked could i start this tues after the bank holiday and had provided refs the tues prior, By fri afternoon just gone i was a bit anxious

I was told there was an audit going on but couldnt seem to get a straight answer

Finally today, i was told by the agent that the manager had decided to go with another candidate..

I just feel its very shabby and am not really sure who to vent at .. Has anyone had a similar experience?

I know agencies can be bad but this seems totally ridiculous AFTER telling someone they have the job !!

Annoyed

DublinWriter

Unreg-Jobhunter wrote:

I know agencies can be bad but this seems totally ridiculous AFTER telling someone they have the job !!

They didn't tell you that you had the job. They told you that you had the job *conditionally* based on your refs.

Two things could have happened: 1) Your refs did not check out for some reason or 2) another agency already dealing with the company suddenly came up with a better and/or cheaper candidate.

Either way, there's nothing you can do. No formal offer was made.

The Work & Jobs forum would have been a better place for your post BTW.

Dudess

Or 3) Between them they're an unprofessional, inconsiderate shower. My money would be on that one.

OP, it's true - you weren't actually offered the job and there's nothing you can do about it now, but they got your hopes up and they should not have done it. There is a similar thread currently on Work & Jobs posted by a person who was treated (if you can believe it!) worse again and posters are advising him/her that it's just life etc. No way! It's completely unacceptable and extremely unprofessional. When people are looking for work, it can be a difficult time. Employers/recruitment agencies should know that and bear it in mind. A bit of humanity never did anyone any harm. They should not toy with people like that. Even if they're really sure that someone seems ideal for a job, they should not give them the impression that they have it until they have interviewed everyone. For ****'s sake, they're supposed to be professionals so they surely realise that someone preferable might turn up. It's disgustingly mean-spirited to give that little of a ****.
DublinWriter is right about the Work & Jobs forum being better. Click on the Biz forum and scroll down to Personal - Work & Jobs is in there. I'm going through a similar time trying to find work so I know how you feel. Hope you get the job you need. Best of luck.

Laslo

DublinWriter is absolutely right. No formal offer was made, no contracts signed and returned so you don't have a leg to stand on. Lots of companies will look after their best interests. In this case, it's probably not the agency's fault. At least he had the decency to call you and let you know. I had a phone interview a few weeks ago followed by a face-to-face interview (that seemed to go very well) and I haven't heard anything from either the agency or the company in question now in over two weeks and they haven't responded to follow-up emails. The bottom like is that business is business - don't take it personally, you just have to roll with the punches. Thank your lucky stars you aren't going to work for them because, judging by their carry on, it could have been more hassle than it's worth.

dudara

Better suited to the Work & Jobs forum.

dudara

BostonB

Unreg-Jobhunter wrote:

....

I just feel its very shabby and am not really sure who to vent at .. Has anyone had a similar experience?

I know agencies can be bad but this seems totally ridiculous AFTER telling someone they have the job !! ....

Yes, its not unusual. Until I have a job offer in my hand, it doesn't exist for me. I continue as it I didn't get it. If I take another offer in the meanwhile, so be it.

Saint_Mel

I had a similar experience before. Done a good interview (I thought at the time)
2 days later agency rang to say that the company had shortlisted 3 candidates
and I was their top choice so the offer would be coming through shortly.

Heard nothing for a few days. Tried calling and emailing the agent but got no
reply or return calls from messages. Eventually got to talk to the agent about
3 weeks later and he said that "the budget was cut so they scrapped the job"

Raging, but nothing could be done about it!

John Mason

same happened to me, was told by the agency, they had offered me the job after three 2 hour interviews with various managers subject to references - my references are from two old bosses that i still meet for lunch occassionally so no problem with the references. then i heard nothing after chasing the agency for two weeks to find when i was starting, contracts etc. i got a letter in the post to say they had gone with someone else. no one in the agency returned my phone calls or emails.

now this agency 3 years later are phoning me all the time to see if i want to change jobs - i will never use an agency again, i tell you

Dr Galen

although other posters are right, you weren't offered anything formally it does seem a bit shoddy to be treated like this.

You have to ask yourself now though, if that company treated you like this, do you really want to go work for them anyways. At least the recruiter called you. He/She is probably just as pissed as you tbh, they've lost out on the commission from you getting the job

BostonB

I'm with nurse_baz. If they muck you around at the interview then its very likely they'd muck you about when working there. Also its not always the agencies fault, as they get messed around a fair bit too. Another reason to be wary when companys use agencies to employ people. Theres a lot more potential for messing around.

is_that_so

A company pulling the job is not uncommon where an internal review either produces a freeze or reduces head count. Not alot you can in case.
That said I would expect a reputable agency to talk to me and tell how valued I was and how bad they felt etc. etc. , but how many are really "reputable"?

Dudess

nurse_baz wrote:

although other posters are right, you weren't offered anything formally it does seem a bit shoddy to be treated like this.

Exactly. The issue here is not that the OP didn't get the job - nobody is owed a job in such a case - but the unfair way the company went about it. I'm so appalled by this and other cases mentioned on this thread and the other thread (titled 'What went wrong?')

lukin

Feck's sake lads, why do ye keep posting on here expressing shock and amazement at shabby treatment by recruitment agencies?
They are total vermin, the lot of them, we know that by now.

BostonB

Dudess wrote:

Exactly. The issue here is not that the OP didn't get the job - nobody is owed a job in such a case - but the unfair way the company went about it. I'm so appalled by this and other cases mentioned on this thread and the other thread (titled 'What went wrong?')

Unfair is par for the course in my experience.

[V3]

Whenever dealing through an agency, if they said that my interview was successful and the client is prepared to offer me the job, I always ask for some kind of written letter from the client like a formal employment offer or even the actual employment contract.
Most of the employment contract would state that the employment is only applicable on having reference anyway.

Duckjob

If you were offered the job subject to references, and then the offer was withdrawn, then logically either:

a) your references didnt check out for whatever reason (do you fully trust all your referees to give you a positive reference?)
b) The company came across somebody else willing to do the same job for less.
c) The company decided to cut corners by assigning the duties of the job to existing staff.

My money would be or b) or c) in which case they are cowboys that you wouldn't want to work for.

I don't have a very high opinion of recruitment agencies in general, but I wouldn't blame them in this case - it sounds like they were just stuck in the middle.

pclancy

The recruiter has now lost their money and effectivly wasted the last few weeks trying to get you into the company remember that...managers in client companys change their minds with a seconds notice or often HR has a totally diffferent opinion of how an interview or test went then the hiring manager does and hence the agent has no idea when things are going good or bad till that last minute.

Happens all the time, just keep at it. Id agree saying theres plenty of vermin agents out there but companies can be as bad...at the end of the day they want to look after themselves and their interests, not yours. C'est la vi.

mealone42

Unreg-Jobhunter wrote:

Hi all

Im just looking to know where i stand on this really

I applied for a role thru a very well known and reputable agency.. went for the role and had a great interview with the HR manager and my would be direct manager. I was told by them that the role needed to be urgently filled (I had come in for interview with 1days notice) and would i be able to start the next week if successful.

I have recently come back from travelling and this role suited me perfectly with a good salary/conditions etc so i said sure no problem.

Out of interview 1 hr and was called by recruitment agent saying they wanted to offer me the role conditional on refs which i duly provided and are good quality refs. Considering i had been asked could i start this tues after the bank holiday and had provided refs the tues prior, By fri afternoon just gone i was a bit anxious

I was told there was an audit going on but couldnt seem to get a straight answer

Finally today, i was told by the agent that the manager had decided to go with another candidate..

I just feel its very shabby and am not really sure who to vent at .. Has anyone had a similar experience?

I know agencies can be bad but this seems totally ridiculous AFTER telling someone they have the job !!

Annoyed

I have found that out of 50 job applications to Employment agencies that 90% are not even acknowledged. They are a shambles. One job I applied for through an agent was not acknowledged but I then applied directly to the company and was employed. I contact the agency subsequently to ask why my application was not acknowledged and guess what they said I was under qualified so that is why they did not respond. I told the idiots that i already had the job. They were sick as they lost their commission.