Recruitment Agencies - Are you BlackListed

dublad23

I am applying for a position with a Recruitment Agency based in Cork but they have another Office in Dublin.

About 6 years ago I was offered a position with their Dublin Office but I didn't show up for it and gave a lame excuse which resulted in them implying I was lying and me sending them a pretty harsh e-mail complaining about how they handled the situation... long story.

Does anyone know if they would have kept my details on their database for this long saying not to hire me etc...

Obviously back then I was a lot younger .... and not mature at all.

Thanks for any advice / help.

AARRRGH

No, you won't be blacklisted. Getting you a job is worth too much money to them.

dublad23

Thanks for your reply.

I emailed them today and they seemed really interested in me and my experience.

They asked to forward my CV which I did this evening.

It's just I have applied for jobs previously with the recruitment agency in Dublin and never heard anything back so presumed this was the reason.

AARRRGH

dublad23 wrote: »

It's just I have applied for jobs previously with the recruitment agency in Dublin and never heard anything back so presumed this was the reason.

A lot of people don't hear back from recruitment agencies.

It would be very strange of them to refuse the money you can bring them.

board om

the recruitment agency i worked for had candidates on the database going back to about 1998, and every single bit of correspondance with the candidate had to be recorded in the database. so when i received a CV from a candidate who we had previously dealt with i could see all the jobs they had applied for, what intervies they went on, what the results of the interviews were, even what was said in phone calls and emails, absolutely everything. quite often when candidates didnt turn up for an interview or if they they did something else that was not seen to be professional, i would have put a note on our database saying not to deal with them as they are a time waster. so if one of the other recruiters i worked with received a CV from the candidate they wouldnt put them forward for any roles.

and if i received a CV from a candidate and i saw that they had been placed in a job but they hadnt turned up for the job, i wouldnt waste my time caling them. sure the chances are they are going to do it again so why give them the opportunity to. tbh the 2 worst things a candidate will do to a recruiter is 1) not turn up for an interview that the recruiter had set up for them with a company, and 2) accept the job but then not turn up for the job. they both make the recruiter look unprofessional and it wastes everyones time. obviously the second one is the worst thing you can do becuase it can mean the company might not use the recruiter again so it is really bad for business.

board om

soory, i just re-read your post. were you offered the job working for the recruitment agency as a recruitment consultant or was it a job they got you with another company through the agency?

GoneShootin

dublindude wrote: »

A lot of people don't hear back from recruitment agencies.

Ya - ****ers....

the_syco

board om wrote: »

the recruitment agency i worked for had candidates on the database going back to about 1998

LOL if someone did a FOI on the company for all info about them... esp if they were one of the "bad" apples.

Zulu

Foi??

Stky10

FOI = Freedom of Information Act

To be honest, unless its CPL, I doubt they'll have the information stored. Most Recruitment Agency people I've experienced lately have shown themselves to be pretty thick, ie ring me up and ask me whether I'd be interested in a job, and I'll remind them I spoke to them about two days beforehand saying I had no interest.

CPL though have records going back years from what I can see.

If I was you, I'd use an email address that you didn't have the last time round with them, and you might well escape their notice

board om

basically once the candidates keep applying for roles with updated CVs then their details are being updated, so the agency are not doing anything wrong as far as FOI is concerned.

it wasnt CPL that i worked for but we still had all that information stored. all the big recruitment agencies keep that information becuase it is in their interest to. that informtaion is what makes up a recruitment agency so without it they wouldnt exist. all that keeps them in business is their database of candidates, so if they lost all that information they would be out of business. and we are talking about a database of a few hundred thousand candidates so it is pretty big.

tbh CPL are a joke these day. they are run more like a call centre rather than a recruitment consultants. they seem to take on consultants and then let them go 3 months later. so that is probably why you are getting regular calls from them. belive me when i say where i worked EVERYTHING was recorded. in fact when i started working there i found intevriew notes about myself going back to 6 years before i started there. i didnt even remember ever using the agency but it turns out i had been interviewed by them and had been sent for a few interviews, and the whole lot was there on file.

it isnt just the email address they would use to match you up to your old file. there is an automatic system that when a CV is emailed to one of the consultants, the system automatically picks up on the CV and updates the database. it will match up the name, address, phone number, date of birth, and email on the the CV with the same details on the database, and then it will update any new informtaion that is on the CV. so if you have a new phone number on your new CV, then it will automatically update on the database. so you wouldnt get away with just changing 1 or 2 details, you would have to chancge nearly everything. and even then the consultant would only have to compare the new CV to the old CV and they will see the candidate worked the same jobs so they will know it is the same person.

OP, you never answered my question regardng the job you never turned up for, was it working with the agency as a recruiter or was it a job they got you with another company?

Dudess

Would it maybe depend on how much you screw them over? I mean I started a five-week temping job through one agency, then got offered a three-month, better paying temping job through another one that day and they needed me to start the next day. Naturally I took the longer job and the first agency were fine about it. They understood my position. And they said to contact them if ever I was looking for work again. Maybe it was all just talk but I got a positive vibe off it.

board om

Dudess wrote: »

Would it maybe depend on how much you screw them over? I mean I started a five-week temping job through one agency, then got offered a three-month, better paying temping job through another one that day and they needed me to start the next day. Naturally I took the longer job and the first agency were fine about it. They understood my position. And they said to contact them if ever I was looking for work again. Maybe it was all just talk but I got a positive vibe off it.

it could have been a case where they had someone else in reserve to take the position if you didnt. in a situation like that you wouldnt mind that much becuase it is a temp role and there are always lots of people looking to do temp roles. but if you had accepted the job and then not turned up on the first day, now that would p1ss people off. becuase they would have been relying on you. once you let them know and they had someone to replace you then nobody loses face and everybody is happy.

with full time roles it is a bit differnt because you have to find 5 or 10 candidates interested in the position, then you have to organise the first interviews, then it will be narrowed down to maybe 3 or 4 for second interview, and then one candidate will be offered the position, you have to wait for the candidate to accept, and once they have accepted the role you give them a starting date. that whole process can take up to a month from start to finish so if after all that the canddate who was offered the position doesnt turn up to do the job, the whole process starts all over again. so it really sets everyone back and it is a big waste of time for all concerned.

AARRRGH

board om wrote: »

if i received a CV from a candidate and i saw that they had been placed in a job but they hadnt turned up for the job, i wouldnt waste my time caling them.

I think it's fair to say you're not the average recruiter though... (that's not an insult or any kind of negative statement.)

I think the OP has little to worry about.

Gran Hermano

dublindude wrote: »

I think it's fair to say you're not the average recruiter though... (that's not an insult or any kind of negative statement.)

I think the OP has little to worry about.

You might be surprised as to how a professional recruiter operates

I agree with what Board OM has said, having worked in the
industry in the past I am very familiar with how much information is
retained on file - all past copies of CVs, interview notes, appointments,
job offers, etc. The database systems I worked on in recruitment
companies in the 90's would scan/OCR a CV and suggest matches
between any new CVs and existing CVs already on the system based on
numerous database fields.

A recruiter would review any new CVs received and would check existing
notes on the old record - I would also speak to colleagues who may have
interviewed or represented the candidate in the past for any additional
information that may not ne on the system (that's where FoI is not an issue!).

Any candidate who messed around with a job offer or interview would not
likely be forwarded for a new role, as already they would not only have
damaged their own reputation but that of the recruitment consultancy and
consultant. I always ensured people had the opportunity to decide and
advise a job was not for them long before the job acceptance stage. If
someone backed out early enough in the process there was no sour grapes on any part.

Would I represent a candidate who already had shown their ability to mess
people around, not likely! How would I explain to my management or a
client company that I had given a candidate a second chance only for them
mess another client around. Would I waste my own time representing
someone with a track record as an indecisive time waster, no chance.
In recruitment, and I'm not talking the 'agency' type recruitment
companies with fictitious jobs harvesting applicants for entry level roles,
all you have as a consultant is your own professionalism and relationship
with both clients companies and candidates.

AARRRGH

Gran Hermano wrote: »

You might be surprised as to how a professional recruiter operates

There aren't too many professional recruiters!

But I accept your point: some recruiters, if they look through your file and see something bad, may consider you a risk and ignore your application.

Fair enough.

dublad23

Thanks for the Replies.

It's for a job they would be putting me forward for.

The job is very short term and they would be recruiting a number of candidates.

I know I have the experience / skills so on those grounds I would be expecting an offer.

Sure I'll give them a ring in the next couple of days and see what the story is.

I'm not even sure if it is the same agency..

AARRRGH

Could you contact the employer directly...?

helimachoptor

Last year I was offered a pretty good job, good money, bonus, signing on fee, VHI for all my family (so just me ) , phone, free lunches. Much better than what I was doing at the time but it was an industry shift for me. The days were very long also and after talking to a couple of people about said company I decided to turn the offer down. The recruiter was pretty piss*ed off and I dont blame him but it didnt feel right. He emailed me a month later about another job!

WindSock

I suppose thats why my agency have been fobbing me off and not come up with anything for the last month. I was to start a job but had an interview for a course the week after I started. I had arranged with the agency to have the day off to go to it. During the weekend, I had realised my interview was actually for the Monday I was to start the job, but had no way of contacting the agency. I had left messages, etc. and phoned them first thing on the Monday Morning. I was available to work for them the next day, but it wasn't good enough and I haven't heard from them since. It's a bit of a pain as I had given them nothing but good service from the time I started with them and now they have me marked off the list over one genuine mistake which I apologised for repeatedly. This is why I am not arsed with agencies anymore. Do they not realise we are temping for a reason?

board om

helimachoptor wrote: »

Last year I was offered a pretty good job, good money, bonus, signing on fee, VHI for all my family (so just me ) , phone, free lunches. Much better than what I was doing at the time but it was an industry shift for me. The days were very long also and after talking to a couple of people about said company I decided to turn the offer down. The recruiter was pretty piss*ed off and I dont blame him but it didnt feel right. He emailed me a month later about another job!

turning the job down isnt that bad. sure at the end of the day it is up to you where you work and if dont want the job, you dont want the job. if you were offered the job in the first place it shows you are a good candidate so even if you didnt want that particular job, any sensible recruiter will try and find you something else that you do want.

but accepting the job and then not turning up on to do the job is a whole different situation. thats is a serious problem because you are leaving the recruiter in the sh1t, and you are also leaving the company in the sh1t.

How Strange

IMO, the majority (90%) of the agencies I've dealt with in the last few years are completely unprofessional and disorganised with a huge staff turnover so I'd be very suprised if they had any info about you turning down a job. The most they may have is a copy of your old cv.

consultech

A blacklist does exist, between the bigger agencies.

If you've ever seen to be going behind an agenciy's back, or if you have been suspected of "cutting a deal" with an employer after theyve contacted you "directly" subsequent to your CV being sent in by a recruiter (i.e. The employer simply went to Monster and got your contact info) - then inter-agency contact exists, and they generally do their best to feck things up for you in future.

Probably a shock to most people, recruiters who work in mickey mouse places included... Fair is fair though I suppose, recruiters arn't given the respect they deserve. They are providing you with a service for nothing most of the time.