Do Recruiters Blacklist Candidates in Ireland?

Another recruiter here.

My advice to the OP would be to try and get a hold of your recruiter for a quick catch up on what the market looks like and if there are any other suitable opportunities she feels she may be able to help you on. Take stock of where you're at with your job search and seek advice. What's gone wrong over the past three months? Are you applying for the right jobs? Are there options you could look that you haven't been considering? Does your CV / interview technique need work? Is your position typical of the industry you're in at the moment?

I've come across many candidates I would like to blacklist tbh. People who are lazy, only half-committed to their job search - these are the ones likely to embarrass you in interview the most. People who, like many in this thread here, think that I am some sort of scam artist and will be openly nasty to me for no apparent reason. Entitled people who think that they are somehow owed a list the length of my arm of job opportunities and are persistent in hassling me for updates sometimes quite aggressively, even if I have made clear I don't have anything for them. I've come across excellent excellent people who have disappeared off the face of the earth and completely ghosted me at the eleventh hour.

These people are the minority but you remember them for the wrong reasons. My background is in retail so I'm well able for dealing with rude / disrespectful people, and some of the genuine, excellent candidates who I've met and ultimately been able to place more than make up for some of the more painful ones.

I love my job, but it is high pressure and you need resilience. There are very few of the above that I would say I would never contact again - I try not to burn a bridge, you never know when a contact could be useful to have. Everyone takes a different approach though and I'm sure not every recruiter would be as easy-going!

Build the relationship with your recruiter but don't hound her. If she can help you, she will - it's in her interest to get you a job, remember, so keep in touch. But if she doesn't have anything she can help you with, leave it be and explore other avenues.

frosty123 wrote: »

and how does HireRight go about getting details of people's work history??

The candidate completes a questionnaire with HireRight, this will be cross referenced with a CV and they contact employers on the CV to confirm dates and job title. Generally companies will only go to this length at offer stage.

To add, if there was a period of unemployment, HireRight and the likes tend to seek proof of this also.


If you want to PM me your CV with personal data removed I can review it and offer advice on it.

frosty123 wrote: »

Whats gets me about rec agencies is that they promise you all sorts when you sign up initially ...and then you hear FA from them..if they don't have anything or unlikely to get you anything then..id wish theyd be more up front with you from the outset

At the same time if they told you outright they have nothing for you you'd walk away thinking they're a useless prick. It's also pretty hard tell someone you won't be able to help them based purely on the fact you don't think their skills are relevant.
They may actually have something for you in the future when a client gives them a role that suits.
I've over 1,000 registered candidates in my name on my companies database alone. It's a very small percentage we actually get the work with and help but unless I meet someone who is completely irrelevant to the field I work in then I'd never say never to them.

As above I have 1000's of candidates registered with me, however, I know I am good at managing expectations.

I don't really advertise roles, generally reach out to people but I have two roles advertised at the moment and since yesterday I have 36 applications and only 2 of the 36 would have the right kind of experience, even at that they aren't an exact fit experience wise.

Charles Ingles wrote: »

Yes of course they do,
They all contact each other sharing information without a doubt.
I'd say you should stear well clear if recruiting agencies

Have you reported these agencies that are illegally sharing data to the Data Protection Commissioner?

Charles Ingles wrote: »

Yes

When?

mikemac2 wrote: »

Completely normal. Happened me a few times to apply for a cool job and when I went to the agents office that job never got discussed and they start talking about roles I had no interest in

In my younger days, same thing, there was no job - I was asked to come in for interview but really I was being pumped for information. When I queried why they were talking about people I might know that would be interested in jobs, I was told that was a scurrilous accusation and I would be blackballed. Never used that agency again, agency is one of the biggest in the country.

J Mysterio wrote: »

It's normal to put your DOB surely?

No. Why would this be relevant?

LollipopJimmy wrote: »

Oh well good. If you have reported them then they will be dealt with.

As for me, I have dealt with recruiters and have been in recruitment both internal and agency and I have never seen a recruiter or colleague share data with another agency. I don't see why any recruiter would do that, there would be nothing to gain.

If a recruiter from another agency (who recruited in the same space as myself) contacted me to tell me about a candidate who should be avoided at all costs - the first thing I would do is contact that candidate and try and get them on side (if they have a good CV). Why? Because the other agency has told me that they won't work with this candidate. I know this candidate is actively looking for work so if the other agency doesn't want to place them, if I believe I can, then I will.

Sure recruiters are all competing with one another, we're not buddies. There are a ridiculous number of agencies given most industries are short of candidates at the moment. It's not like accountants meeting other accountants in a pub and chatting about their offices - there's a real sense of competition in the industry, so we're certainly not trying to help one another out by sharing data or info on candidates or clients. It's just not in anyone's interest.

I have reason to believe that the Irish / US American Inside Sales Industry in Dublin is practicing blacklisting. Whether that is with recruiters or if these companies have some kind of communication between them, I can't say. However it's possible that HR departments do have access to some kind of "shared information......

I was once fired for a minor reason, within 6 weeks into my employment for a US company based in Dublin. The reason for getting fired was that my manager described the role considerably different that it turned out to be. The company also paid a rather good amount of relocation fee, myself moving from overseas, around 10 K, which I got to keep in the event that I would leave employment not on my own volition. In the end, I walked away with roughly 15 K within 6 weeks of "work".

The fact that Ireland is a small country it's not that these kind of things do go unnoticed.

I haven't been able to get any employment in the Inside Sales roles in Dublin, not even had any resonance to my CV from the various job boards in Dublin. My CV gets resonance everywhere else, but not in Ireland, even though that kind of work is always looking for new candidates. No email, not even a phone call.....

Annascaul wrote: »

Maybe not the recruiters, but more the business doing the actual hiring.

It may also be only coincidence as well.

I am just surprised that I get more traction in the UK than in Ireland, for the same kind of roles / jobs and in the same industry, an industry I have worked for for many years.

Happy to review your CV if you want to send it over by PM, remove personal info if you wish.

I have worked in internal and agency recruitment and I can tell you there is no shared info or info shared between these companies.

However, if you are at later stages of the recruitment process I would expect a hiring manager to chat to anybody they may know that may know you.

frosty123 wrote: »

So should I increase the dates of my employment to fill up the gaps?

Or do employers/recruiters check up with social welfare on candidates ?

Don’t lie on your CV.
Try to upskill if possible.
If you’ve done some volunteering, courses, etc you can fill your gaps with these.
If you have taken a break I would be honest.
Loads of people take breaks due to child rearing, being a career, etc.