[bizz00]

enjoy recruitment are bad! if they are even a proper company?! didnt pay me for my job, dont answer the phones or email or letter.

[jml]

Wow, there really are some negative points raised here, however, I can see the point of view of all.

1. I used to temp
2. I worked for a company who required the services of recruitment agencies
3. For the past 8 years I have worked in the recruitment industry.

I reflect on my experiences as "a temp" which was, I fed a load of rubbish, either a) to get me to do a job, or b) down right laziness

As a "client" I have also been fed long winded stories/excuses, which basically were downright blatant lies as to why the staff sent were unsuitable, didn't turn in etc, because the "consultant" didn't have the back bone to be honest and say "no" they couldn't provide me the world on a stick, or, their managers, (usually 5 tiers of) and their commission wouldn't allow them to ever not fill a vacancy.

Because of this I hope the candidates I provide work to, and likewise the clients I supply staff to would agree that whilst the answers I provide them are not always palatable, they always get the truth which means that clients can make a decision to look elsewhere, or accept the fact that maybe for the package they're offering they are more likely to get only half a moon and it wont be on a stick, and also the candidate knows where they stand financially, with childcare, planning...

I have worked for large corporate agencies where you get a small basic wage, and a huge big stick to beat the life (and the morals) out of you for minimal commission, and targets, where there was form upon form upon form to be completed, yet you couldn't invest the time in a candiate or proper "matching" because you had to "hammer the phones"

To those of you who wish to get a personal, professional service, I recommend going for a local agency (rather than a local "branch)

Clients and candidate's here are dealt with in a professional, however, friendly, flexible, courteous manner.
We're human, if we make a payroll error we pay you into your bank in cash that day.
If we have a job for one day we tell you it's for one day - you then decide if it will be financially beneficial to you, no rubbish about a long term contract that suddenly comes to an end.
Commission? No commission. We are paid a reasonable salary for providing a service.
% of annual salary for perm roles? No, we set one flat fee to the client.
Take the money from candidates? NEVER. 9/10 clients tell us what they want the pay rate to be, we then charge the client for finding them the right person.
Targets? We don't set our staff sales targets, or bookings targets, or candidates registered targets. They know what is expected which is to run a successful recruitment business.
Ghost jobs? Pools of staff with empty promises? Apart from the staff currently working, we have a pool of approx 40 candidates (various skill sets) looking and available for work. Every day we recommend people NOT to register as they will fill out forms and then sit on our database like everyone elses. If they want to leave basic details we do contact if something looks like it may suit, then we telescreen, get them in if all seems to match,fully interview, and if then aim to get immediately out to the said job. When tendering for business some companies are actually looking to ensure you have got THOUSANDS of "live" candidates
Clients? We are not "yes sir no sir" people, if we cannot help, we will say, if we think you are asking too much for too little, we will say, if we don't have the right candidate we wont just send you "somebody" just to fill a booking.

The reason we're not the same? We realise we are dealing with people's lives, in business and home lives, we put ourselves in your shoes, clients and candidates. We wont feed you a crock because we wouldn't want to hear a story based on BS why we didn't get what we were after. We allow our "consultants" the time to talk to candidates, give them feedback, be their counsellor, we allow our consultant to "hand a booking back" to the client if we can't find what they're after - or at least give them the option of taking a candidate that may not exactly match what they're after.

I hope that this level of service is replicated through the industry somewhere, however, it seems unfortunately a lot of you have yet to come across it, and because of this I understand your comments.

Times are tough, however, please don't take your anger and be tunnel visioned when you go to your next agency, hopefully, you'll have a better experience. Please bear in mind though that if the job isn't there to offer we can't magic one up.

I have two final points I'd like to make.

1 - I'm surprised at how much some the same people seem to have devoted to this site the last year or so, maybe this time could be better used elsewhere?

2 - I'm female, I'm not fat, (though also not skinny) I don't eat big mac and fries, though ocassionaly like a subway sandwich with a cookie, I don't have reams of qualifications but work with common sense and decorum. I'm not "gobby" yet also not afraid to say what is necessary. Please don't stereotype.

Good luck.

[mikejdavis]

Let’s address the points of the Recruitment Consultants who have entered into this debate and have put forward considered thoughtful opinion. I am not sure what level most of you are recruiting at due to you offering your skills in C.V writing and interview techniques although I concede this must be beneficial for some candidates at the low end recruitment market.

1. Often when individuals speak the truth or expose poor recruitment practices this is highlighted as negative Lets not confuse negatives with actual factual experiences furthermore realism in candidate terminology is much needed wisdom! Furthermore this can help bring about change so rather than hiding behind the word negative wake up to the mess your industry is in.

2. Any tirades or postings are based on factual experiences of recruitment consultants any professional attending a client interview can distinfranchise himself from the agent or agency he is representing which for candidates is a frequent experience.

3. The stereotypical view of a recruitment consultant will not change until the whole industry wakes up to what is actually happening out there. The context of the YouTube link should not be lost on anyone as this perception rightly or wrongly occurs for a reason.

4. Personally I don’t need interview advice, C.V guidance or any other pearls of wisdom as an experienced I.T contractor I take advice from consument professionals if required not telesales consultants who seem intent on infiltrating my industry without the necessary skill-set \ soft skills. Often the best advice overlooked is to get to know your interviewer personality\interests it often clinches the role striking up a mutual conversation interest.

5. Where commission is involved History has shown continued poor practice from pensions, endowment mortgages, Dyson Vacuums, Financial products and house purchasing to name just a few don’t expect the recruitment industry to improve significantly.

6. Personally I would like to see more legislation (not red tape) and the criteria for becoming a recruitment consultant significantly raised. How about the following as a course offering.

• NVQ Level 1 in Recruitment Studies which encompasses the following.
• Interview training.
• Business acumen
• Knowledge of the industry you are recruiting in.
• C.V writing\marketing courses.
• Time Management.
• Customer service skills.
• Professional English for recruiters.
• Sales in the Modern world

I would also raise the basic salary of the recruitment consultant and reduce the commission element and request more transparency over the client and agency fee from the outset.

As an example last week (not a job seeker) I have had three recruiters contact me for potential roles. The following scenarios occurred which unfortunately is standard practice.

1. Consultant 1 Left an incoherent telephone message.
2. Consultant 2 Left an incorrect telephone number.
3. Consultant 3 Sent an email\ contract specification addressed to me for another candidate.

This industry is shocking and sadly infiltrated by individuals who do not have vocational or meaningful degrees why else would you choose telesales MONEY Perhaps! For all candidates stay positive and don’t let them grind you down…. And remember your bottom line becomes the rate you will get whatever the contract is paying unless the agent has integrity? Recruitment Consultants are known for the condescending pearls of wisdom when in all honesty what do they know about C.V marketability, interview Techniques, personal presentation etc. I have actually studied these elements have any recruitment consultants?

Finally and repeated in my earlier postings this is not about Candidate rejection this is about chaotic recruitment practices, recruitment credability and the extremely low entry criteria for becoming a recruitment agent.

[jml]

The world of recruitment is like the world of builders, or electricians, or mechanics.

There are good, there are bad and there are the don't touch them with a barge pole.

Recruitment should be regulated (and you're right, not red taped)

Members of REC? Yes we are, what does this mean? We get access to up to date information, we have people we can go to if we have a question we can't answer, and procedures we need to adhere to, we need to take copies of I.D (Erm... this is a legal requirement) We need to get references, we need to issue terms.....

These fundamentals don't cover the issues that the majority of people are coming across. Poor customer service, downright ignorance, greed, lies to name but a few.

There are "formal" qualifications which CAN be taken (Mrec, Frec) but aren't essential, but again, would a qualification of HOW to "recruit" properly really help in the areas it appears need addressing?

Should anyone need a basic course on not bullying and lying to get someone to do a job, how not and why not to hang up if a candidate doesn't jump with joy when offered a job which isn't what they registered for...?

When you're dealing with people who either,
a) don't care,
b) are in an environment too targeted and pressurised to be able to to care, or
c) have decided they've been a "consultant" for 5 years and know all there is about recruitment, so is going to set up on their own (again usually through laziness ang greed) you're going to come across these scenarios.

[BrummyLad]

All agencies suck no matter what type of work it is they are "giving" you and the company they send you to a "hand".
They are nothing but 20-30 big brother watching tw*ts who now and then on the nights have abit of a tickle (cocaine).
They are as bad as MP's in my oppinion

[jml]

Brummylad,

As a West Midlands lass myself, and having had a lot of feedback from clients and candidates alike regarding agencies in this area I do believe you will have had some awful experiences.

I'm sure you wont be contacting any agencies to assist you with finding employment in the future, but keep in mind a lot of large companies do their recruiting solely through agencies these days and will simply send you to the agency they deal with even if you contact them direct, so it may be good to keep an open mind if this happens, you never know, the next agency might pleasantly surprise you.

[Lupy]

Thanks for the excellent reference brummy lad.

[BrummyLad]

[Recruiter_2009]

And now today, after a 6 week wait (which I was assured was due to a paperwork hiccup at the client end, not the agency's), I have finally received a contract of employment for what was meant to be a 6 month role, temp to perm. However, not only is it offering over £6k less per annum, with completely different payment arrangements, it is showing as being for a mere 2 months. To add insult to injury, they have proven themselves incapable of spelling my name, thus rendering the contract completely worthless, but they are asking for my P45 and my date of birth, despite having had the document in question AND a copy of my passport for the past two months!

I find it hard to believe that a recruitment agency would do a contract for employment as this is a legally binding contract between employee and employer. If there are issues with this its something you should take up with the employer.

If everyone feels that negatively about agencies my advice would be to simply avoid them. If you used all the energies used on this forum into finding your own position you will be surprised what you can achieve.

Also, if you feel that unhappy about agencies making money for every hour you work as a temp again my advice would be to find your own employment.

[mikejdavis]

Brummy lad has made some interesting points for which he receives disparaging comments and negative advice from a recruitment consultant. Unfortunately for many job seekers the vehicle used to gain employment is either the agency or Job Centre Plus who are equally pathetic for those with skills be this vocational or academic. Presently the recruitment industry is in blind panic due to chaotic recruitment practices which were never stress tested for such a unique event as a depression (black swan).

As for advising bloggers to focus their energies in gaining employment this is a poor response from somebody who obviously isn’t very bright. Individuals may be fully focused on the task in hand sadly your statement comes across as totally narcissistic for what is a serious debate. Personally people don’t think before writing or engaging their brains similar utterances came from Gordon Brown with his now infamous statement of British jobs for British workers.

In a recent broadsheet it was noted that Adecco have laid off 19% of their recruitment specialists since the start of the downturn Adecco are a major player in the telesales industry and come under various different guises. I would reiterate my earlier postings and maintain my avoid stance of all recruitment agencies where possible! It is unfortunate that we have created a climate where often you cannot apply for a job without some middleperson sales agent interfering.

I maintain agency infiltration of the employment market is damaging there is no benefit to the candidate whatsoever it’s false economics when people would rather live on benefits than be exploited by agencies or where migrants are either exploited or unintentionally help drive down salaries. Remember don’t let agencies grind you down or knock your confidence.[/quote]

[jml]

Brummy lad, you know your pay rate, the client knows the charge rate.

If no one works out the bit in between yes, it does seem like both ends are being ripped off. You will find the company tell us what to pay you and we then give them the charge rate based on that.

Don't forget we pay your holiday pay, which is a legal figure built into the charge rate, and so is the N.I contribution. We have costs to cover to pick up the phone and call clients to find you work, to call those looking for temporary work and to offer it to them, it costs to buy and print payslips, letters, and other documents, to give you hi vis vests to go to work in to name but a few.

Every product has a cost to make and a charge to sell. That's business v charity.

[shonked]

Hi

read this thread of what some agencies are up to

http://web.ukrecruiter.co.uk/forum/Forum/read.php?i=190486&start=0

Me personally think most are a waste of time
I`ve had

wages stolen by one agency..he also stole everyone elses
been persued by an head of an agency who was drunk (mid-day)
she took a black cab from her agency and arrived at my home door mid-day being abusive to my partner
why I did not take the role they were offering (the pay and conditions were crap)
I was at work...and this agency was in central london...the agency went t**s up not longer after
been offered roles which have no relation my skills...
offered bribes to get an agency in
the only decent agency I found was tmp worldwide
otherwise my advice...avoid

oh and heres a rather sad reply to this this thread
http://web.ukrecruiter.co.uk/forum/Forum/read.php?i=190874&start=0
from a mark james

[michaelwinner]

If you have not been paid for work you have undertaken via a recruitment agency then if it was me, I would sue the agency for negligence. Likewise I would sue the agency for harassment if they come round my house screaming at me.

Firstly write a letter to the recruitment agency threatening legal action. If this fails go to the Citizens Advice Bureau and seek legal advice and prepare a writ against the recruitment agency.

[michaelwinner]

There's alot of traffic on this thread so I thought I'd post this for the very last time, to warn those looking for a new job of what to expect....


This is what Recruitment Agencies are about.

The Girls in Charge

Recruitment agencies are essentially commandeered by gobby lower-class loud-mouthed fat uneducated unintelligent females who don't understand the area of work they are recruiting for e.g. accountancy when they are working as an ‘Accountancy Consultant'. How can you have a recruiter working in accountancy and not knowing what terms such as accrual, Month end or Accounts Payable mean? "What's Accounts Payable?" she whales. This can be tracked to the fact that it is an unskilled job to be a Recruitment Consultant because the business model adopted by recruitment agencies amounts to nothing more than disorganised telesales; therefore those working in this remit are mainly young immature girls who know nothing about anything except Kerry Katona and have absolutely no people skills. There’s the ‘Lads’ who yearn for the cheesy champagne and BMW convertible lifestyle and live for Saturday night cocktails with slappers, or 40 year old tired out but overly-confident women who realise they can’t do any other job because they don’t have any proper skills and so the idea of 60 hour weeks and a reasonable wage is attractive. Pathetic.

Eagerness to book a pointless meeting

They ring you up on a withheld number and insist on you coming into their office (even if you're 100 miles away) yet when you arrive the point is not to discuss positions, run over interview plans, see how you comport yourself or probe your cv further (which is what it is supposed to be about), it's a case of them actually reading your cv properly and then realising they can't help you anyway. A waste of time for both them and you. They have a penchant for you filling out loads of their unnecessary child-like forms the second you arrive & crucially before they talk to you (wasting more time). Everything that you write in the boxes on their pathetic remedial forms is limited to information already on your cv - so why on earth is your cv not good enough? Alongside the forms is the equally child-like nonsensical tests like speed-writing, equally as patronising and degrading as form-filling. Pathetic.

Manner and Manners

They are also difficult people to deal with in a room i.e. they are naturally extroverted to the point of ego-maniacs, talk without listening, shout, swear, loud, patronising, condescending, don't listen, are most of the time tuned up to the eyeballs on coke, totally domineering, put on a silly style of voice to sound business-like and wear big silly pink ties with huge knots against a black shirt which reflects their immaturity. Gelled hair is also common. With the girl recruitment consultants (what I call Brutes in Suits), it’s usually a tight squeeze into a pin-striped (old-fashioned) BHS outfit and they often are eating something when you talk to them like a Gregg’s pasty or a Subway 6 inch with extra cheese because they don’t have any manners or intelligence. Pathetic.

Moral Compass – pointing in the wrong direction

They are never truthful. It’s like all the pathological liars in the world all became Recruitment Consultants. Why do they feel the need to talk lies to you for 10 minutes on a call, book an appointment with you over the telephone, tell you they will email you confirmation and then never email you? They aren't professional enough to end the telephone conversation by saying 'Sorry, I can't help you'. Much of the time this is because they are incredibly disorganised workers, hence the minute they get off the phone with you, the phone rings again and by the time they've finished the call they've forgotten about your initial conversation. Pathetic.

Their Key Skill on their own CV– “Matching”

To use their self-created spiel, they try to "match" you to a job which is a word they use to describe ‘the science’ of recruiting. That is, the process of recruiting is reduced to nothing more than a military-style scramble to find an exact identical ‘candidate’ to ‘fill’ their open position. This conflicts with many people looking for a new job because they want that something extra – they don’t want to be an envelope-opener for 50 years. However many of these bruits in suits will block an application if you apply for an envelope-opener position which also includes the duty of date stamping the document inside the envelope also – this is because it is not a perfect match. Hence it becomes an issue of judgement rather than rule, which recruitment consultants don’t like because they don’t like tests of their judgement because underneath it all they are incapable of making good decisions.

With ‘matching’, as you can imagine, not much due care is taken here. At the other extreme for example, I myself have been offered daft roles like Chief Financial Controller of Enron Corporation because a pot-bellied Consultant saw I was studying the first year of the CIMA qualification when she was speed-reading my CV (the total time she spent reading my CV was when she went to the ladies). I had another fat silly cow (this one had a tash) insistent on putting me forward for a position as a Commercial Management Accountant for a small company post when I've never compiled returns or done a cash flow! Again – when they don’t understand the area of work they are recruiting in all sorts of frightening suggestions are wailed out.

Some of them even "match" just on the premise of job title alone! If you're title is 'Finance Officer' they then ring you up with 20 jobs (whether they exist or not is another question) all with the title of 'Finance Officer', even if the actual responsibilities of the jobs are completely different. Much of these "mis-matchings" also comes from the pressure on recruitment 'specialists' to fill roles and look busy while the ‘Recruitment Captain’ is stood over them - in short 'anybody might do' in the back of their mind. Pathetic.

The Good Old Days – Long Gone

In the good old days pre 2000 (I'm only 26 but remember it well) recruitment was not organised this way to the extent it is today. You could apply to companies direct. Jobs newspapers were credible and were filled with direct-employer adverts with actual company names, proper official job specs/ person specs, dates to apply by, and you applied to the HR facility within the company. These adverts have all disappeared, mainly due to the fact that businesses and business in general became obsessed with change – in the form of flexibility and outsourcing, which came out of corporate America in the 90’s and at one time was known as ‘re-engineering’. When companies ‘re-engineered’, most of the workforce became outsourced and outside contracted which led to the micro organisation (which they wanted), and a tsunami of recruitment agencies setting up in business to service the growth of insecure temporary employment. Pathetic.

Today the situation is worse than ever, employment nothing more than a ‘temporal state’ with agencies trying to convince the public that ‘temping’ is a good thing. It’s almost impossible to find any job adverts posted by direct employers. 99% of job adverts are by Recruitment Agencies which is problematic because, to name a few reasons –

1. 99% of recruitment websites are incredibly poor – poor design, navigation, total lack of maintenance, which means sites are over-loaded with old vacancies and general spam. In short, of minimum use to anybody.
2. The job adverts posted on these shoddy websites are incredibly poor – you don’t know which company are advertising because the recruitment agency won’t reveal that information, the only person to ‘apply to’ is the agency, 99% of the time there isn’t any job details – no job spec, no person spec, and no deadline dates for application.
3. Most if not all of the job adverts posted by recruitment agencies aren’t real – the jobs don’t actually exist, they are notional. It’s what in law is called an Invitation to treat; or invitatio ad offerendum. They are merely expressions of willingness to negotiate.
4. If anybody from a job agency does ring you then you’re dealing with the things I have described above and below. Pathetic.

Candidates – treated like sh*t.

Because the recruitment industry is now a fully-fledged unorganized unskilled sales-driven telesales industry, based on the principles of Telesales/ the Call Centre, this has inevitably led to warped instrumental working practices. Any due diligence or duty of care or customer service is thrown to the sidelines, and the only thing that matters is making a sale. Many of these agencies operate on premium rate phone lines – as if they are service-providers! Because of the pressure to make a sale and create a sale, the person looking for a job will be told lie after lie after lie – it’s on the same level as a PVC Window Salesmen mis-selling to a pensioner. They don’t return your phone calls, ring you when they say they will, agreements often change, information always changes, detail is never present, contracts are laughable – the whole experience is nothing less than a warped comedy sketch. For such an industry, you’d think there would be a higher duty of care when the product is people, but because its telesales and the prize is commission there’s not a chance. Pathetic.

Conflicting Interests

Businesses have fallen into a trap using these recruitment agencies and are taking on poor quality staff because recruitment agencies interests lie with securing a sale – which equates to placing any weirdo. Their interests do not lie with the company they are recruiting for, and certainly don’t lie with finding the best ‘candidate’ for the company. Pathetic.

Main Priority –

Recruitment Consultants – Making the Sale (more than often at the expense of quality of ‘candidates’)

In-House Recruiters – Finding the Best Person For the Job

It’s only those that have a vested interest in the whole cowboy industry that you will find defend it. I’m sure there are a handful of good Recruitment Consultants out there, but 99% of them are dreadful because what is essentially a telesales industry attracts telesales quality staff.

Conclusion

The image of the buxom gobby bedraggled female Recruitment Consultant throwing her weight around on the telephone or at ‘Candidate reception’ while gnawing on her door card in a hot sweat isn’t too far removed from the truth. This type goes out at lunch and returns to the office with an unopened KFC family (extended-family version) bucket without any thought that it’s not generally the done thing to feast on hot smelly dinners in an office. However generally speaking, the staff inside these agencies are usually all from the same council estate, with morals that would make an alley cat blush, so next time you shake a Consultant’s hand and she has a deep-fried chicken leg in her other fat hand remember to think of me. Pathetic.

The fact that these dangly-earinged bulls in skirts, like jml, wail out self-created words like ‘candidate’, ‘matching’, ‘client’, ‘temping’, ‘perm’, “skill-set”, is nothing more than a pathetic attempt to make themselves and their business look professional. Paradoxically they all achieve exactly the very opposite. Pathetic.

It becomes hard to take applying for work or actually work itself seriously when recruitment isn’t taken seriously and is organised in such a warped manner. You have to empathise with the long-term ‘benefit-addicts’ when the situation is as much of a mess as it is – recession or NO recession. How we reached such an absurd position where everybody is dependent on a 22 year old long-haired brute in a suit to deal with their application and to find them a suitable job really is beyond insanity. Add to that the fact that you have no control over any of the process - you don’t even know the company name or what the company does until 10 minutes before you’re given the map to the interview (and without ever having received an official job desc and person spec) is quite amazing, demeaning and derogatory. The whole process has been reduced to nothing more than a frantic instrumental disorganised sales rush and underneath all the badges and associations of self-made recruitment credibility and dazzling award shows, the process can be revealed as no more scientific nor credible than a 19th century street queue for day work, the queue now being an email one. Pathetic.

Everybody yearns for a return to the days of in-house recruitment, where you could stroll down the street effortlessly, tie the dog up to the lamp post, and saunter into the newsagents and pick up jobs newspapers which were bloated with job adverts that had proper job specs/ descriptions, dates to apply, company title and information, and you sent your application DIRECT to the employer. Unfortunately those days are long gone, you’re best off getting qualified and emigrating. Lastly, a message for those recruiters that like to blame all the problems with recruitment on the recession – a large chunk of the current unemployment figure (in reality about 6.5m rather than the bogus figures disclosed by central government) can be blamed on recruitment agencies and their inability to organise themselves properly and who have in essence restricted (increasingly in company policy) the unemployed from work. The next time a ‘candidate’ comes into your recruitment office remember that while they smile they are also probably thinking of tearing that Subway 12” with extra mayo out of your hands and whacking it round your head. Pathetic.

[mikejdavis]

The recruitment industry has no creditability left whatsoever. The current depression has only helped highlight the dubious telesales operations and incompetence that exists to the wider masses. And yes they do seem to be manned by loud and offensive women who in most walks of life you would avoid like the plague.

As per earlier posts the rise of the phantom job will continue to grow as recruitment industry staffing levels have been hit extremely hard due in part to companies not hiring or refusing to use them. They have also tried to infiltrate job centre plus but this experiment has not gone down well with claimants who are offered 6phr by these recruitment agencies - Do the mathematics.

Another 1200 jobs shed… and positive spin!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/jobs/6043510/UK-jobs-boost-for-Michael-Page.html

Michael Winner is correct the unemployment count is nearer 6.5million and if we returned to sensible economics where the bloated public sector was reduced and the recruitment industry was abolished the count would stretch to 8million.

http://www.rec.uk.com/about-recruitment

[mikejdavis]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDEa15OSRgU

How candidates get even with those questionable characters....Please ensure you have the correct skillset....

[sarabro]

I agree - whilst obviously they didn't cause the recession they are definitely hindering people's job prospects out there. The problem I think lives with the fact that the agents approach companies with the idea that they will take the whole process off the company. Thus contracts get tied up etc. If big companies relied on their own HR administrators to do the job they wouldn't need to have agencies. Perhaps that comes down to cost.

I think Agencies also play on the fact that there has always been a stigma attached in this country with going to the job centre to look for work. Its attached to the benefit section (well it is in my area) and people don't want to look desperate or mix with the average bod looking for something in catering if they are management level. Agencies tuck themselves away off the street, very often have plush offices and you feel (at first) like a customer as opposed to someone looking for a job as you would an estate agent or any agent. Then they asses how weak you are and how prepared you are to do anything. (Doesn't matter whether its a office job or accountant, IT whatever its all the same.) Thats where gobby cow comes in handy. The successful ones are ruthless and know the score. I have nice straightforward friends attempt a role at recruitment and they don't cut it or they walk out.

If they sectioned off the job centre, made it more approachable for everybody not just unemployed (I know local one has security guards and kids with their rotweiler/leopard cross hanging outside of ours) and employed intelligent helpful people who have industry experience you may just feel you have a fairer chance. Yes maybe a l want to live in a pretty world but I don't remember it ever being as bad as it has become. Okay the first few thousand professionals would walk in with a baseball cap on their heads and dark glasses but eventually things change.

I also long for the day of advertising jobs properly. I think what is coming across here is how frustrated people feel with their ability to do a job belittled. It shouldn't make a difference if you are graduate whatever. Any recruitment consultant who has approached this website has immediately got on the defensive straight away and approached the situation in a condescending manner the same way you approach people entering an agency ie (maybe you come across as a bit angry) - everyone comes across as angry thats work for you sweetie - most people have accepted they will be entering a stressful environment. There is no need to patronise people expressing an opinion.

Gobby cow was put there for a reason, to keep the industry running as sweatshop as they can.

[michaelwinner]

DON'T FALL FOR THIS SCAM.....IT'S STILL OUT THERE....


Money Scams – one that actually happened to me (although I didn't give em any money).

About 3 years ago I was looking for a new job whilst continuing work. At about 5.30pm walking to the tube after work one evening I received a call on my mobile from a withheld number. Naturally I thought it was another gobby Recruitment Consultant ringing me to waste my time. However this was different. It was a women who appeared very rushed almost instantly and said she was phoning from such an agency (can’t remember which one) and that she had come across my CV on some recruitment site (can’t remember which one). She explained quite convincingly that she almost had a job guaranteed for me working for a company which was desperate for somebody to start working as soon as possible, because the former employee had walked out on them. Hence she was hurried and very excitable like these pathetic idiots get when they think they might have found somebody for interview. However alarm bells started ringing when she started babbling about my CV and stressing how it wasn’t very presentable. I thought to myself – well you’re supposed to be the recruitment professional love, why don’t you sort it out? It wasn’t until she said that she could guarantee me an interview for a job if I paid £25 to have my CV re-written and put on a fancy template. I asked her “So if I pay you £25 and you do my CV that will guarantee me an interview?” She replied “Yes, but hold on Michael Winner – I just need to confirm with my client who is just about to leave my office, I’ll quickly go and speak to him”. She then put me on hold. While on hold it hit me – this is an organised scam. She is trying to cloud my judgement – I’ll be thinking about the interview more than what’s going on with my CV and why on earth I’m paying to have it prepared differently. She’s making it convincing by pre-planning to say she will go and speak to the client (who obviously doesn’t exist and isn’t there). Plus she’s calling at a planned time – when people are tired and rushed and she is exacerbating the rushedness by rushing me on the phone into decisions that need instant answers and running across the office to speak to (non-existent) clients. She came back off hold and said “Yes – the interview is definite. I just need to sort out the CV.” At that point I just put the phone down and have never spoken to her since. But she had the cheek to then re-dial me but I didn’t answer. In short – don’t fall for this scam. Give out your card details like this and within minutes you’ll have no money in your bank account or at the very least be £25 down.

A quick look on Google and these results came back - who knows, it may have been Jessica Parker who I spoke to....

" Lee (Visitor)
Friday, 02. Jan, 2009 @ 13:49:47
I have just this minute had the same e-mail and a call from the Same Jessica Parker. Trying to sound proper with all the wonderful services they were going to provide me with.
When I asked what was the catch I was told that they did not charge anything for their services. Of course they had still to pull out their columbo moment(just one more thing) they need to re structure my CV for which I would be charged a deposit of £69 which would be refunded when I secured the job interview! I declined of course as Iwould not be giving money or my account details out to someone who approached me and that quite frankly I did not trust the whole thing. I then came online to see if there we any comments and low and behold here we are.

I will be notifying the OFT. "

" mohammad Jamal (Visitor)
Wednesday, 07. Jan, 2009 @ 23:39:09
Guys! exactly same thing happened to me aswell! when I got a call from Excel careers, and i was thinking I never applied for the job however, they were like everything is fine...but we need to fix your CV which will cost £69 deposit that will be refunded to you bla bla...I Said Fukoff you scammers..

Guys trust me, in this economical downturn, everyone is trying to play these tricks and give a jobless person a wrong hope in order to make money out of it!! so be careful its not the only one..I bet there are plenty of them out there! "

O. (Visitor)
Thursday, 08. Jan, 2009 @ 11:02:27
hi. I just spoke to 'Jessica Parker'. Of course they were pushy wanted me to pay £130 for securing my job application ,what a bullsit. When I refused there was a long silence and after a while she came with the solution. This time the deposit was only £69 and the rest would be paid by employer. When I asked her to see her in person she said that there was not a time to do this as my CV needs to be redone and send straight away to the employer. I was not sure what to do so took some time to research this company. Thanks to this web page I convinced myself, this time for sure, that the whole thing is a bullsit. Guys do you have any suggestions how to stop this scam?
Charlotte (Visitor)
Monday, 02. Feb, 2009 @ 18:30:02
When you find out that this great job you are perfect for, is a complete scam you feel like such a fool. I feel so angry that I have spent the last 2 weeks calling this 0845 number up to twice a day, only for the woman to tell me he's with another client (James Gregory). I became suspicious after he didn't ever return my calls on the alloted time I was given because a)the generic website b)no direct contact details and c) the salary £27K for a grad job - yeah righto!!! So I gave up. A week later (today) a Sara Cook calls me - I am so glad someone has finally got in touch with me....but same story as the rest - I need to pay £69 to improve my CV 'I'm just not marketing myself correctly to a global marketing company' I asked the right questions. If the recruitment agency accept my CV for interviews I get the £69 back. I said what if they don't? I don't get the money back - I go onto XL's books for 3 months - If they don't find me a job in 3 months - I get my money back. Do they think we are stupid enough to pin all our hopes on one recruitment (sorry I mean resourcing company) in the whole of London to find a job for us? I am signed up to god knows how many agencies and I bet you are too! I said what if another agency finds me a job (likely) she said I would not get my money back (obv). I said I wanted to see it in writing. She said it takes 2 days for the people to work on my CV and she has a deadline of Thurs. (Today Monday). Likely story. I had to let her know by tomorrow morning. I googled the company again and found this and thank god. I wouldn't have given her the money anyway but this has made me realise that something needs to be done about it. I checked my bill online and luckily the 15 odd phonecalls I've made have probs amounted to a few pounds. I wanted to give this woman what for on the phone but I've been told to ignore the call as I'm probably paying to recieve the call if it is coming from abroad. What gets me is the confidence of this woman she was pretending to read an email she had just recieved from someone about the cost of upgrading my CV like it was the first time she's read it..'oh hang on...yeah it's a bit long winded can you wait a sec while I just read this....oh this seems a bit complicated...so in a nutshell....' I believed her. The job role itself is so unbelievably generic not even saying what kind of marketing the company does! I was so excited that they thought I was right for the job - it's like I had been headhunted as I hadn't even applied for the role - that I didn't even notice the generic-ness of the spec! When I read it it did seem perfect for me and I bet you thought that too. I had put on an email to them that I was very keen on the role..I bet they thought I was such a sucker. Sorry to waffle but this has made me SO ANGRY!!! I am going to report this and I hope everyone who has experienced this will too.


Link is here
http://quoctruong.blog.co.uk/2008/12/22/excel-career-services-job-scam-5257525/

[lanne]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/8054649.stm is an interesting article. http://www.enfield-today.co.uk/tn/news.cfm?id=30399 says an investigation found that many agencies in Enfield are breaking the law.

[MsMarietta]

[londontweeny]

i gave up with agencies a while ago just about peeved off with only having monster, total jobs, gumtree and jobscentreplus on my laptop screen every night lol. noagencieshere.com looks like it's a good albeit very small website, although i really have no idea of what other websites to look at anymore, as nearly 'all' are just agency advertised jobs which i am stay away from..... sigh.... I wish more employers had the balls to advertise 'themsleves' instead of relying on agencies to do their work for them. The local papers are the only real places where employers advertise directly. emma

[iwantajob]

I have been unemployed since Feb. I joined lots of agencies and since then all I have had is 1 week of work. But I have been more successful in applying directly to companies, if I got turned down at least I could get some decent feed back on why I was not chosen. By working on the responses I have managed to get a job which is also a promotion for me which starts in November!
Being unemployed is demoralising, keep your mind active and see what skills you can also do. I found out that you can do some courses at college for free or with some funding, I now have an ECDL qualification to prove that I am computer illiterate! By getting out of the house it was good to meet with others in the same situation and talked about what they were doing to find work, it was a good way to get tips, which helped.

[iwantajob]

Great! Signed on again and explained I had work starting in Nov and that I am now looking to fill the gap. We found 5 temp jobs! to start immediately. Great! Got all enthusiastic and called the contact numbers to find that these were agency numbers!!!! Got declined on all because they needed someone who was could work to the end of Nov or Dc
What happened to the days when I was a student a few years back when they would of said yes and would of filled the remainder of the time with another temp!!! Its not like there is a shortage of people looking for work Now its all or nothing!

[Bluey]

[montyzuma]

its been repeated by a lot of people esp golfers

arnold palmer etc

quote form link below

It was actually Samuel Goldwyn who said, "the harder I work, the luckier I get". You hear it now repeated by people from all fields (I heard it said by 'Harold' from Neighbours on The Wright Stuff last week) who espouse the importance of hard work.

its a goodie tho

my father used to say, you make your own luck