Recruitment Agencies

Makkusu

How good are they really?

I read a lot of stuff about Reed Accountancy and how 90% of their job adverts are posted to get more people to sign up, for other recruitment companies to nab your CV and register on their website.

I've recently started applying for a new job and I'm being bombarded with recruitment agencies calling me up to register on their website. It's annoying, and I have no idea if it's strengthening my chances at finding a position in Accountancy or if I'm simply being used to bulk up the recruitment companies database.

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It pisses me off they all use withheld numbers also!!! So I HAVE to answer it in the slightest chance it's something to do with an actual job.

EDIT: Oh yeah, most of them tell me they have no positions within accounts at the moment (Bit odd considering those were the jobs they've posted on Reed), but they do have job opportunities such as, telephone sales, insurance sales etc. etc. Which I don't want to do.

Rinske

They won't hurt your chances of finding a job!

You are in Bournemouth, so I'm assuming you went to all the standard agencies in the town centre? The best thing to do is to keep calling them on a weekly base and see if they got something and maybe ask for some suggestions on your CV.

If you have a job at the moment, at least you can be picky to what job you want to apply for or not.

Usually in day time at work I just won't answer the phone if I'm not sure who it is and when I was looking I told the agencies to email me the details, rather than call me, during working hours.

blobbyh

Of course recruitment agencies are marvels to those candidates who they find work for and demons to those who they don't. The fact that agencies exist and have managed to stay in business through the worst recession in decades mean they do do their jobs properly and are successfully placing quality candidates into fee paying clients.

No-one has to use agencies to find work and to anyone who resents their existence I would suggest not using them at all. Of course by doing this you are going to severely hurt your chances of finding employment since many larger employers only use recruitment agencies and with good reason. HR departments of huge companies don't want to be flooded with thousands of unsuitable CV's for just one or two positions - they'd rather we do it and filter through the - ahem - crap.

Everyone knows we are arguably still in deep recession, jobs are scarce, accountancy jobs even scarcer and the market is flooded with accountants of all levels, churned out year upon year in their thousands. If your CV is good enough, an experienced recruiter may use it, maybe not immediately but possibly in the future. There is no benefit to agencies harvesting thousands of CV's simply for the sake of it with no possibility of financial gain. And don't forget, the reality is that it's you that usually sends your CV to us, even if we didn't ask for it. What would you say if you walked into a high street agency and they said "Sorry, we don't have any vacancies at the moment, take your CV with you and come back in six months time?" You'd likely be outraged and wonder why you can't leave your CV for reference. Thus you can't object to becoming part of a database when you yourself demand it.

Similarly, candidates want to be put forward for every possible job but would then likely complain if they they were sent for interview to one they couldn't do. You can't have it all ways...

Dcollins

I've found that it's a case of getting out what you put in.

If I were determined to find a job I'd go to all local agencies in person (make an appointment in advance, and take a CV and proof of qualifications), discuss what I want and what I can offer, then keep in touch with regular emails and/or phone calls.

Be professional, show willing, and be a little flexible and it can work well.

As others have said, some companies only recruit through agencies, so by avoiding them you're seriously reducing your prospects. Also bear in mind that for the employer recruitment can be a total nightmare, so many companies take on temps with a view to permanent employment once they've 'test driven' the employee.

Best of luck.