I've heard all the bad stuff about recruitement agencies....

flash harry

Okay so as the title suggests I've read all the negativity re recruiters in several other posts over the last year or so and here is my question?

How can a recruiter be "a good recruiter" in everyone here's eyes. I'd love to hear opinions, other than "find me a job", I think even the most hard core hater would agree that cant be gusranteed.......opinions please....

FH

SheroN

Don't tell me lies about a role. Don't send my CV off to companies without my say so. Don't send me for interview for a role that I'm not suited for.

r3nu4l

I have to say the majority of recruitment agencies I've dealt with in England have been very good.

How can a recruitment agency be good?

1. Take a good brief from candidates
2. Listen to candidate requirements. If I say I want a maximum 20 mile commute, don't tell me about a company 40 miles away.
3. Be open about salary expectations. Recruiters DO know what their clients are willing to pay, they also know the going rate for that position. Give the candidate some idea within a couple of thousand so that when asked what salary they expect at interview they can give an appropriate answer.
4. Be realistic about the candidates future career opportunities in the client company. Is the client company known for rewarding good work or do they leave good workers sitting there until they get demoralised?
5. Follow-up and get feedback from candidates you've placed. Are they happy? What's not right? This gives the recruiter more information. If a future candidate says they don't like pressured environments, then don't even think of telling them about company 'x' that your last candidate had a nervous breakdown in when you recruited him there.

That's just a brief list of a few things that come to mind. As I say, most recruiters I've dealt with have been great.

Tom Dunne

I think what r3nu4l has said above sums it up.

But also, I would love the see the weasel-like, car-salesman type "consultants" removed. I've mentioned here before the underhanded incidents I was subjected to with one particular agency. After it was all sorted and apologies accepted, they had the audacity to ring me three months into the job to see if I was willing to leave it.

It's these kind of antics that give recruitment agencies a bad name.

Eoin

The last crowd I dealt with were FRS recruitment, and I was very happy with their service.

I contacted them about a role and sent in my CV. They rang me, talked me through my experience a little and where I wanted to go. Based on that, they suggested another role they had on their books as well. They sent me the spec, and I told them to send my CV in.

I got called to interview a week or two later, and the evening before the recruiter rang me and spent easily 25-30 minutes on the phone with me, talking through the sort of technologies and processes / methodologies I should brush up on for the interview, and what areas of my experience to emphasise. I got another call the evening after the interview to see how I got on.

I thought it was a very good, personal service and how I would future dealings with an agency to go.

AARRRGH

1. Understand the area you recruit for. For example, if you deal with IT roles, you should understand the difference between localisation and quality assurance, and know which one is the better job.
2. Stop making false promises. For example, if you say you are going to call me back, call me back.
3. Have manners. For example, if I don't get the job, have the courtesy to ring me to let me know.
4. Don't waste my time. This means you don't meet me for a pointless chat in your office - we can do that over the phone.
5. Don't spam me with irrelevant job adverts.
6. Remove me from your mailing list when I ask to be removed.
7. Finally, cop on and realise there is more to your job than getting commission. Where someone works can have a big impact on their life, so don't try to force them into a role which does not suit them.

These are all really simple things, and should come naturally if you're a decent human being.

eth0_

1> Hire recruiters who actually know the area they're recruiting for - I get cold calls looking for me to attend interviews for programming jobs despite having no experience with programming aside from in college, 8 years ago.

2> Don't waste my time inviting me in for a meeting in your office - any job i've got through an agency never involved meeting the recruiter beforehand. IMO this is another way of CV harvesting.

3> Don't lie about the salary. e.g. on job ads it will say 'salary 32-40k' and then after the interview you find out that its a base salary of 32k and could rise to 40k after you've been in the job for a few years!

4> Don't recruit for non-existent jobs. We all know you do it.

dade

eth0_ wrote: »

1> Hire recruiters who actually know the area they're recruiting for - I get cold calls looking for me to attend interviews for programming jobs despite having no experience with programming aside from in college, 8 years ago..

jaysus so do i. I originally studied electronics about 15 years ago and apart fro a short sting in Motorola back then have no experience in electronics yet have received a number of emails offering me jobs in this area.

eth0_ wrote: »

2> Don't waste my time inviting me in for a meeting in your office

christ i hate this, another granny has to die or the car has to break down again all for a pointless 15 minute run through you CV that they can get over the phone

eth0_ wrote: »

3> Don't lie about the salary. e.g. on job ads it will say 'salary 32-40k' and then after the interview you find out that its a base salary of 32k and could rise to 40k after you've been in the job for a few years!.

ye buggs teh sh1t out of me too

eth0_ wrote: »

4> Don't recruit for non-existent jobs. We all know you do it.

yeah that's a pain

also READ my CV. DOes it say anywhere I'm CCNA qualiffied? No? they why Ask me, do you honesly think i'd neglect to put some certification on my CV. if i don't mention Unix experience that may be because I don't have any.

Oh and when i say City Centre I dont mean City West.

And when you've asked all teh questions where by i am left wondering have you confused my CV with someone else please don't call me back 2 days later asking the same bloody questions for teh same role that i have no experience in at a location that I have said i am unwilling to commute to.

eth0_

dade wrote: »

Oh and when i say City Centre I dont mean City West.

herya

eth0_ wrote: »

2> Don't waste my time inviting me in for a meeting in your office - any job i've got through an agency never involved meeting the recruiter beforehand. IMO this is another way of CV harvesting.

Actually some companies require thea recruiter on their preferred suppliers list to meet the candidate beforehand, i.e. does more screening for them. Where I work it is always done with regard to particular job only, general registration chats are done over the phone unless the candidates prefer to drop in themselves.

Very helpful thread, thanks for your suggestions!

kittensoft1984

+1 on the above.

I had a few clients who specifically asked me to meet the candidate first.

Also for a sales job, any good recruiter should meet the candidate first.

ToxicPaddy

Ones that dont bring you into the office for a chat, spend an hour telling you how great they are, how they look after all their candidates and how they have lots of jobs that your skillset would be prefect for..

Then forget to ring you back for 6 months and then ring you after that wondering if you're still looking, you say you're not, then ask if you have any mates who would be interested in a role that you probably would have killed for 6 months ago!!!!! :mad:

Eoin

herya wrote: »

Actually some companies require thea recruiter on their preferred suppliers list to meet the candidate beforehand, i.e. does more screening for them. Where I work it is always done with regard to particular job only, general registration chats are done over the phone unless the candidates prefer to drop in themselves.

I can understand that. I used to work in Dublin 2 so it wasn't too hard to nip out for a while, but I wouldn't make a trip into town now though. Still, people seem to forget that the employers are your customer, not the candidates.

Gran Hermano

eoin wrote: »

Still, people seem to forget that the employers are your customer, not the candidates.

A proper recruitment consultant would view both the client company and the candidate as 'customers'.

Eoin

Gran Hermano wrote: »

A proper recruitment consultant would view both the client company and the candidate as 'customers'.

OK, that's a fair point - I just wanted to make the point that it's the employer who is paying the agent and if they want to provide the best possible service by screening candidates, then people should realise that.

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

Being honest and not wasting peoples time. Tomorrow I have an interview with an agency "to see if they will forward me for interview". It's pretty condisending, you know? I bet it won't go anywhere though, but saying that I am very very optimistic. It was about 3-4 minutes after I sent the CV that I got a phone call... how odd is that?

herya

Raelyn Clean Nature wrote: »

Tomorrow I have an interview with an agency "to see if they will forward me for interview". It's pretty condisending, you know?

They shouldn't have put it this way I agree. There are advantages of professional prescreening though, usually it means that the agency is working closely with the company (as opposed to sending out random CVs that have not been properly qualified) and if they do put your application forward you are a very close match and you have a very good chance of getting in.

It was about 3-4 minutes after I sent the CV that I got a phone call... how odd is that?

How is it odd? :cool: Somebody's doing their job well!

yop

Agencies are jokers!"!!

See the job below, I applied last sept and was told to forward my CV immediately, I did that but was then told it was gone, but its still be advertised.
http://www.computerjobs.ie/viewjob.asp?strFrom=search&numStartRecord=0&numJobID=62700&p=69035&n=70661

Then another job, agency told me that I was not qualified enough which I was suprised at and they were not forwarding my CV, so I figured out who the company was, got in contact with them myself and have an interview lined up.
Bunch of chancers who have little or no industry experience, just looking for a bunch of keywords.