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Issue 35 - Why do people moan about recruitment consultants?

Q.   Why do people moan about recruitment consultants?

Why do some people persist in moaning about recruitment consultants when we are doing everything we can to match the right candidates with the right jobs? 

P.I., Hertfordshire 

People like to moan about recruitment consultants because they think they owe them something. But as you know, recruiters work for employers, not candidates. 

On behalf of P.I., I’d like to clear up a few misconceptions about recruiters: 

When recruiters don’t respond to your CV or return your phone calls, it’s because they are extremely busy people. Their job is ultimately to place the right person in the right role. 

If you call repeatedly and they still don’t return your calls, it probably means they don’t think they can place you in a role. Don’t take it personally; a recruiter needs you to be able to tick the right boxes for them. If you can fulfil their criteria, they will be keen to talk to you. If you can’t fulfil their criteria, they won’t get in touch – so try another recruiter. 

Having said that, you must always be as responsive to recruiters as you can, even if they don’t have time to respond to you. It’s not a two-way street; you mustn’t expect reciprocal communication but you still need to answer your phone, return their calls, and always make yourself available. If you don’t, they’ll find someone else who’s keener on the role. When you’re hot, recruiters will want to talk to you all the time, but when you’re cold, you’re freezing. 

Recruiters genuinely don’t have time to advise you on your next career move or take your endless calls. It’s a sales game, and you’re their commodity. If they don’t think they can ‘sell’ you to their client (the employer), they’re not going to help you. It’s not part of their job description. 

So why aren’t they calling you? Perhaps your CV isn’t up to scratch. It’s a competitive market out there, so look again at your skill set and how well you communicate this on your CV. Do yourself justice by selling yourself on your CV. 

Are you approaching the right recruiters? It might be worth looking at sector-specific recruiters rather than generalist high street agencies. All reputable recruiters will be accredited by professional bodies like the Recruitment and Employment Confederation. 

Remember: the busier a recruitment consultant is, the more likely they are to be good at their job. 


Yours,

TCI

Send your career questions to The Career Insider. If your question is selected for publication, all personally-identifiable information will be removed from the published synopsis.

People moan about recruitment agents because they say they'll call back and they never do. I'm sure they are bust buy what I've just read is the biggest load of trip I've read in a long time. Hopeless excuse. A quick email or call wouldnt hurt once in a while.

Posted by: Sally | 24/06/2010 at 05:13 PM

In response to TCI, I think they have no idea what they are talking about.

I'll tell you why people moan about recruiters.
1. They call you in for make believe jobs, when you get there the role was only filled this morning.
2. They alter your CV without telling you and when you attend interviews you find you look like a complete prat.
3. They make up the hourly rate, then when you get paid, they say things like, I meant this is the O/T rate, or the client changed their mind about how much they were paying.
4. They tell you the role is pure managment accounts and when you get there, it's purchase ledger.

In my current role we have to use recruitment consultants much to my distaste.

5. They tell you they have a great candidate with years of experience and send you someone who wouldn't know a debit from a credit if their life depended on it.
6. They tell you the candidate has great excel skills, great compared to what, a hump back whale.
7. When you ask them to come in to see you as there are a few issues you need to discuss, they send the office junior who by the way only started yesterday.
8. They add extra hours onto the time sheet and think you wont notice.
9. They play the candidate off against me the manager of the dept saying there is no chance of a permanent role after all, the candidate leaves and you are back to square one, only you also advertise the role via the job centre and the candidate applies. They think they can slot another temp in.
10. You ask for temp references and they claim to have spoken to previous employers only you find out they don't even know which employers they have spoken to.

My present company, a large global firm love recruitment consultants, I don't, so I make them wait a considerable time in the waiting room, I take calls during the meeting and I expect them to work their cotton socks of for me or I use someone else.

I have even found candidates I like this way and because I don't like the agency, told them to register with another one and called that agency and asked them for the same person.

Posted by: Bob the builder | 24/06/2010 at 06:12 PM

As an in-house recruitment manager who has worked in the agency world before common sense kicked in, I can tell you using two words why no-one, not even me, will put up with agency recruiters. 
Unprofessionalism - rife in the industry 
Greed - thats all that matters to 95% of the agency industry.

Agency recruiters are glorified telesales people and should be treated as such.
They are only interested in the £££ that you generate for them in commission and nothing else matters. The agency market needs a regulating body that isn't paid for by the industry it serves.

Posted by: Company Recruiter with Ethics | 24/06/2010 at 07:37 PM

Well my experience is from the jobseekers side. I've been on many specialist recruitment agents book for a long time. Some have come up with really great jobs that turn out to be nothing. I've had more success looking on my own!

Posted by: Cath | 24/06/2010 at 08:42 PM

I agree fully, dont trust any of them no matter how good they sound ... they have no principals and ,,,, Only last week I did an interview ... the client indicated they really liked me ....I told the agent I would actually prefer a Permi role(which the client preferred over a contract) the agency guy did his best to push for the contract role which I didn't go for ... next thing he say the client is not coming back to him ..and he does not appear bothered ... etc

Posted by: Tom Thumb | 14/10/2010 at 02:40 AM

"If you call repeatedly and they still don’t return your calls, it probably means they don’t think they can place you in a role."

I sometimes call specifically to make sure that my CV doesn't get put into the same role by two different consultants. If a consultant doesn't respond I have to presume they haven't forwarded my CV for that role. A response to state if a CV has been put forwards or not is a simple courtesy. They're be the first ones to complain if they miss out on their commission.

Posted by: John "No Prisoners" Gandulf | 14/10/2010 at 03:04 PM