Reed.co.uk
Bookworm55
Registered Posts: 479 Dedicated contributor 🦉
For those not aware of it, www.reed.co.uk is a Recruitment Agency's website where you can search for and apply for various jobs. It includes both those directly registered with Reed and those held by other agencies.
I've been using it to apply for accounts vacancies over the last few weeks, but don't seem to be getting anywhere. I'm starting to think I've been using it wrong. I get e-mails confirming that I have applied for positions, so it's not my web-using skills, they just never get anywhere. Does anyone have any hints for how to get the best out of it?
It's entirely possible that I've just been unsuccesful in the thirty-odd applications I've made since early November and I need to stick with it.
Has anyone had succesful experiences with this site?
I've been using it to apply for accounts vacancies over the last few weeks, but don't seem to be getting anywhere. I'm starting to think I've been using it wrong. I get e-mails confirming that I have applied for positions, so it's not my web-using skills, they just never get anywhere. Does anyone have any hints for how to get the best out of it?
It's entirely possible that I've just been unsuccesful in the thirty-odd applications I've made since early November and I need to stick with it.
Has anyone had succesful experiences with this site?
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Comments
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Bookworm55 wrote: »For those not aware of it, www.reed.co.uk is a Recruitment Agency's website where you can search for and apply for various jobs. It includes both those directly registered with Reed and those held by other agencies.
I've been using it to apply for accounts vacancies over the last few weeks, but don't seem to be getting anywhere. I'm starting to think I've been using it wrong. I get e-mails confirming that I have applied for positions, so it's not my web-using skills, they just never get anywhere. Does anyone have any hints for how to get the best out of it?
It's entirely possible that I've just been unsuccesful in the thirty-odd applications I've made since early November and I need to stick with it.
Has anyone had succesful experiences with this site?
are you on commish !!!!0 -
my Adivce on the thrid party stuff, is go directly to the third party site and apply there, the big agencies are great for posting the same job 3/4 times and , saying just added when actually the timer that triggers that generally resets every monday anyway.... if your applying for reed direct jobs, make sure you chase every online app with a call directly to the branch a day later to ensure that they got your application adn they are doing something with it! :d0
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mark130273 wrote: »are you on commish !!!!
Yes, that's right. I get paid comission by Reed for telling people I haven't had much success using their website. It's part of an extremely subtle viral marketing strategy. What's supposed to happen is that half a dozen people now post telling me how great Reed is and how it's website helped them land a great job. Then *bam* they get a whole list of satisfied customer recommendations, and fifty people go and sign up based on that.
Of course that's not true. I do apologise if it gets a little too close to breaking the guidelines re advertising, but I know it's a site that has been referred to several times around here before.0 -
Don't know about the website but I found Reed OK back in the day when I was temping. Sometimes with the big agencies I think it just depends on how competent the person you're dealing with is. I've had some nightmares with agents but mostly with smaller agencies in the IT sector - going to an interview when no-one in the process seems to have read your CV and realised you don't actually have the skill set for the job isn't much fun.0
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I've used Reed before to look for jobs but I tend to just go straight to the Agency listed on the job description! I know that isn't the right way to do it but it has worked for me before!0
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if your applying for reed direct jobs, make sure you chase every online app with a call directly to the branch a day later to ensure that they got your application adn they are doing something with it!
I am trying but it's surprisingly difficult sometimes to get through to a reasonably appropriate person.I've used Reed before to look for jobs but I tend to just go straight to the Agency listed on the job description!
I have tried that one too! It kind of worked: I've made other applications through that agency not advertised on the Reed site, but not got to interview.0 -
Hey Bookworm,
Have you tried adecco ? Its another agency that ive had the luck of getting two interviews in the past with them. The woman was really helpful before the interviews and great afterwards. Check 'em out. www.adecco.co.uk.0 -
It's hard to type an angry and frustrated scream, and I dislike attempts to do so, so could you please imagine I am in the middle of such a scream?
I uploaded a new CV to Reed in early November. It includes my latest work experience, the fact that I'm studying for CIMA and includes more detail in my employment history, and less extraneous detail in my education section. Overall, it's just a tighter, more focussed piece of work.
EDIT: Unknown to me, this is not the version being sent out. The site displayed the correct one to me /EDIT
Somehow, Reed have not got this version. It tells me it has, but it isn't the one that gets sent when I use the apply online button. Nor is it the one I uploaded just after I graduated this summer. No, the one that's going out is over a year and a half old, from when I registered with Reed in May 2008. For some people, that wouldn't make much difference, but for me it's a huge difference (now graduated, now with more work experience, now CIMA registered, now living in a different city).
I actually got called by two different Reed branches this lunchtime to discuss my applications, which is how I found out that this was happening. I've sent them both my newest CV and they'll hopefully get that one up. Still not sure what happened, as I know the version I uploaded at the start of the summer has been seen by people, so I can't work out why it would revert to an older one when I updated it.0 -
Before Reed called you this lunchtime had you actually tried calling them to discuss the incorrect CV being displayed?
As for Reed Accountancy, I used them early last year and got my first temp post within three hours of first registering. It was also through their website that my current permanent employer - ironically also an employment agency - found me twenty months ago. So yes, I'm more than a satisfied customer of theirs.
Of course it's a different employment market out there right now and that's no doubt adding immeasurably to your problem and anyone else in the same boat. With more people adding to the financial skills pool each year but fewer finance jobs available, you really need to stand out, not just through qualification but also through the dreaded experience and having a polite, PMA.0 -
Before Reed called you this lunchtime had you actually tried calling them to discuss the incorrect CV being displayed?
No, but that was because I didn't know the wrong CV was being sent. I had no way of knowing it was sending out the wrong CV either. I thought it was sending the latest one I uploaded.
When I logged in, it displayed the right CV: the latest one, and no others. When people received an application, they received an older CV. When the consultants I spoke to logged in their end, they could only see the older CVs. So I suppose I should be glad that they brought it to my attention.0 -
Sorry, my mistake. Sounds like a broken or redundant link in their system software so let's hope they fix it.0
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Sorry, my mistake. Sounds like a broken or redundant link in their system software so let's hope they fix it.
It's actually both simpler and dumber than it sounds. The reason a Reed consultant was the one who brought it to my attention was that it was only the Reed Specialist Recruitment consultants who were affected.
The main site updated properly, but Reed Specialist Recruitment runs off a different system, which one of their consultants has to update seperately. Apparently I had to e-mail my CV to one of their consultants to do the update their end. Which I have now done.0 -
Re: reed.co.uk
i won,t recommend reed or any agency to you, do a job search through your weekly newspaper and apply for jobs when advertise without agency, i had a very bad experience with reeds and asked then to take my name off their list. i register with reed the day i started my aat foundation, i was called for an interview once and was unsuccesful,since then they never bothered with me i was disperate to find work, but couldn,t due to no experience, i decided to apply for a job through a newspaper, and i got an accounts job i was in a shock when i was told i got the job with no experience, a few agency call my work place looking for work, they sometimes advertised for jobs that an't there. Carry on looking it may come to you when not expecting.0 -
So you got one single interview, weren't hired because you were completely unskilled at the time and thus decided not to bother with Reed or any other agency again. Wow. Mind you, I once bought a lottery ticket, didn't win and that was me lost as a Camelot customer forever, so I can empathise with your horrendous experience
Do you know someone by the name of Glynis by any chance?0 -
Re Reed
I register with reed from my foundation level right to my intermidaite level, only got interviews at my intermidiate level, i use to give them a call everyday and never get anything, that was my experience with them, i know blobby, u work in a recruitment agency and i see how you are attacking glynis for being unemploy and looking for a job, is that a good way of advicing him? you think it yourself if you are in his shoes how would you feel. you have to take it easy on vunerable people like glynis. he is deperately looking for work not for you to criticised. i went through hell with recruitment agency, reed is just one of it but in your own opinion i may not be allow to express myself because it may offset you.0 -
Actually you are wrong about me but I do know the impression people have of me and I tend to wickedly encourage it.
Recruitment agencies are 'for profit' businesses like many other 'for profit' businesses, they are not charitable or government run organisations like your local job centre. They can accurately be seen as HR extensions of the larger companies who use them for convenience and trust the agency's expertise. If the client wants a qualified accountant with three years experience, the agency is not going to put forward someone just starting out. Period.
Candidates are simply a commodity for agencies like diamonds or gold might be for a jewellers or prestige cars for a car dealer and you must have something that's marketable for the agency to take more than a passing interest. Of course agencies will sign up everyone who comes through their door - after all you came to them, not them to you - but unless you have something of great worth they can use, don't expect too much in return. Thus it's down to each candidate to make themselves as marketable as possible for their own and the agency's benefit but being suitably trained in the first place is not the agency's responsibility.
Trust me, agencies do work otherwise they wouldn't be in business and many, many people do find their dream jobs through us. But we are NOT job centres for the unskilled or inexperienced and thus can't work for everyone.0 -
A little harsh, Terdoo? Sure, you didn't get a job from one interview, but that's not unusual. I've had six interviews for better-than-my-current jobs in the last six months, got through to the second interview stage twice but got no offers. That's fairly typical.
It's in an agency's interests to fill its vacancies with suitable candidates quickly. Equally, it is not in their interests to spend a lot of time on candidates it can do nothing for. I'm in a bit of an uneasy middle-ground: I'd be a good candidate for certain posts (AAT member/graduate with modest experience looking to progress to ACCA/CIMA) but they aren't coming in at the moment.
A large part of the use of an agency is that they are very familiar with the market in their job sector and/or region and have already built up a rapport with local businesses. Recruitment Consultants are fundamentally sales people, and the candidates are their products. You need to be very explicit about what you have to offer and what you would like them to do for you.
As much as I have had a number of frustrating experiences with agencies, and there are certain individuals I would not want to deal with again, I wouldn't ignore the concept of dealing with a recruitment consultant. The problem I had earlier in this thread was actually resolved pretty quickly and efficiently: the irritation came from not knowing how long it had been happening for or how many applications had been mis-sent.0 -
mark130273 wrote: »are you on commish !!!!
As much as I'm not on commission, I actually had a really good meeting with a Reed consultant yesterday. Really interested in getting more information about my experiences and goals to match me with placements, answered all my questions effectively. Seemed to know a lot about trends in the market both in my region and nationally. Sometimes it depends who you talk to, I may just have got a good one! I'm reserving full judgement until they start putting me forward for places- I'm kind of hoping for a new year start into something more accountsy- but overall I'm impressed.
On the other hand, I also had a terrible meeting with a recruitment consultant yesterday (different company), so I know how some people can get disheartened. Very poorly phrased forms*, many irrelevant questions, few relevant questions, a few inappropriate questions. At the end of the interview I decided I didn't want these people acting as my agent as it would reflect poorly upon me, so I found a politer way of phrasing that and left.
* mainly the 'many questions' fallacy eg "Are all your criminal convictions 'spent'?", where No can mean either "No, I have unspent convictions" or "No, I have no convictions at all"0 -
Id suggest if your struggling with finding a job, dont blame the agencies, look at yourself.
Like Blobby said, you need to stand out, obviously with as much experience as possible, but if thats not possible look at broadening and raising your skill level, not just within accounting but other parts of your life i.e book up on a course, learning a new language, extra computer or office skills course ???
Ive set myself the challenge of bulking up my c.v just as a hobbie !!! (Is that geeky ??)
Plus...look at it another way... see yourself as self employed ! Build up your skills, advertise yourself properly and go out to get the business (i.e new job).
Im no expert, but i love learning new things, methods etc so just thought id throw that in there....
Good luck0 -
Id suggest if your struggling with finding a job, dont blame the agencies, look at yourself.
Like Blobby said, you need to stand out, obviously with as much experience as possible, but if thats not possible look at broadening and raising your skill level, not just within accounting but other parts of your life i.e book up on a course, learning a new language, extra computer or office skills course ???
Ive set myself the challenge of bulking up my c.v just as a hobbie !!! (Is that geeky ??)
Plus...look at it another way... see yourself as self employed ! Build up your skills, advertise yourself properly and go out to get the business (i.e new job).
Im no expert, but i love learning new things, methods etc so just thought id throw that in there....
Good luck
Thank you, but I didn't mean to give the impression I was simply blaming agencies for my problems. This was supposed to be a 'getting the most out of your recruitment agency' thread, not a 'agencies are a waste of time' thread.
I actually took two years out to earn a degree, graduating July 09, in the hopes that it would improve my position. In fact, it has ruined my chance of having even a third-rate career, but I have no-one to blame but myself.
This is just one of the many ways I am aspiring to attain the dizzying heights of mediocrity.0 -
Bookworm55 wrote: »I actually took two years out to earn a degree, graduating July 09, in the hopes that it would improve my position. In fact, it has ruined my chance of having even a third-rate career, but I have no-one to blame but myself.
This is just one of the many ways I am aspiring to attain the dizzying heights of mediocrity.
Maybe so. If only you'd done that hobby degree in photography or journalism instead, I'm sure McDonalds would have been more than pleased to have you on the front counter.0 -
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It's not the degree* so much as the two-year gap in my work history. I haven't had a permanent job since May 2007.
*although accounting isn't exactly an academic subject either, and UEA has had it's reputation tarnished by the "climategate" scandal**.
** which doesn't really say much about global warming, but reflects very poorly on the professionalism of the individual scientists and departments involved.0 -
Bookworm55 wrote: »** which doesn't really say much about global warming, but reflects very poorly on the professionalism of the individual scientists and departments involved.
Actually, it doesn't. Anyone who knows a bit about how science works knows this is no more than everyday scientific practice. What it does tell us about is the mendacity of climate change denialists and their fellow travellers in the media.0 -
Completly OT :
Did anyone watch the documentry last week with Tony robinson......??
Climate change is a natural process all be it we may have sped it up in the past 100 years...i seem to rember when i was at school they said we would have no oil/petrol and gas by 2010?.. yet the oil giants keep finding new wells.....0 -
Actually, it doesn't. Anyone who knows a bit about how science works knows this is no more than everyday scientific practice. What it does tell us about is the mendacity of climate change denialists and their fellow travellers in the media.
I am not denying climate change. I am not saying these leaked e-mails represent a serious threat to established opinion. The whole situation has been blown out of all proportion by the general media.
I am suggesting that some scientists were deliberately withholding, suppressing or 'losing' data when it suited them. Which is fairly common practice, granted, but it doesn't look good when it happens. It isn't good, but it looks much worse than it is because of low public understanding of the scientific process.Climate change is a natural process all be it we may have sped it up in the past 100 years...
Man-made climate change is something we have to face up to. Even if it were not our fault, is there not a case for attempting to minimise or reverse it?i seem to rember when i was at school they said we would have no oil/petrol and gas by 2010?.. yet the oil giants keep finding new wells.....
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This is a function of the way oil companies report their reserves: there has been 30 years left for over sixty years, because that's how far into the future they look. Natural gas reserves have also proved to be larger than some estimates. In addition, the price of oil sometimes makes certain sources economically viable. However, fossil fuels are a strictly finite resource and so cannot be relied on forever. Especially given that plastics are also produced from oil.0 -
Bookworm55 wrote: »Man-made climate change is something we have to face up to. Even if it were not our fault, is there not a case for attempting to minimise or reverse it?
Full on agree with you. i just don;t agree with the scare mongering by the media....0 -
Agencies are useless
Agencies have never helped me out!
Ive completed my AAT qualfiication and still unemployed for the past three years!
Agencies dont do much owt!
its entirely dependent upon the person, if he has the experience and skills, he can get job through anyway!
AAT is a lie where it states you get a job with AAT!
ive got nothing yet!0 -
Agencies have never helped me out!
Ive completed my AAT qualfiication and still unemployed for the past three years!
Agencies dont do much owt!
its entirely dependent upon the person, if he has the experience and skills, he can get job through anyway!
AAT is a lie where it states you get a job with AAT!
ive got nothing yet!
praise it loud !!!!!!0 -
For f*cks sake Mark, try analysing and interpreting other posts instead of simplistically agreeing with them, both attributes of good accounts people.
The short answer is agencies are not useless otherwise they wouldn't be in business, just that they cannot place people who don't possess the skills or experience the client is looking - and paying - for. If someone is not hired through an agency it is usually their own lack of skills & suitable experience that they should be looking at rather than any deficiencies of the said agency. Self awareness is vital to self improvement and blaming others is just side-stepping the core issues.
Expect a stupid, one sentence answer here soon.its entirely dependent upon the person, if he has the experience and skills, he can get job through anyway!
... and there you undo your own argument as you're still admittedly unemployed. You wouldn't go for a job as a lion tamer if you'd never tamed lions so what makes people think they can go/be put forward for jobs as fully qualified accountants if they're not?0
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