Recruitment agencies - name, shame (and praise)

eth0_ · 31-01-2007 01:33PM

I would like to praise NetNation. I was made redundant a few weeks ago and saw them advertise roles on this very board.

Gerry is a fantastic guy, very communicative and most importantly is honest with you. He got me into a job that i started in this week, negotiated money for me, and so far so good, it seems like a good role.

Have to reinforce the negative comments about Computer Futures though...a guy there rang me a while back trying to put me forward for a video conference job in Google - completely based on the fact I mentioned I supported some Tandberg systems in a helpdesk role I was in a few years ago - I took his call with a pinch of salt because I know Google don't use recruitment agencies except for temp roles, and also I looked up the job spec on their site while I was on the phone with CF - it was RIDICULOUSLY out of my league, this job was designing and implementing cross-continent video conference systems!

whitelightrider · 31-01-2007 02:22PM

eth0_ wrote:

I would like to praise NetNation. I was made redundant a few weeks ago and saw them advertise roles on this very board.

Gerry is a fantastic guy, very communicative and most importantly is honest with you. He got me into a job that i started in this week, negotiated money for me, and so far so good, it seems like a good role.conference systems!

I have to agree here. Gerry has been really good to deal with and is straight up when speaking to you. The little experience I have had with NetNation has been very good.

KTRIC · 31-01-2007 02:32PM

I've been contracting for Computer Futures for a while now and apart from them making a few quid off the contract fee (which is normal) I haven't had any problems.

I did deal with one of their reps a couple of years ago and he was a complete ass.

bambam · 31-01-2007 02:43PM

I'd like to highly recommend CSR. Very recently I got a cracking job through them, a very close match to what I had in mind. The guy I dealt with was John Tormley. He came across as very professional and attentive.

In the past, I have dealt with Net Nation, and found them very good also. The guy Cathal, went out of his way to prep me for the interview.

BTW, I'm a Snr J2EE dev.

IronMan · 31-01-2007 02:46PM

I too would like to weigh in behind the praise for NetNation. I was working in a role that made me unhappy, I got it through CPL, who were very communicative whilst I was applying for the job, but were mean, rude, and unresponsive once I had been posted on the job (permanent contract).

I replied to a job posted by Netnation on one of the major job sites, and they were excellent to deal with. I would get a call before the interview, helpful advice, a call after the first interview to ask me how I had got on. I didn't get that job, but they kept putting relevent interviews my way, always with the same helpful, personal response. And good quality jobs as well. A very positive experience.

eth0_ · 31-01-2007 04:01PM

IronMan wrote:

I didn't get that job, but they kept putting relevent interviews my way, always with the same helpful, personal response. And good quality jobs as well. A very positive experience.

That's the mark of a good recruitment agency, not dropping you like a hot stone if you don't get offered the first job theyput you forward for!

Little-Devil · 31-01-2007 04:10PM

eth0_ wrote:

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.

They have being in contact with me about a possible job, which i have interview shortly. I will post up in the next few days about my experience. I'm dreading this interview now:eek:

eth0_ · 31-01-2007 06:31PM

Little-Devil wrote:

They have being in contact with me about a possible job, which i have interview shortly. I will post up in the next few days about my experience. I'm dreading this interview now:eek:

The interview with him was fine, it was once I was in the job that he turned into a prize jerk, giving me sh*t because I was off sick (genuinely!) for a day or two.

I wish i'd had more of a backbone at the time to walk out of that contract, it was COMPLETELY misrepresented to me and I ended up being a skivvy and not doing systems admin work at all!

If similar happens to you, cut your losses and quit the contract. There's so many agencies out there, you're not going to ruin your career by leaving one contract.

Raekwon · 31-01-2007 06:50PM

eth0_ wrote:

That's the mark of a good recruitment agency, not dropping you like a hot stone if you don't get offered the first job theyput you forward for!

Very true, but recruitment agencies like that are very rare! Infact I have never come across one that would get back in contact with you offering more roles if you failed to secure the first role that you went for. (Stelfox are you listening?!?)

0ubliette · 01-02-2007 11:18AM

Sunny_Dublin wrote:

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...

I remember i worked for HP, recruited through cpl. It was tech support, a miserable soul destroying job, and one of our team leaders, in one of our weekly "team meetings" (aka, berate us all for doing so badly) was giving out about the amount of people calling in sick (everyone called in sick cause the job was so ****ing stressful and downright awful) and the cpl jackass went as far as to say, with a veiled threat, that if we got a bad mark from cpl, we'd never work in IT in dublin again!
So yeah, nice bunch of people :rolleyes:

beer4life · 03-02-2007 05:48PM

Anyone know of any where they actually employ you if you dont have degrees diplomas etc etc from college?:(

the_syco · 04-02-2007 01:26PM

beer4life wrote:

Anyone know of any where they actually employ you if you dont have degrees diplomas etc etc from college?:(

Depends what experience you have. Anything from dialup support, to data entry. Or with experience, maybe HP. Also depends who interviews you.

nodger · 05-02-2007 12:34PM

Raekwon wrote:

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

He's gas... one of his tricks appears to be to dial directly to your voicemail, then email you to say he tried to call you but your phone was switched off. He asks you to call him instead, thus saving himself the cost of a lengthy call to discuss your CV or potential jobs, etc.

He also loves sending out these emails with loads of bogus jobs in them. I told him 3 times to take me off his mailing list & to remove my details from his database. Eventually, I had to threaten to submit his email address to every spam database known to man.

mick.fr · 05-02-2007 02:50PM

beer4life wrote:

Anyone know of any where they actually employ you if you dont have degrees diplomas etc etc from college?:(

Having a diploma is good

But not having one but with the required experience is not a problem at all depending of the area you are working on.

In 10 years in the IT, only one time somebody pointed out that I had no diploma, a part from my living cert, just because I was asking too much money in her opinion. I left the interview saying that I was loosing my time with her and the week after I had another job at the requested money.

As a freelance, I have provided consulting at 1500 euros/day sometimes (Storage training), and my usual rate is no less than 400 euros/day, I work all the year long with 3, 6, 9 months contracts.

At least in my IT area (Storage, AD Design, Security) diploma is meaningless most of the time. Experience and technical background counts only.

However having a diploma is still very recommended for many reasons.

panterachick · 13-10-2008 05:50PM

I work for a recruitment agency on a temp desk. I get hundreds of CVs everyday, of which i read through and identify if they have the right experience for the role to which they have applied.
Most if the time they dont.
When you send your CV to an agency dont ring them the next day - they have received it - they will call you if they are interested. the chances are they have a better candidate on file. just becasue you have a qualification doesnt mean you can do the job. most of my temps have little or no qualifications, but excellent experience. the experience is what counts.
we will choose a candidate who will satisfy our client, there is no point in putting someone forward who cant do the job.
i would rather have 30 good candidates registered and interviewed, who i know i can place than 300 who i cant.
i will always be honest and tell someone if they do not have the relevant experience and give advice on other agencies who may help, or mention any jobs i have come accross in papers and online.
the nature of the industry is to put the right people in the rigt jobs, to make the client happy and the candidate also.
more often than not the client decides the salary/payrate - we have no influence over this.
recruitment agencies are not job clubs so dont expect to get a job from them because you have sent your CV.

Tom Dunne · 13-10-2008 06:22PM

ROFL.

You dig up an ancient thread to post that drivel. Nice one.

Looks like Recruitment agents can't even use teh interweb except to spam our inboxes with irrelevant jobs

Dan133269 · 13-10-2008 07:49PM

panterachick wrote: »

recruitment agencies are not job clubs so dont expect to get a job from them because you have sent your CV.

Jesus I dunno what I was thinking when I approached recruiting agencies, should I have been looking for a haircut or something instead? :rolleyes:

Matrix Recruitment, ****e!

Charlie · 16-10-2008 06:42PM

Anyone have any recommendations for recruitment agencies that are good for grads, with little experience, who are looking for entry level/trainee roles.

I hold a 1.1 law degree and a masters, but want to get into Banking/financial services, yet I am finding every role requires 1 yr exp. etc.

the_syco · 16-10-2008 09:20PM

charlie mchugh wrote: »

1.1 degree

Goto the banks main office, and apply directly.

Charlie · 16-10-2008 09:50PM

the_syco wrote: »

Goto the banks main office, and apply directly.

Am I not likely to be told to email someone in HR or that they're not taking people on till next September?

Ishmael · 17-10-2008 12:36AM

I have dealt with 4 different agencies.

First one was The Meghen Group. To be honest, the only reason i even dealt with them was because i didn't know any better at the time(about 3 years ago now). The had some misrepresentations about the job spec mainly to do with working hours but it wasn't a big deal for me to be honest. Although, i got an email from them a few weeks ago that reeked of laziness on their part and was obviously just a C.V. harvesting email.

Second one i dealt with was "Allegis Group", the first guy i dealt with there was very good, helpful and quick to respond to any of my queries. He has since left and been replaced with a guy who is a bit of a git. He contacts me every now and again trying to push contracting jobs on me when i have already told him i am not interested in contracting. Also, i would like to mention that it seems to be an allegis thing to use the term "touch base" and i want to punch them every time they say it.

The Third is Allen recruitment, The first time i was contacted by them, the put me forward for a software position i was very interested in, but i didn't do so great in the interview. After that i think i was flung onto the dung heap, as 2 others have been in contact with me from the there trying to pass off the same sales job as a technical support position.

The last was CRB, who put me forward for a very good position that i was really interested in. I got to a second round interview but failed to get the position. They haven't been in contact since.

I have been contacted by other agencies(eolas, cpl, sigmar, chase) but i have never had any major dealings with them. I don't really care about recruitment agencies having loyality to a person until they find them a job so i'm not hounding them to find me a job when i am perfectly able to look myself. If they have something i'm interested in, then fair enough its in both our interests to get the job. If not then i will tell them fairly quickly i'm not interested in it.

the_syco · 17-10-2008 12:43AM

charlie mchugh wrote: »

Am I not likely to be told to email someone in HR or that they're not taking people on till next September?

Suppose that could happen. Or if you're not doing anything, go, with your CV, if you have the degree thing showing you have the 1.1, include a photocopy of that, and a cover letter for that particular bank (ie: not a one-for-every-bank letter), into the main place, and ask for a manager, and wonder if they have any grad positions for a 1.1 degree yoke, or a job in general.

flash harry · 17-10-2008 09:46AM

yeah definitely show up unannounced and expect that a manager will drop what they're doing to go meet you. Especially in the big banks where they have large HR depts to deal with all recruitment.............

But seriously the banks (ingeneral) aren't hiring much at the moment - you may very well just have to send it to HR. Follow up with a phone call after about a week nicely enquiring about your application and what, if any, process should be.

Mr. Incognito · 17-10-2008 01:58PM

but want to get into Banking/financial services

Why?

the_syco · 17-10-2008 03:01PM

flash harry wrote: »

yeah definitely show up unannounced and expect that a manager will drop what they're doing to go meet you. Especially in the big banks where they have large HR depts to deal with all recruitment.............

Yeah, suppose, my bad

But if you miss the recruitment drive, and arrive in late, posting your CV will get it ignored.

Ask, and you may find out that a) you're late, try next year b) you're late, but they'll throw your CV into the pile or c) you're late, but there'll be another recruitment drive in X months.

This is coming from the IT side of things, and got option C if I missed the recruitment drive. Avoids waiting 3 weeks for a PFO letter.

She Devil · 18-10-2008 12:27AM

The recruitment agent i was with wont give me my P45 back, they got me ONE WEEKS work, and now i can't sign on for my credits until i get my P45 they have it over four weeks now, i can't afford not to have it, they have stopped calling me also because i have asked for it back, so i have apparently shot myself in the foot!! Don't think il ever get myself a job

I'm about to give up ....... Damn agencies!

luckat · 18-10-2008 12:30AM

Ring the tax dept and ask for a duplicate.

Dudess · 19-10-2008 11:20PM

Mary B ****ed me over, Eden ****ed my friend over, but I have to say I found La Creme excellent. Oh yeah, Hays still owes me money 11 months on...

Kinetic^ · 19-10-2008 11:22PM

Dudess wrote: »

Hays still owes me money 11 months on...

I was so close to taking a job from them this week! Thankfully I didn't now.

Kinetic^ · 19-10-2008 11:22PM

She Devil wrote: »

The recruitment agent i was with wont give me my P45 back, they got me ONE WEEKS work, and now i can't sign on for my credits until i get my P45 they have it over four weeks now, i can't afford not to have it, they have stopped calling me also because i have asked for it back, so i have apparently shot myself in the foot!! Don't think il ever get myself a job I'm about to give up ....... Damn agencies!

I'd walk in to their office and refuse to leave without it tbh.

Recruitment agencies - name, shame (and praise)

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