Recruitment Agencies

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Whats the job their throwing around that they need people so badly for?

 

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Tell me about it!

Today, I got an offer from the company that I went to 2nd interview last week for (yay). I decided it wasn't for me but, literally about 10 minutes after I had declined the offer, someone from a new agency called up about this fantastic role..turned out to be the same one...then it was advertised online slightly differently (different salary also) by another agency, so I applied for it again (luckily realised it was them again before they forwarded my CV)........then there was this other role - based near me - sounds great, but about 10 agencies have called up about exactly the same one. The agency who originally forwarded my CV never got back to me - may be cos the company are sifting through them still, but most likely because they were bombarded with hundreds of "leehaa" CVs. Some agencies forward your CV before you are allowed to know the company name, so if the job description they give you is different...you end up with duplicate applications...which looks bad on your own part because the company may think that you are trying it on Hey, at least we are all getting the attention though - must be our certs!! (will stop editing this now - lol!)

 

Yes yes yes & yes

you much have been to the same agents !

there some good out there but they are mostly new to the job

 

Basically, the company needs someone to document the SDK specs for a new product or new features/versions of a product. The writer in question would need to interview the various information experts including software engineers, internal and external partners, an so on, to gather the relevant pieces of information, then write the reference specifications for all of the required SDKs. The writer would also need to create a project timeline and manage investigation and documentation milestones, so there'd be a little "project management" thrown in, just for giggles.

It's been advertised as a 6 month contract job but also has been presented as 6 months minimum with an option for contract to hire (just to sweeten the pot).

 

Generally recruitment agencies are pretty poor. I have my CV on the likes of Monster, Jobsite, PurelyIT, Workthing etc. I have also used reed which is quite good.
Any contact I get from agencies seeing my CV on these jobsites is from Jobsite. Monster is a waste of time - Not relevant jobs, although their general career advice such as interview techniques is quite good.
I find that an agency will call and say they have the perfect role and will put my CV to a company - I then never hear from them again. When I see a job spec for a role that they have put me forward for, I would never have applied in the first place.
Having said that I did get an interview through an agency recently for a suitable position - so I guess they are not all bad.

 

In my experience they are just a business, they are out to make money from both sides, either through taking a cut of salary and the "finders fee" if someone takes you on full time, realistically they owe us contractors nothing, and yet owe us contractors everything.

Their lack of knowledge of the industry means you will be put forward forward for completely unsuitable roles, why you need an MCSE just to install some machines I dont know, this doesnt help the industry in general either with its expectations of what study and experience is needed against the reality of the role.

And yes I believe they dont keep any sort of records, for example I have in the past applied through the same agency for work, (usually reed website) and wonder why they didnt think of me in the first place after getting the job, also some places will demand some sort of aptitude/knowledge test, which turns out to be how fast you can type, clearly IT means different things to people.

 

Lol I had 4 phone calls from the same agency one day about the same job, 1 from the woman who'd set up the interview id just left (asking me how it went etc), 3 more from the same agency (2 different people) offering me same role.

 

One thing with agencies - I learnt very quickly that you cant rely on these people AT ALL. Some are good and most are bad. For most, the whole thing about submitting your cv is about plumping up there databases as they are client focussed and not jobseeker focussed.

Furthermore, even if they propose a position for you, no matter how certain they make it sound that you will have the job, keep looking, keep applying - for some reason I felt the need to wait for a 'yes or no' answer from the positions they proposed, however I discovered rarely do these answer ever come.

I can understand there use but I really wish companies would just advertise themselves. My experience has been just try everything - keep working on the cv, make applications, make more applications, read websites, newspapers and agencies. It's almost a full time job in itself lol.

good luck

 

Fortunately I don't have to use recruiters because, as somebody else already said, they are the spawn of the devil. If I wanted to find a new job I would simply use what I have available at work. I can search the entire database of online jobs for any circumference from 1 to 100 miles from any given zip code in the US and get the results in a matter of seconds. Included in that search would be labor market information for wages, nationwide, in that state, and in that specific area.

 

Whos database is this and who has access, any chance of a link ? Surely live jobs are generally only in recruiter databases ?

 

Sorry, no chance of a link. It's a service we provide to vocational rehabilitation counselors to help them find jobs for people with disabilities, and to attorneys who are helping people that got screwed by the system get the correct settlements for their disabilities resulting from on-the-job injuries.

Our core business is focused on vocational rehab and the only way you get access to the database is to purchase the product, which is several hundred dollars. I'm not even sure we can sell the product to just anyone as we subscribe to several sources to keep our database up-to-date and I know we have restrictions put on us in how we can resell the data.

 

This just goes to show that IT recruitment agencies in the US are the same as those in the UK as I experienced the exact same thing a while ago here in the UK. Huh!

 

They are a pain to deal with sometimes and can be unprofessional, but are sometimes necessary. You have to watch out for duplicate CV's being sent out - a good consultant will ask which roles you've applied for as to not jeopardise any applications.

Some people don't have a clue though. I had what sounded like an office junior ring me up asking me if I was interested in a role, and she clearly didn't have a clue about IT or the type of roles I was looking for.

I have picked up a couple of decent contacts however, and indeed I shall be giving one of them a call tomorrow to let him know of my current position. If you find a decent one, give them a call now and again so that your name is fresh in their mind as and when suitable positions come through.

 

I swear a some of these recruiters use automated tools for scanning-for, and contacting people. I've received 4 emails in 5 days from someone with a name that appears to be from Pakistan, India, Malaysia, etc... and is recruiting for companies in the Seattle area. Each email has a subject line that has grown increasingly more emphatic each time about how "urgently" I need to respond to his email.

You would think that he would have gotten the idea that I wasn't interested when I didn't respond to the first two emails of his. He hasn't, he's just ramped up the hype with each and every email, so I'm beginning to think it's just automated tools out trolling the sites such as Monster, Careerbuilder, etc....

Recruiters.....

 

I spent two years working for a mid to high level staffing agency. Highly specialized professionals and executives were what they traded in. My experiences there were such that I'm never going near any sort of staffing agency. EVER. My sympathies to anyone who has to use one.