What Is Your Experience with Recruitment Agencies?

Macaron Mama on 11/02/2016 - 22:13

After working for a company for 6 years and having achieved everything I set out to, I want to find a part-time job that's closer to home for family reasons.

I had horrible experience with recruiters when I was fresh out of uni and found none of them would pick up the phone or call back even after a message was left. 6 years on and I call a recruiter to ask a question about the job ad, left a message and no reply so seems like nothing's changed. Brings back bad memories…what sucks is all recruitment company websites look flash and go on and on about how they are the market leaders in finding the right people for jobs and then don't have the service to back it up.

Has anyone had a positive experience from a recruitment agency?. Was also dismayed to read about recruiters listing jobs that aren't even real! is that even legal?.

Education & Work

Comments

  • captobvious on 11/02/2016 - 22:21
    +3

    Whats your line of work?

  • the-mal on 11/02/2016 - 22:26
    +4

    I get called by probably at least 10 recruiters per week - some wanting to put me forward for jobs, others trying to get me to employ their candidates. I can't even count how many of them I have in my phone (so I know who to ignore when they call).

    Over my years of working I've found exactly 2 recruiters who were decent. Both were honest (with me and the companies), worked closely with me and ended up placing me in roles that I loved and excelled at. In return I sent a crazy amount of business their way and I still do.

    Recruiters are like mechanics or hairdressers or dentists. There are lots out there and there are plenty of crappy ones…but when you find a good one you hold on to them with all your might and never ever let them go!

    There are good agencies out there, but there aren't many of them. My only tip is to aim for the niche agencies (those who either specialise in a single industry, eg they only hire for the Insurance industry, or those who only hire for certain types of roles, eg an IT Development agency) as they tend to have more at stake in the reputation side of things since they operate in smaller pools.

    • Davo1111 on 11/02/2016 - 22:43

      out of curiosity what's your line of work?

      • the-mal on 12/02/2016 - 08:56

        Data/analytics side of IT.

  • rgr on 11/02/2016 - 22:31
    +6

    man they're all horrible. i've submitted my stuff to talent2, peoplebank, hays, chandler macleod…all either don't respond or never update me on the progress of my application. not to mention most of the recruiters i've spoken to are pretty much idiots. some of them sound like they never went further than high school. it's just as bad as cancer.

    what i found out along the way was that they'd post fake job ads just to collect your details. they also do 'resume fluffing' wherein they take your details and then add more on top of it like training qualifications and so on, and submit their own version of your CV to clients. i had a guy do exactly that to mine when i interviewed at a govt company. big WTF signs.

    • GameChanger on 11/02/2016 - 22:43

      Most of them haven't finished High school, you don't need to smart to be a recruiter thats one thing for sure!

      Some of them don't even have ethics they will get a desperate job seeker who will pay them thousands just to be put forward for an interview.

    • plmko on 11/02/2016 - 23:03
      +5

      they'd post fake job ads just to collect your details.

      Works the other way around too, put up an ad on seek and I Emailed some candidates. I accidentally left an internal Email in the message and they started sending really specific candidate profiles to that Email address. Clearly they've applied as a fake job seeker just to get a lead.

      • rgr on 11/02/2016 - 23:14

        wow, that's a new one!

  • GameChanger on 11/02/2016 - 22:40

    Recruiters are the scum of the Earth, people say Sales men, Real Estate and Lawyers are bad, but its these useless agencies who treat people like dirt.

    Some of the commissions they receive are mind blowing!

    • scrimshaw on 11/02/2016 - 23:11
      +9

      I went to a recruitment agency (just in case I get sued, I won't be saying who they are).

      The lady at the front counter had all of us wait in the lobby for over 30 minutes past the appointed interview time. One of the older candidates got impatient and asked her how long it would take before the face-to-face interviews would take place.

      Her response — she just rolled her eyes and said "well, you guys are unemployed anyway, it's not as if you have anything else to do so just wait a bit longer". He was just taken aback by how much she was looking down on him and just walked right out of the agency.

      • eatwell365 on 12/02/2016 - 06:26
        +5

        Shame on her.
        Surprise no riot in the office.
        Would make her fired as well.

  • CyberMurning on 11/02/2016 - 23:08
    +5

    They just care and nice when they think they can make money of you, otherwise they won't bother to see your face for a second time.

  • elcheapodeniro on 12/02/2016 - 08:25

    I used one to find a job when we moved towns - had 3 interviews on the one day :-)
    But it turns out their fee is ~10% of your salary package for first year : charged to the employer.
    So best do your own homework & avoid the de-raise, and put that money in your pocket.

    Tax Tip: if you move town, you maybe able to salary package rent tax free.

  • miarn on 12/02/2016 - 09:02
    +2

    They are like real estate agents in that they won't lift a finger if there's nothing in it for them.

    The biggest mistake is assuming they give a rat's arse about you as a prospective employee. They work 100% for the employers and their commission.

  • lupiter on 12/02/2016 - 10:07
    +1

    If you can avoid them, do. Especially the big ones. They don't care if the person is actually suitable, they just want the commission so they will be happy to lie to the employer about your skills, add fake 'clearly unsuitable' people to the list to make the candidates they do have look good, and never ever contact you. If you do have to go through one, be prepared for the employer to have completely crazy expectations of you from them, like will take 20% less than advertised pay or happy to work 24 hour shifts.

    If you've found a job ad you'd like to apply for, try finding (or guessing) who they're actually working for and applying directly.

  • DelhiBelly on 12/02/2016 - 10:57
    +5

    They are no different from Car Salesperson or Property Agents, i.e., only interested in their commission.

    In my experience, they will call/email/sms me multiple times a day once they know I'm a good candidate to present, but if I'm not successful to next round, most of them will never return my multiple calls/emails/sms…

    Only the few Professional ones will have the ethics to give you feedback…

  • [Deactivated] on 15/02/2016 - 14:48
    +1

    I've had an issue with a recruiter where she convinced me I was going to get a car for personal and business use.

    After getting a copy of the contract - before I signed - I noticed it said for Business use only.

    I asked her about it and she said "Of course it's for Personal and Business use" and I told her I felt uncomfortable about signing it and that I would want that clause changed. She went on about how unprofessional and silly it would be if she made that request from the employer and went out of her way to assure me that this is what the employer said.

    I asked her if she can send me an email that says exactly what she told me on the phone - and she said she can't do that and gave the dumbest reasons for why she can't send me that email. She then proceeded to re-assure me that if anything was to ever happen that she would "back me up".

    Sure enough 1.5 months later - the company still didn't supply me with a car and I piped up about the issue because if I had it there would have been personal advantages for me for those 1.5months (tolls / parking / fuel / car repayments / ability to sell my car) but the company simply said "What does it say in your contract?"

    So I rang her - told her "I did everything I was supposed to do to make sure this didn't happen - went out of my way to sort it out prior to signing contracts. You went out of your way to convince me that everything would be fine. You said you would fix the situation if it ever came to any issues"

    "So - please fix it"

    They basically said "There's nothing we can do"

    But the recruiter did say "They definitely did say you get a car" bla bla bla and that she "stands by that" and I happened to have the recording of the whole saga because I recorded it on my phone.

    Too bad I can't use it as evidence… But the proof is there and the truth is there… Just that I'm now stuck without being able to use it.

  • Macaron Mama on 15/02/2016 - 15:16

    I work in market research as Account Manager so handling the day-to-day servicing of client accounts. I have experience with data entry, presentations and sending reports.

    Will probably look for a role on Gumtree or the old fashion way by asking directly if there's any positions vacant.

    Now I'm finding that some job ads are wayyy to specific even for basic duties like data entry and admin/receptionist. Fair enough that there's probably more demand than supply but seriously seeing the long criteria listing skills and experience is a bit ridiculous.

    Yes, they can be grouped into the same category as car salesman and real estate agents who I also never had positive experiences with. Thankfully we ended up buying our car privately, and our house off the plan but any dealers or estate agents I contacted never called me back even though their mobile number and names are plastered everywhere.

  • Polde on 16/02/2016 - 00:22

    Yeah they're honestly useless when it comes to helping find work. I emailed a recruiter once asking for help, and they stated that they could only help with those that were experienced- which I found ridiculous, as that's what they're job is!

    Worse are the one's who try and somehow try and force you to enroll into course for you to gain work.

    Now I rely on Indeed and to an extent Seek.

  • [Deactivated] on 01/03/2016 - 22:08

    I know a girl who worked as a graduate lawyer at one of the top firms - cliche stress 24/7 work etc.
    She ended up quitting 2 years in for a job at a major recruitment agency and lasted one year.
    She said the pay was insane (from commissions) but it was SO stressful and the targets were absurdly high. She said graduate law work was easier.

    Not that it is an excuse, but the competition and intensity is the reason behind they are so shameless with ignoring/pursuing people.

    I'm looking for a job and contacted recruitment agencies and they are so bad. This one girl told me to send my resume without even talking to me about the type of role i wanted and when I said I wanted to speak to the person who specialises in that type of role….she gave me multiple sighs, groans, comments about him being busy. That's nice. I'm not sending my resume.
    Needless to say, I never received a call back from the message she supposedly sent him from me.

  • Macaron Mama on 02/03/2016 - 07:42
    +1

    Appreciate the comments.

    Since posting this I haven't had much success with job applications. I did however receive a call from a recruiter saying she found me via Seek profile. We have been in touch via sms, phone, email and she seems genuinely willing to help. However she seemed to want to put me forward for senior roles which I'm not qualified for then sent me job descriptions for 2 less senior roles from the same company. She says they are growing which is why there are so many vacancies but I'm a bit weary. Haven't heard from her now for 3 days and will chase it up by the end of the week. I'm expecting to hear a "sorry the role's been filled".

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