Letting Of Steam - Against Job Agencies

[Arthurgray50@blu]

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.

[Russ]

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.

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.

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.

[Raistlin]

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

---------- 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.

[dilli-theclaw]

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.

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

[Raistlin]

Gaz,

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

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.

[Arthurgray50@blu]

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.

Originally Posted by Raistlin

Gaz,

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

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.

[Raistlin]

Originally Posted by Arthurgray50@blu

Hi Raistlin, thank you for good comments you made on my rant

You're welcome

Originally Posted by Arthurgray50@blu

[...]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

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

Originally Posted by Arthurgray50@blu

l believe l have started another good thread.

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.

Originally Posted by Damien

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.

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

[cybernetic_tiger]

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...

[Mr_love_monkey]

Originally Posted by foreverwar

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".

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.