Recruitment agencies - name, shame (and praise)

eth0_ · 06-11-2006 11:23AM #1

We've all had sh1tty experiences with recruitment agencies, who i'd go so far as to say 90% of which are utter parasites.

I will post up my own experiences when I get a chance today, but feel free to post your own stories.

Tom Dunne · 06-11-2006 11:58AM

I'd take pleasure in getting the ball rolling with Hays IT.

Where do I start? Basically they misrepresented a position I was applying for. They hyped it up to the last, told me about non-existant benefits and told me it was permanent, when it was in reality a contract position.

During the application phase, the representative was my best buddy, as soon as it was in the bag, I barely heard from her, questions about the role were dodged quite skillfully. When I mentioned I had another offer on the table, oh how that table was turned. She didn't get nasty, but I could hear the desperation in her voice as she tried to convince me to take the job ( quotes including "Well, if I though you weren't going to take the job, I wouldn't have taken the application this far" and "you are setting your career back a year").

In then end, I took the job, but I made sure I actually had the contract in front of me before making the decision. I did complain to my new employer and they did give Hays a good bollocking, resulting in one of Hays' managers ringing me with a half-arsed apology and vain attempt to defend the indefensible.

In summary, Hays IT made used-car salesmen look good.

tbh · 06-11-2006 12:20PM

good idea for a thread, might be a bit dodgy legally tho?

Raekwon · 06-11-2006 12:56PM

Real Time Recruitment are by far the worst in my experience. I used to get 'spammed' roles every week from them and if I was interested in one I would mail the recruiter back and ask him for some details. But instead he would dodge my questions and would never gave any details on job specs, location or even salary, instead he was ask me questions (which were already answered for him on my CV) and always end by saying 'I'll keep you posted', which he never did. The only role that he pursued me over was a crap Helpdesk role in *Dundlak for €5k less then I was on at the time!

*I live in Dublin.

eth0_ · 06-11-2006 01:06PM

I don't think it's dodgy legally if the people who post are prepared to back up their claims.
Having said that, most of the recruitment agents I have dealt with are so clueless with I.T. I doubt they could navigate their way to this forum.

I have had bad experiences with:

I.T. Force
I am a contractor and was looking for a permanent job, I applied for a job they had advertised, was asked to come in for an informal interview. Went to this office in a pretty dodgy area, had to do a pretty pointless technical test...while sitting in their canteen...
After this, the woman told me "Oh there is no job but we'll keep you on file should anything come up". I've been "on file" for 4 months now and she's not been in touch, while i've had plenty of calls from other agencies so I know there's no issue on my side!
V. p*ssed I lost half a days pay to go see her about a job that DIDN'T EXIST!

System Dynamics
Absolute time waster. Cold called by a guy from SD, about a job that sounded like it would really be my thing. He asked me to call him back, I spent 30 mins at peak rate on my mobile to him, listening to him bigging up the job and how his agency was all about their contractors and they don't treat them badly etc etc
He said he'd be back to me within the hour with an interview time, never heard from him. I emailed him 2 days later, he ignored me.
Emailed him again a few days later asking was there a problem, did I get a bad reference maybe? and he wrote back saying 'Why would you have gotten a bad reference???? I will be in touch when I hear from them'

I had planned on hassling him every day just to p1ss him off for treating me like that but what's the point.

GOOD AGENCIES:
Eolas
Placed me in a decent enough job, great rate of pay. Always sorted out any issues very quickly.

Allegis
They're new to the Irish market but they are really decent people, the guy I was dealing with has been very understanding and apologetic that i've been placed in an utterly sh*tty job that is nothing like the job spec he was given, and he is working to get me a new position.

Personally though, i've been looking for a permanent role and i've been filtering out all the agency jobs on the jobs websites, and I got an offer of a fantastic job within a week. AVOID agencies if at all possible!

eth0_ · 06-11-2006 01:08PM

Raekwon wrote:

Real Time Recruitment are by far the worst in my experience. .

Dealt with them before, it's just one guy (maybe two now), they aren't exactly getting much work. All the jobs on their site never seem to change.

Raekwon · 06-11-2006 01:29PM

eth0_ wrote:

Dealt with them before, it's just one guy (maybe two now), they aren't exactly getting much work. All the jobs on their site never seem to change.

Only one member of staff, maybe two?!?

Well then that pretty much backs up my claim of them being utter cack!

Shutuplaura · 06-11-2006 02:59PM

In my experience its the attitude of the consultant you speak to rather than the company. I've had good experiences with a company others dismissed as bad and vice versa. I came to the conclusion that it was because I didn't deal with the same consultant.

For instance, everyone I know has only horror stories about Eden recruitment but I found the person I dealt with there was spot on and helped me get a great job.

eth0_ · 06-11-2006 03:36PM

Shutuplaura wrote:

For instance, everyone I know has only horror stories about Eden recruitment but I found the person I dealt with there was spot on and helped me get a great job.

Maybe they were new and had not yet been harrassed by their boss for not sending enough staff into positions, suitable or not

bobbi · 06-11-2006 03:54PM

Noel Recruitment worked for them for the ryder cup absolute joke of how they treated us :mad:

eth0_ · 06-11-2006 04:38PM

bobbi wrote:

Noel Recruitment worked for them for the ryder cup absolute joke of how they treated us :mad:

See, this is the kind of post we *don't* want.

'an absolute joke' doesn't give us any information.

Please give us more factual information.

Tom Dunne · 06-11-2006 04:38PM

Sounds like ratemyrecruitmentagency.com would be a great idea!

masterK · 06-11-2006 04:44PM

I stay clear of them unless I'm desperate. I've been sent to a couple of interviews over the years by agencies have given me specs totally different from the job. I've had 4 jobs in IT, 3 I liked and 1 I hated, guess which one was the only one through an agency.

I've also had one try to convince me to take a position earning 15k less than the position I was leaving because it would be great for my career.

The most annoying thing is when you tell them your only interested in Dublin, that they ring you back countless times over the space of a few weeks telling you about the great position they have in Limerick or Cork and then sound surprised when you tell them you're not interested. It must be even worse for those based outside Dublin who don't want to come to Dublin I'd imagine.

Mo-Mo · 06-11-2006 05:45PM

Shutuplaura wrote:

In my experience its the attitude of the consultant you speak to rather than the company. I've had good experiences with a company others dismissed as bad and vice versa. I came to the conclusion that it was because I didn't deal with the same consultant.
.

I agree. Even recently I had a recruitment agent from some place talk to me like she was a robot. She was looking for monosyllabic answers and would not accept me elaborating. Then today a colleague of hers phoned me and I thought she seemed a lot more professional and intelligent.

kippy · 06-11-2006 05:50PM

Interesting thread.
I havent had any bad experiences worth posting about with agencies so I won't give any criticism at the moment. I have had positive experiences with Eolas. I cant remember who I dealt with their but they were sound out and really helped me with any issues or questions I had about the role I was going for. I got the role in the end and it was a good move.
I've also had good experience with CPL in both Galway and Dublin with two different roles and found them good to deal with at all times and pretty quick to deal with any issues I had at the time.
I wouldnt tolerate a bad experience as these guys make a lot of money for placing people, moreso the ones which "contract" you out. Any problems and I would be pretty annoyed.
Kippy

eth0_ · 06-11-2006 06:17PM

Actually, I forgot one...

Computer Futures
Dealt with a guy called Oisin in there. It was my first contracting job. He completely lied about the job spec, and I spent 3 months building PC's when I was supposed to be a sys admin. Was also covering for the boss and his lapdog (the only other guy in the dept.) who went on 2 hour lunches very regularly, the boss would come in at 10 and leave at 4, talk about taking the p*ss.

I was off sick one day and I got a call from the agency guy scolding me for taking a day off! Presumably because THEY are losing money because i'm not in work! He was really unhelpful and made no apologies that the job was totally misrepresented.

I've since been cold called by a colleague of his, spent nearly an hour on the phone to him going over my experience for him to put me forward for a job...never heard back from him.

damnyanks · 06-11-2006 06:34PM

Why would you take a job that you didn't actually apply for? Are you under some form of obligation or is it just down to needing the work?

eth0_ · 06-11-2006 06:44PM

It wasn't til I was in the job a week or two that I realised they had lied. I would expect to be doing boring stuff for the first week or two but they made it clear that was all they needed me to do.

I also needed the work, as it was nearly Christmas, a very quiet time for jobs.

dazberry · 06-11-2006 08:20PM

eth0_ wrote:

Actually, I forgot one...

Computer Futures

I was wonder how long it would take from them to be mentioned

I sent my CV into them once, the following week I just happened to answer a call asking who the IT Manager was. I thought I recognised the voice on the phone and twigged something was up - so I gave a colleagues name. Needless to say they started spamming the guy (post, fax and email) with their specials. Beyond leeching the detail from my CV, if you actually saw how they advertise - their specials etc., to them you are a commodity.

E-People
Applied for a specific job with these ppl and went thru' a long phone interview. Didn't think anything of it until the following week I got a call telling my they had found my perfect job and I had an interview later that week. Problem was it wasn't the job I'd applied for. Further more it wasn't the perfect job on a number of levels that its not even funny.

I raised all this with him - including wtf he was doing sending out my CV to other companies. He was really dismissive and basically told me to do the interview for the experience. I was now incensed and rang the company in question - told the HR manager what had happened and she rang him, read him the riot act and told he she was never dealing with his agency again

.

Of course he then rang me and tried to read me the riot act - I wasn't having any of it - the air went a bit blue - and eventually he hung up on me. I emailed them and told that I wanted my CV removed from their system - still get the odd email from them 5 years on - sigh.

Computer People
The last time I dealt with them they just wouldn't return calls or emails. Never again.

Hayes
Work dealt with Hayes and we got a really great guy from them. Just before the guy finished we discovered that the rate they were charging us was far in excess of what they were paying him. We'd no problem with the rate we were paying - but we did have a problem with how he was being exploited (he was foreign). We will never deal with them again.

***

In general what you all have to remember is that all IT recruitment is SALES. So beyond targets - there is a little thing called On Target Earning - and believe me they want their commission. So don't for one minute think that these people are your friend and want to see you get the job of your dreams. But even with this in mind I still have managed to deal with the odd agency that can act with some form of professionalism - but they seem few and far between.

D.

nuttz · 06-11-2006 10:28PM

Computer People
One guy I was dealing with there, got me an interview with a company, but gave me no preparation, which I'm convinced would have gotten me the job. But can also be pretty bad at replying to emails, returning calls.

Hayes IT
Much the same with Computer People. Not returning calls, and emails. Not much help really.

Berkley IT
Best people I've dealt with even though communication could still have been better as far as updating me with the status of the offer received. They gave good preparation for the role in the form of typical interview questions as well as going through the questions with me face to face. The only recruitment people to have offered me this sort of help, which I'm sure helped me get the role I wanted.

ntlbell · 06-11-2006 10:57PM

I don't want to get into specific stories but I'm pretty sure over the years I've had dealings with every single recruitment agency in Ireland.

Every single one bar CPL have caused me heartache.

CPL have always been very good,put me forward for jobs that matched my skill sets, kept in touch through the whole process and never once wasted my time.

The usuall, claiming a job is for example a Sys/Net admin role when it's really something closer to a receptionist.

I now use CPL exclusivley or aproach the company directly

Raekwon · 07-11-2006 11:12AM

ntlbell wrote:

Real Time, mostly dealing with a guy called <SNIP> another time waster.

Yeah that is the same dude that I dealt with. Calling him useless would be an understatement!

2funki4wheelz · 07-11-2006 12:55PM

Been around the block with most of them, and worked for one as a temp, and the way they trade people like commodities is a bit unsettling, but it a sales and target driven job so it's to be expected. Most annoying element I noticed was a tendency to look for new people when a new position came in rather than looking through the recent database, basically, the most recent person is fresh in their mind and they get sent out to things.
Also, in this partic. place, they had a database of people they met and if they ever got a Data Protection request - well - comments on people's files about appearance/manner, some actually written in a bitchy way.

As a job seeker:
Noel Recruitment (a few years ago!)
- Got me a great job the first time I visited them, good tests of my PC skills, but sheer luck, fax came in as I was being assessed and that's what I was sent for.
- A year later looking for any PA/Secretarial work, City Centre/Whitehall (or any of it's bus routes i.e. 41,16,3 etc) - was sent to a comapny out by the Tescos in Clare Hall. Took me a 20 mins walk, 2 buses and another 10 min walk to get there at the time. Girl interviewing me was shocked I had no car and realised the commute was unsuitable. Job spec was fine. She sighed and said I wasn't the first 'unsuitable' candidate. I told agency and said the position wasn't suitable, consultant got annoyed and said she couldn't see the problem with the commute. I never heard from them again.

Brightwater
Didn't get placed but consultants were always very honest about positions and tasks involved.

Sigmar
Got an excellent job for a friend, very quick, admittedly in a employee hungry industry but got her great money and a better position.
Also very honest with me and excellent at giving advice in relation to a change of career.

ryaner77 · 07-11-2006 02:20PM

I'm dealing with an agency as I'm typing this. Their called GHL Recruitment and i honestly could not speak highly enough of them, The girl i've been dealing with there is Larissa ? and she's gone way beyond what i'd have expected of her. I'm two weeks through a months noticed in my current employment and everyday i got a call/email/text update from her about my new position. She has come into work an hour early to meet me, she has been off sick but still made sure another person in the office notified me of developments and was able to answer my questions. She's found me a great position both financially and for my career and all i can do is say thanks !!

Highly reccommend GHL and in particular larissa.

AnotherEmigre · 07-11-2006 05:39PM

I've been reading this thread with interest. I've been abroad now for 20 years and have been looking on & off to return to Ireland. My dealings with agencies has not been productive. CV-trawling (trawling for CVs) seems to be very commonplace.

Rather than send my CV off again to the agencies, I intend to be a lot more selective this time. So can anyone recommend a headhunter in Dublin? They do exist, don't they?

Evil Phil · 07-11-2006 06:05PM

<edited on request of poster> (GS)

Jail8ird · 07-11-2006 06:34PM

Great idea for a thread!

I've been dealing with a few agencies over the past few months but most have been fine which I'm quite surprised about. Still haven't got me a job tho! I try to avoid using them as much as possible. I'm registered thru Monster & IrishJobs and even if a job I like is advertised thru an agency I goggle the job spec to see if I can trace the company and apply to them directly.

At the moment I am waiting over a week for a guy in Eden to get back to me. I've left a msg on his voice mail and send him an e-mail.

I found a senior partner with CollinsMcNicholas in Galway extremely disinterested in me once I came a few minutes late to our initial meeting but I am unfamilar with the city and just lost my way getting there.

So far I have to big up Sigmar in Cork, CPL in Galway & Hall in Dublin!

eth0_ · 07-11-2006 06:37PM

re: RealTime recruitment...
I keep getting emails from them looking for a CV, about one a week, with not even a job description! Example:

Good afternoon XXXXX,

I found your details on Monster and believe you may be a good match to some positions I’m working on at the moment. I have been placing IT staff in Ireland for the past 6 years and would be very interested in speaking with you.

Would you be interested?

If so, send me a copy of your CV and I’ll call you straight back.

Sunny_Dublin · 07-11-2006 07:44PM

excellent thread

soooo... good:
Firstaff in Dublin. they got back to me whenever there were news and i got my current job with them which was a massive career improvement for me. love'em!
also sigmar recruitment gets a big plus with again not only keeping in touch and getting me a job but for also being completely honest and: negotiating my salary upwards for me before contracts were sent out!

also good careers register which didn't manage to get a job for me but they were always honest about roles, salaries and the likes and it simply was a coincedence that nothing came up when i was looking. they kept contacting me though for suitable roles and stopped once i told them i am happy in my job.

and now:
i can't believe nobody ever mentioned manpower?! no good, this lot.. no good at all... from blatantly lying over the phone ("no, really! this position is really good and has lots of benefits and you easily can live off a salary of 16k a year!! yes, there is some customer contact involved but it mainly is a marketing position" this was for a customer service job in a call centre

). also they gave me a job spec which had nothing to do with the job i was interviewed for by the company, the company then telling me off that i was so badly informed... :rolleyes:

also surprisingly bad: cpl in dublin.
particularly aoife o'something, don't know if she still works there, is a few years ago now. this lovely lady even went as far as to threaten me that my career will be over if i don't take this particular job (which was in sales and i had repeatedly told her "no sales!!") and that i won;t find another job in any it company with my attitude... i'm quite happy now working in a management position in it, thank you very much...

and then there was 1-800-people... which i did not get to know better after the guy hit on me instead of finding me a job :eek:
no professional questions were asked but there was a lot of "so, you just arrived in ireland... what do you think of the irish men? and do y ou have a boyfriend". needless to say i left the office and have not heard from them since :rolleyes:

Raekwon · 07-11-2006 08:01PM

This is a good thread

Just to follow up on ethO_'s last post about RealTime recruitment...

I get mails spammed to me every week ever since I sent them my CV last December. It actually says on each mail 'If you are not interested in any of the roles then please tell your friends and family who might be interested'. I'm surprised that they haven't just attached a virus to trawl through your contacts!

The funny thing is if you actually do see a role that you might be interest in, they will never tell you the job description or give you any other information about it. Like for example: Perm SQL Admin, Dublin City Centre, €38k+. That's all you get!

So if you mail or call them for more information they will answer you with a counter question like: 'What have you being doing in the last two years'? That is written on my CV dumbass! It is like getting blood from a stone, they are a complete waste of time and energy! :mad:

seamus · 07-11-2006 08:56PM

If you're sick of getting mail from Real Time, just email him back asking to be removed from his mailing list. He'll be a little resistant, saying things like, "Will I keep you on file for a few weeks in case things go pear shaped?", but if you're insistent that you want to be removed now, just say it. Worked for me.

Recruitment agencies - name, shame (and praise)

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