Letting Of Steam - Against Job Agencies
 

I was recently, made redundant, and l was told by job centre's go to Job Agencies, where they have thousands of jobs, phone them up, and you can start tomorrow, what a load of rubbish, Over the last two weeks, l have spent hours, contacting these agencies, and they say, will send the CV on to the companies, spending money, and what happens, totally nothing, why they hell, do they bother to send out, leaflets saying ' we are the best agency, and can get the best job for you', there was one company l spoke to on Monday, today is Friday, the file is still sitting on there desk. Aargh, aargh.:mad::mad::mad:

Re: Letting Of Steam - Against Job Agencies
 

Aha! Arthur old boy, a subject I finally agree with you on.

Agencies by and large are full of rubbish. Before you sign up they always say "Come on, we'll find something for you!" and once you do you always hear the same line "Well it's quiet this time of year you see".

Of course, they never tell you when it's not quiet do they?

A lot of the time they advertise jobs which don't exist. They have targets to meet, such as needing to sign up x amount of graduates per week so they'll advertise jobs which will appeal to these people but won't actually fill them because they don't exist! One agency I once went to openly admitted this because apparently it was too much hassle to take the advert down for a job because in a few days the client will ask for it again.

Re: Letting Of Steam - Against Job Agencies
 

Arthur, commiserations on you being made redundant (it has happened to me 3 times, one of those voluntary).

A handy hint before you send the CV to the agency is to get a friend/relative to read it, just to get someone else's viewpoint.

Also, most agencies will accept emailed Word documents, which will cut down on your expenses.

But, at the end of the day, the agencies are there to make money for themselves, and they tend to do that by putting forward people who will get the job - ask them for advice on how to jazz up your CV, and also remember, you may have to modify your CV for different job applications, highlighting the most relevant part for a particular job.

Good luck.

Re: Letting Of Steam - Against Job Agencies
 

I've discovered that all they can do is offer me jobs that are far too far away.

I live in Lee-on-Solent and they want me to work in Basingstoke for 4 weeks later this month.With the rising costs of petrol and only one family car I just can't do it.:(

Re: Letting Of Steam - Against Job Agencies
 

Seems like a very timely post Arthur, and I thank you for it.

I'm considering moving out of the job that I'm in at the moment, and trying to get a more lucrative job (still in the same field) in the City (Londinium, in case you're wondering). I *was* considering sending my CV to some of these agencies, I think I might think twice now though.....

Thank you for a well-timed rant :D

---------- Post added at 18:23 ---------- Previous post was at 18:22 ----------

P.S. Anybody that wants to employ me is encouraged to send me cash via PM. Thank you.

Re: Letting Of Steam - Against Job Agencies
 

HHHmmm I can't say my one and only experience of agencies were good. I have to wonder why the job centre even sent me to be honest.

Re: Letting Of Steam - Against Job Agencies
 

I've only formally signed up with one agency, at the moment & so far I don't have too many complaints, they have been very helpful with offering advice on my CV, they conducted a mock interview & so far have got me one real one.

On the other hand via a separate 'CV match' service I've had my details sent off to two other agencies & haven't heard a dickey bird..

The main difference is that the 'good' one has specialist divisions for various employment sectors at a reasonably 'professional' level & the clients can make sure they are dealing with people who know the market, wheras the others are general purpose, dealing with everything from fish finger packers to lorry drivers.

So, based on no more than recent experience, Arthur, I'd see if there are any agencies specialising in your preferred employment sector & try to target your applications more, rather than a using a 'scattergun' approach ??

Good luck getting another job, btw :tu:

Re: Letting Of Steam - Against Job Agencies
 

Gaz,

Mind if I ask which particular job centre this 'good' agency specialises in?

Re: Letting Of Steam - Against Job Agencies
 

I applied for one job but from the look of things it went right though to an agency, they phoned me up this morning and had no real idea of the type of work I was looking for. They started listing off jobs that had the words 'web' or '.Net' in them.

Stupid waste of my time.

Re: Letting Of Steam - Against Job Agencies
 

Hi Raistlin, thank you for good comments you made on my rant, l have tried several web pages, one was Gumtree.com, where you can place your own ad, and it is free, and the other one is, ' myjobplus ', l have tried ' monster ' or ' fish4jobs', when you are looking for a new job, it really annoys me that, these people are there to help you, find a job, and yet when you go through an agency, you give them a professional CV, they look at it, and say, ' l think you are over qualfied for the job, and the times l have been told that,. - l believe l have started another good thread.

Re: Letting Of Steam - Against Job Agencies
 

It isn't a particular job centre, as such, but they have specialist recruiters dealing with specific employment sectors, such as Accounts/Finance, Sales/Marketing, Food, etc. These people build up a portfolio of businesses, whom they deal with on a regular basis & then match the experience & qualifications of any candidates against vacancies as they arise.

One thing they said to me was that they try to limit the number of candidates they put forward for any vacancy to only those they feel have a good chance of, at least, securing an interview.

They have two branches, one in Doncaster & one in Hull.

Re: Letting Of Steam - Against Job Agencies
 

You're welcome :)

Suggests to me that they need to get off their bums and find you a job that you're not overqualified for!!

I believe you might be right. With a bit of luck we'll get some good advice in this thread that helps someone get the most out of these agencies and possibly go on to get a job.

Re: Letting Of Steam - Against Job Agencies
 

Unfortunately, D, a lot (not all, I hasten to add) of IT recruitment agents have the approach of "if I throw enough ordure at the wall, some of it may stick".

Having said that, it's worth persevering (imho); I found one or two who specialised in my area (Senior IT Management and Programme Management) and who were very professional, knowledgeable, and most importantly, got me jobs ;)

Re: Letting Of Steam - Against Job Agencies
 

I got my job through Monster, the ad was placed by Hays (the agents for Virgin Media), all they did was pass my CV onto VM (telewest back in those days... how i miss those days...) and made a nice little £1600!!

nice work if you can get it...

Re: Letting Of Steam - Against Job Agencies
 

I think you could say that about most of them.

I get 10 to 15 emails a week about jobs, usually permanent (I've told them all I don't want permanent, and I'm in a contract so don't want anything at all right now) - and often, other than the word 'computer' it has nothing to do with anything on my cv.

I'm primarily a java/web developer, and have been now for 8 years - but because I have reasonable experience in Oracle (was an oracle developer for 3 years, and have used it in most backends over the years), and sql server, I get no end of crap emails about DBA jobs, T-Sql developers - often for junior positions that are paying less than I was on 10 years ago

I did some work with Tibco products & Stellent products, and they are literally mentioned in one sentence in the cv, but I get constant emails about it - it drive me up the wall.

Re: Letting Of Steam - Against Job Agencies
 

The key is to remember that you cease to be human - to agencies, you're a large tin of beans. You have a value. There are people out there that want you. The agencies make money from bringing you, the product, to the consumer, the employer. Never expect them to be nice, helpful, friendly or truthful.

Re: Letting Of Steam - Against Job Agencies
 

Unless you are in the position to be (potentially) hiring people - then you get bought lunch, invited to sporting events, etc, etc.......

Re: Letting Of Steam - Against Job Agencies
 

Well I'm not a commodity and as they garner my wages I'm expecting them to provide a service to me..not the other way round.:erm:

Re: Letting Of Steam - Against Job Agencies
 

Unfortunately, coggy, that's what you/we are to them - double glazing with a pulse.

Re: Letting Of Steam - Against Job Agencies
 

Really annoyed.

I keep applying to positions and this morning I must have gotten around 6/7 phone calls all from different agencys wanting to discuss "possible roles" all leaving messages on my answering machine.

I am beginning to think that all my applications are going right though to agencys and are not being passed onto the job I was applying for and instead are used to enroll me in these stupid agencys.

Is there any way to bypass the agencys all together?

Re: Letting Of Steam - Against Job Agencies
 

Yep, the jobs probably don't exist - all just a ploy to get you on the books

Sadly, no - in my experience, unless you can find a direct advertisment, the chances of you getting in touch direct with a company is pretty remote - that's why agencies do so well, most companies don't want the hassle of direct recruitment

Re: Letting Of Steam - Against Job Agencies
 

Oh how many times I've had these conversations over the years. In my experience agencies are often a law unto themselves and place tempting ads even when there aren't any real jobs going. They need a database of interviewees after all. If you want to be treated seriously, act seriously and avoid what job hunters assume is the quick fix route of e.mailing CVs to agencies. There are many ways by which to contact prospective employers which don't involve agencies at all and thereby don't involve their costs to the employer. Most people confuse quality and quantity when it comes to job hunting and send out dozens of shoddy CVs to as many agencies as they can then are surprised when nothing happens.

My advice is:

a) Think carefully about what you want to do and decide on your target market.

b) Have a CV properly designed to suit that type of work, company, environment. Make sure it concentrates on the requirements of the job and highlights your relevant skills, attributes, achievements etc.

c) Don't rely on your mum/wife/partner to do it, copy CV formats from Word or indeed send £15 off in the post to a so called CV service which promises to do it all in a day and with no real input from you. A proper CV design service will cost far more than that, involve lots of questioning and require several draft stages before anything resembling a half decent CV can be produced.

d) NEVER undersell yourself on the basis of offering good value for money. Applying for jobs you are overqualified for (either in terms of qualifications or experience) is a recipe for disaster.

e) Better to send out 6 well thought through and properly targeted CVs direct than 100 boring, generic, one page wonders to agencies on the off chance.

There's so much more to job hunting than most people think.

Re: Letting Of Steam - Against Job Agencies
 

Last time I had to search for a job (4 years ago now) I was forever sending off applications. It was basically a case of 'Job applied for, onto the next' as I rarely heard back.

Also, even now I get letters from agencies (from makes it sound personal - they are mass mailed) offering jobs that I have never suggested I wanted (i.e. jobs in London, despite the fact I have never said I would go that far - it's a long commute from Warrington).

I used to write to tell them I had a job, but then gave up as it was a waste of my time. Now they just go into my junk mail. I may need them one day...