Having just completed week 3 of my hunt for work, I have seen more recruitment agents than you can shake a stick at. Looking for potential roles in marketing role (where I have traditionally worked) and ones in charity fundraising (a potential career I would like to move into) - I have 2 CV's. This means that I have to post applications to 2 sets of recruitment agents.
Not being wet behind the ears, I fully appreciate that agents ultimately need strong candidates to field to their employers and they earn lots of dosh for placing you in the process.
What I have learnt about recruiters?
Just because they call you in all excited to "come in for a chat", it doesn't actually mean that they have a potential role for you.
A few have actually interviewed me and then said "we have no roles for you. However, can you name your old employers competitors and then I can approach them on your behalf?". This line has happened quite a few times and worries me immensely as follows:
- As a specialist recruiter in professional services I would expect you to know my previous firms competitors - esp as they were a large well established firm.
- If you don't know that part of the market, you obviously would not have firmly established contacts in that firm. Where exactly would you be adding value to my job search? I am happy for them to approach competitors where they do have established relationships though as it may be beneficial. But I do object to them wanting to use my CV as a way to get their foot into new potential hirers. This smacks of them being desperate for new jobs and using any means they deem necessary to find new contacts in a fiercely competitive market place.
- As a seasoned marketer I would hope that I had the skills and capabilities to approach the immediate competitor firms directly, if it's something that I want to explore.
The market is so flat that even the good recruitment agents are struggling to meet quotas and to achieve their bonuses. So even the good ones are now resorting to cold calls, submitting random CVs and broadening their contacts from their areas of specialty to wider fields in the hope of chasing commission.
ReplyDeleteWhilst the agents are useful for getting your CV in front of sets of eyes, in most cases it doesn't help you to be submitted as part of a cold call from an unknown agent. I certainly get (literally) hundreds of CVs sent to me from agents each week and have mail rules that filter most of them. The ones I actually read then tend to be from agents who I know actually listen to my requirements and send appropriate CVs. And that, as you said, tends to be the agents who know who our competitors are, and take the time to understand how they can help our selection process.
If they don't add any value, then the don't deserve the commission. Or your CV.