Recruitment Agencies

[westv]

Not really anything to do with AP but I just felt like having a moan!

Just found out that I have been strung along by an agency with hopes of a job that actually no longer exists. After being told for 2 1/2 months that they were still "waiting to hear" I decided to contact the employer directly. Seems the agency was feeding me a pack of lies - the job hasn't existed for a while now.
Of course I am now throughly p*ssed off and even more p*ssed off with the recruitment agency.
This isn't the first time that I've been strung along by agencies with false hopes and promises that turned out to be lies.

[bella]

I think a lot of agencies have fake jobs just to get hold of cv's, in case anything comes along they have the cv's on file.. Very unfair and I really feel for you.

[OldMan]

I've found exactly the same. On many occasions an angency will phone me, discuss my CV and then say they are putting me foward for the postion. Guess what - I then dont hear another thing.

Gotten used to it now, maybe one day something will come of it

[westv]

The job wasn't fake originally. I did go for an interview and was told by the agency that the company "really wanted me". The role was coming up as the current person doing the job had to go into hospital. What the agency failed to tell me was that the company informed them weeks ago that the person didn't actually need to go into hospital now - which was good for them of course.
Instead of ringing me and apologising for the fact that the vacancy was no longer there, the agency decided to string me along by saying that they were still waiting to hear news on when the job would start and that the company "was keen to get me started".
It wasn't until I contacted the employer directly that I found out the truth.

[wessnipes]

Recruitment agents are largely complete scum mate so nothing surprises me here. Apart from the generally shady practises mentioned, I find the generic salesy/enthusiastic tone and condescending attitude to be the most offensive as its so obvious and can be smelt from a mile off. Some are polite and helpful, but that's usually down to the ruthless pursuit of commission they see in you so its to be taken with a huge pinch of salt.

"Ohhh Hi XXX, I thought I'd call because I have a tremendous position that's for a young, ambitious, confident, outgoing person and I thought you would be puuurrrfect for it!" Feck off, brass taxes please. Money? Interview date?

[Clackerooney]

Most conversations I've had with recruiters are them trying to get me to tell them the names of management or the people who do the hiring at my company so they could get some contacts.
Call after call of "So who's your manager there?" "I've placed loads of people at your company, is Mr XXX still doing the hiring or who is it now?" "Have you got the contact details of HR so we can get a reference before we take your on" blah blah blah

& twice I've had a recruiter speak to my current company, tell them I'm looking for work elsewhere and offering to fill my position! It takes a special sort of scum to do that.

It's nice to be in a position where I had a job so I could tell them to stick it, if you're unemployed you actually have to humor these arseholes when all they're doing is fishing for more contacts for their database. I feel your pain!

[Jono258]

Hi.
I know how you feel mate.
I went into an agency to see If they could help me find a job. Ended up getting offered a job at the agency. Left after 8 wks couldn't handle the fake job ads we had to write, the bullshit we would have to tell people looking for work and the backstabbing of "work mates"! Easily worst place I have ever wOrked.

[U4EA]

I sympathise with you. In my experience, job agencies are generally useless and/or (usually "and") total bastards. They seem to think they have a right to lie to people because that is just the way it works. I hate passionately and one of the reasons I decided to do my own thing was because I refused to deal with them anymore.

Hi.
I know how you feel mate.
I went into an agency to see If they could help me find a job. Ended up getting offered a job at the agency. Left after 8 wks couldn't handle the fake job ads we had to write, the bullshit we would have to tell people looking for work and the backstabbing of "work mates"! Easily worst place I have ever wOrked.

I used to work with a guy who did the same thing - he left after 3 months because of the industry practices. They literally took them on courses and taught them how to lie effectively. He ended up taking a serious pay cut just to get out of that line of work.

[DireEmblem]

Just a thought, i know there are bad practices and all, but there must be some good recruiters. I mean put out some 'fake' job ads to get in peoples CV's, have a chat with them, and if you are good enough to give them some outside perspective and point them at looking at sources they wouldnt normally think of, well then you deserve to make a packet in recruitment.

I do however believe that people with the above type of nature are few and far between, and things are taken to the extreme.

I am by no means a fan of agencies, and my very first proper job after uni was through an agency. One who were resourcful at the time to pick up my CV from S1, apply me for a job, then call me back when I had an interview. That was the only time I spoke to them.

[musicbox]

Although it would be refreshing for me to contradict the general feeling expressed so far, unfortunately I can only say that I found the agency experience to be 1) cringeworthy, 2) demoralising, 3) inept, 4) deliberately inept when it came to paying me, and 5) absolutely ****. To be fair, things improved when applying using the name Morgan Hunt-Hays-Reed.