How long do recruitment agencies keep c.v.s.

von Neumann

If i send in my c.v. to a recruitment agency are they likely to have my old c.v. on file?

If I'm tailoring my c.v. for a given position do they look for inconsistancies with my old (alternate) c.v.s?

In particular, companies like CPL who have a number of agencies under their unbrella would they have 50 different versions of my c.v. in thier system?

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

They make fuel out of them, it's a lucrative industry.

Normally it's a year, some it's six months, others is six minutes. Depends if they are going to make money out of you or not.

leeroybrown

Based on Irish Jobs and Monster UK, it appears to be until they are stolen by internet criminals due to poor computer security.

AARRRGH

Depends on the agency, but I suspect for many it is forever.

anonymousjunkie

AARRRGH wrote: »

Depends on the agency, but I suspect for many it is forever.

I'd guess thats right. I still receive the odd job spam from agencies I haven't dealt with in years.

mountainyman

They can have 100 versions of your CV but the individual recruiter will use the one in the email in front of her that minute.

So feel free to 'tailor' your CV.

Thumpette

They never delete anything off their system, every CV, every email, every interview feedback. If you request to be deleted off their system they will inactivate your name on the system and not call you, but all the details remain...

Capt'n Midnight

I thought the max you could hold on to a CV was one year , unless the person's an employee ?

janullrich

I got a call on Friday from an agency that found my CV on Irish jobs from 2 years ago!!!!! I have a telephone interview for Thursday with the company but to be honest it surprised me what they said and how they found it. He admits that he is finding they are finding it difficult to find the right people. They must not be looking very hard!

hobnob101

You are right. Agencies will keep your CV indefinitely.

They are not allowed to do anything with them without your consent though. It is actually illegal for a recruitment agency to send your CV to a company without getting your permission first.

You should tailor your CV for every single job you apply for. If your recruitment consultant is not telling you this then they are crap and you should find yourself another one. . . it's not like there is a shortage of them. If they can't give you a proper description of the company you are applying to, the job description and have a working knowledge of why you are suitable for the job then you are wasting your time with them. If a recruitment consultant has little knowledge then their only recourse is to send out lots of CV's in the hopes that some of them 'stick'. This is bad recruitment. It does not do you or the client company any favours.

Make sure your recruitment consultant knows you well. They are the ones that will be selling you to the company before you get an interview.

What if you get bad service? Insist that you are removed from their database (you can check by ringing someone else in the company).

What if you are told that you have an interview for somewhere you didn't know you were applying for? Go through your recruitment consultant for a short cut. You didn't get to tailor your CV and what they have done may well be illegal. You may have also applied to the same company through a different agency. It looks really bad if a company gets your CV twice. It makes you look desperate and badly organised. It also makes it look like you don't particularly care about that specific job and are probably sending your CV anywhere. If this happens insist that the offending recruitment agency withdraw your CV immediately. It is your right to get them to withdraw it. They represent you. You are the boss. Then get them to remove you from their records. Then, if you are still angry (and you should be), report them to the National Recruitment Federation. If they are not a member then you chose your Recruitment agency particularly badly.


Always keep a record of where your CV has gone and when. Don't use more than 3 recruitment agencies at a time. If you are ever asked for permission to send your CV to "any suitable positions" say no. That opens the door to you being mistreated. You must be informed about each job individually. Tailor your CV for each job. It is rare that you won't have time to make some changes. Make sure your recruitment consultant tells you about the job in detail and why they think you are suitable - that's a two way street. Sell yourself to your recruiter and they have a better chance of selling you.

Sorry. Didn't mean to write a book. I'm seriously annoyed by how some recruitment companies are treating job seekers. Knowledge is power, so hopefully that little lot will help somebody.

flash harry

well here's an article written specifically about it....

http://www.hrri.ie/content/images/pdfs/data%20protection%20and%20the%20hr%20function.pdf

deisebabe

verkom have been mailing me since i applied for a job....maybe four years ago now? I sent my cv in to cpl and never heard anything. I'm sure it doesn't matter. They prob wont look at an old cv as your recent experience is most important.

hobnob101

That's a great article Flash Harry!

deisebabe, a lot of recruitment agencies will have CV matching software. If you are marked as active on their system (which you will be until you tell them otherwise) then your CV will be checked against jobs. Thus the importance of keywords in your CV, since most matching software works by counting the instances of a keyword and ranking them accordingly.

For example: An employer is looking for somebody with ASP and Java language experience. The matching software will look at all the CV's that contain those expressions and counts how many times they occur. If you have both languages but only mention them once you will be further down the list of possible matches than somebody who mentions them twice or more. If you have one of the languages and not the other you may not even make the shortlist of CV's to look at. You may be the best Java coder in the world but only have a bit of ASP so not bothered putting it on your CV. You won't get a call. If you don't hear back from an agency it is either because your CV does not match any current vacancies, or in the case of not hearing from an agency in a long time, because your CV is not working well with whatever matching software (if any) the recruitment agency are using.

The phone is always a good bet. Stay in touch with your recruitment consultants regularly even if they have nothing for you. Just check in. By doing that you stay fresh in their mind so that when a suitable job does come in they will remember you above the people that didn't keep in contact. I'm not saying to make a pain in the arse of yourself. A quick "Hi, anything happening" call will tell you the state of the current market. Don't forget to ask the recruitment consultants advice on how to better your chances of getting your next job. That's what they are there for.