Am I thick or is it agencies?

Marie

Hi,

I don't have a vast amount of experience but come from a small company doing an all round role & was advised by agencies to get into a larger company and focus on one area to progress my career. I was put forward for a purchase ledger role & offered it & the agency convinced me it would be the best role for me to progress my career with.

Nearly six months later, I have realised I find the role boring & not challenging & isn't going to require me to study the ACCA/CIMA like I want to. The team are all fairly new so there's no chance of progression. I have contacted a number of agencies who are telling me they will struggle to get me back into book keeping, all round roles. I haven't contacted the agency that placed me in my current role yet. What confidentiality do agencies have? The agency that put me forward for my current role, have a book keeping role available that I'm interested in but I worry if I contact them my current job may find out because they are regularly phoning up to find out if we need anyone.

I do book keeping for a family member & did basic book keeping in my previous role.

Am I thick or doing some wrong? or is it the agencies?


What my way forward?


Thanks

Beckha

Hi

I think that agencies have to maintain confidentiality.

It works in their favour to try get you a new job because when they get you a new placement they get a percentage of your annual salary.

Beckha

Paul

RE: Am I thick or is it agencies?

Hi Marie,

Agencies should work under an ethics code, meaning that they should not share your information with third parties. Weather they do that or not is another matter! There are good and bad out there. Unfortunately the good and bad are separated by branch rather than company. Whoever pushed you into your current role did a bad job and I should not bother to contact them again until after you have found another job that suits you. That is only my opinion mind!
What you have to remember is that agencies work for YOU. Ask around and see if you can find yourself a good agency to point you in the direction. Agencies only cover 5% of successful job placements in UK. The other 95% is covered by direct marketing, speculative searches and word of mouth. So look in the papers, get your CV up to date, sparkling and sent off with covering letter to anywhere that catches your eye and NETWORK. Tell people you're looking for work, (Friends, family, whoever) you never know what might crop up! If you can't speak to people in your work then speak to people outside and don't forget the internet; it's an amazing tool when used properly but you do have to be careful.

And I believe that is enough of my babble. I wish you the best of luck in your career search.

jorja1986

No agencies are thick.

Apply to them all even the one that placed you. They have to maintain client confidentiality.

Good luck with the job hunt.

Look in papers as well or even advertise yourself that you are looking for a posistion for bookkeeping. Some employers dont realise they need hellp until they see it offered.

Also do lots of mailshots to local companies, not all companies advertise positions that are vacant as they rely on it being filled in house.

Good luck

NeilH

Hi

I'd apply anyway, in my experience agencies aren't actually that clued up on the way the accountancy profession works.

Neil

JodieR

jorja1986 wrote: »

No agencies are thick.

nope, they're not, but in my experience they rarely have your interests at heart - like any salesman they're just trying to reach targets to get their commission.
I'd suggest that you make yourself a list of what you want out of a future job, then if an agency contacts you with a job they think is suitable ask them a few basic questions to make sure they're not wasting your time.

blank

rec agencies are dumb in general its rare that you will finda good consultant, trust me i work for a rec agency some concepts are just too challenging for consultants eg spelling and filling in expense forms !!!

but they do operate on comission so if you are a half decent candidate then use them for what they are good for and thats liasing with companies out there that are looking for accounts staff

richardw

Its not just agencies, lot of big companies are the same:
HR/personnel depts employ the same sort of people:
they write the job specs, even though they dont do the job
they write the adverts, even though they cant use plain english
they attend the interviews, but they havnt a clue what half the words on most people's cv's actually mean

they have this idea that a job=box that they can fit someone into

Gianni

My experience with agencies is it's OK for them to contact you, but not you them! For example, if you want feedback on job applications or how an interview went it's constantly "We'll let you know". Not only that, but if they do have a lot of 'opportunities' I've had them ringing my workplace to speak to me via that route. If I'm not picking up my mobile, I'm unavailable!!

Obviously a call from John the recruitment man, claiming to be your best mate doesn't always go down well with your current employer.

Vanessa

Professinal Cover

HI, I am applying for my licence to practice and am having difficulty in finding someone for professional cover. Can anyone help, or give me any advise at all please? Many thanks.:001_smile:

les

My experience with agencies has generally been awful :thumbdown: too, except in one case where i did get a relatively good job :thumbup:. I'd say the best is to work with one agency you trust, you feel good about, and prefferably one that one of your mates has had good results with. But overall, there are other ways to find a good job rather that using an agency. Be creative, network, use some of the methods mentioned in other posts - keep trying, follow-up on leads and dont give up:001_smile:. happy job hunting

A-Vic

the one peace of advice i can give on agencies is the little word no - dont be bullied in to going for a job that dosent suit your or there needs and at the end of the day if that agency does not do as it has promised move on to the next - also have you not thought of an agency that specilises

good luck with your hunt :001_smile: