Changing jobs in IT - dealing with recruitment agencies

caff

caff

caff

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I'm looking to change my job, I work as a software / website developer. I've got around 6 years experience.

Looking around for a new job seems to be a joke - no matter where I look, the jobs listings are crammed with agencies. Most of them seem to have the same attitude (i.e. shove you into any interview they can get you into), and all are very cloak and dagger about their clients. I suspect most of them don't have an exclusive deal with the employer. Most don't have a clue what different skills mean, and are simply trying to match keywords in your conversations with them to the job spec on their PC screen.

I feel sorry for graduates trying to get a foot on the ladder, but having to deal with these agencies seems worse than what I went through trying to get an IT job in the first place!

Has anyone else noticed this or been through it?
 
I've had the opposite experience.

About 18 months ago i was fed up of working for the company i was at, and started to sniff around for new jobs. I spruced up my CV, put it on a few websites (CWJobs, monster etc), and i had some interest, but i got the same impression that you had.

Then a guy phoned me up from a small agency (i think its just 2 guys...), asking me to go in for a chat - he even arranged it for a Saturday so i wouldnt need time off work. We had a chat, very informal, about why i was ****** off in my current role, and what i was looking for. He said that he nothing available, but he'd keep an eye out.

After that he called me about once a week, but with nothing. Then, afterabout 3 months he came up with an oppurtunity. He spent about 4 hours coaching me in what this company wanted, the skills and attitude they were looking for, as well as general interview techniques (i'd been out of the game for abnout 6 years). Anyways i got the job....and am happier than i've been in a long time.

So, in short, I'd look for an agency that wants to help you. Its common sense that if YOU are happy then your more likely to get a job, and they're more likely to get their commission, but a lot of agencys seem to miss this obvious fact....
 
I find a lot of agencies totally useless - I've seen it as someone looking for a job, and as someone looking to recruit.

When I was job searching I told the agencies what sort of job I was after, in what location, what salary and so on. Probably 90% of the jobs they forwarded to me were in no way similar to what I'd asked for.

Now that I'm looking to recruit, I get CVs from people with no experience, who are based in Scotland and not willing to relocate (it'll be a sod of a commute to Milton Keynes each day from Glasgow).
 
i've found that the smaller the agency then the better they seem to be, i reg'd with a few of the big names and got nothing back after 3 months so went to see 2 smaller agencies ( only about 4 people ) and they got me 3 interviews within 2 weeks.

the bigger agencies only seem to be bothered if they can place you in a highly paid job therefore making more commision for themselves.
 
Around here, I've found:

Adecco are crap

Reed are crap

One2One are crap

But Kelly Services are good.

I think all but One2One are national chains, but they're gonna vary loads from branch to branch of course...
 
I have had my CV (in some form or other) online for donkeys' years (cwjobs / totaljobs - they're all much the same), so almost any agency that sniffs around my field of work has my contact details (mobile & email only).

I'm usually contacted 2 / 3 times a week, whether I like it or not, but as a contractor / consultant, it gives me a good idea of the market, and means that I am rarely without work.

I have no recommendations for particular agencies, but I always find it beneficial to build up relationaships with two or three, rather than many relationships with many agencies. I tend to find the work / roles being punted are the same anyway, no matter who you are with.
 
I have noticed this as well. a lot of agencies make up jobs in order to get people on their books. If they have more people on their books they look more attractive to companies. I've lost count of the number of jobs that I've applied for where the jobs didn't actually exist. Also, a lot of agencies will change your C.V.s without telling you in order to make you look more attractive to a client. They are (generally) a bunch of schisters.

Sometimes its good to go straight to a company and ask them what agency they use and then apply through them. Most big companies have an agency as a 'preferred supplier,' and will only recruit through them.
The company will take this as a big positive, if you've taken the trouble to find out the agency from the company first, rather than just casting about for a job in any company.
 
burbleflop said:
I find a lot of agencies totally useless - I've seen it as someone looking for a job, and as someone looking to recruit.

When I was job searching I told the agencies what sort of job I was after, in what location, what salary and so on. Probably 90% of the jobs they forwarded to me were in no way similar to what I'd asked for.

Now that I'm looking to recruit, I get CVs from people with no experience, who are based in Scotland and not willing to relocate (it'll be a sod of a commute to Milton Keynes each day from Glasgow).
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sorry to steal you thread but what are you recruting for as i may be looking for a new job and live in northampton.
 
DuFFeH said:
sorry to steal you thread but what are you recruting for as i may be looking for a new job and live in northampton.
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I'm looking for a sort of general IT guy to look after the workstations and servers in the European offices (11 offices in total).

I'm going to be in Paris on Friday interviewing someone there who does sound very promising, so they may not be a job to offer. Ideally I wanted someone on MK but having had no luck with finding the right person we had to think about changing our plans.

Should things on Friday not work out, I'll drop you an email and we'll talk.
 
I've been to quite a few interviews, but it always seems like the agencies have tried to rush it, or have embellished the truth. I don't really specialise in one area, because I've only worked in small-medium employers, but I think they promote me to the employer as being an expert in one particular field, which I'm not.

I'm looking to move again to a small-medium company.

Strange though, I got my present job through a small agency - I had a similar experience to Visage, ie. went to meet the agency face to face first, spent about 2 hours going through the role, he properly noted down everything, made a few recommendations about the interview, all very organised. Got the job no problems. I guess I must have got lucky that time.

Incidentally I tried Spring IT, who were pretty good about getting me in to meet face to face, but I failed a technical test (for a BBC role) - yet they didn't lose interest right away like most companies / employers do, they actually went through a few other roles with me there and then.

Anyone got experience of Spring? I might go back to them and see what the market is like now
 
I find most useless, I prefer to go direct. If you know a lot about the industry or area you're looking for jobs you can often spot which company it is by looking at the job spec. I can spot around 1 in 5 by looking at the job spec according to the language they use, they money they pay, etc.

Also - a tip. Never put your refernces down on your CV when going through agencies, especially those that deal with contractors.
 
Adeco = Useless

I was wanting to change roles a year or so back, placed my CV all over the place and they found it, put me forward for a job, when I got to the interview, the interviewer was pleased i turned up becouse he thought i was overqualified and wanted to know why i would go for a job that was so far below my experience.

Addeco couldn't understand that Systems and Network Administrator, with 3+ years of Office Administration meant that I wasn't a secretary and photo copying / typing was not what i was after.
 
Best way Ive found is to bung your details on Monster where a lot of the smaller Agents who know what thier looking for sniff around so no messing about on the phone as unlike others they read your CV ;)

I usually get anything up to 10 calls a week.
 
caff said:
Anyone got experience of Spring? I might go back to them and see what the market is like now
Click to expand...

Signed up with them too. Nice folks, very informative and helpful.
 
caff said:
I've been to quite a few interviews, but it always seems like the agencies have tried to rush it, or have embellished the truth. I don't really specialise in one area, because I've only worked in small-medium employers, but I think they promote me to the employer as being an expert in one particular field, which I'm not.

I'm looking to move again to a small-medium company.

Strange though, I got my present job through a small agency - I had a similar experience to Visage, ie. went to meet the agency face to face first, spent about 2 hours going through the role, he properly noted down everything, made a few recommendations about the interview, all very organised. Got the job no problems. I guess I must have got lucky that time.

Incidentally I tried Spring IT, who were pretty good about getting me in to meet face to face, but I failed a technical test (for a BBC role) - yet they didn't lose interest right away like most companies / employers do, they actually went through a few other roles with me there and then.

Anyone got experience of Spring? I might go back to them and see what the market is like now
Click to expand...

im just about to pop onto the spring website as it happens :D i got my first contract role with spring, after a few months of making them a packet they took me out for lunch, cue typically people savvy recruitment lass who was my recruitment consultant throughout my stay in that contract turns up (she was pretty fit too iirc).

I dont know if what happened next was a good move but i saw a fit recruitment bird taking me out to the pub at lunch as an excuse for a lunchtime session on her budget, I got plastered and i get the impression she thought i was a lecterous drunkard, but hey ho, about 3 hours later i stumbled back into my office (i was a oneman team on that site and i had the workflow sorted) and fell asleep for a couple of hours before i got the bus home.

anyway, recruitment companys are great, but they're paid to put people in the right positions, but you've got to be smart and guage the type of consultant your up against, some will guenuinly see that your ideal for the role they've got and push you + another couple forward but some will fob off and just fit pegs in starshaped holes.

Ribbo
 
As if to prove my point that agencies are mostly crap, I just had a call from one trying to get me to apply for a Junior Firewall Engineer job in Kent, paying £20K. I pointed out that I'm currently an IT Director earning a little bit more than £20K and I clearly stated that I wasn't going to relocate.
 
I just had a call from one trying to get me to apply for a Junior Firewall Engineer job in Kent, paying £20K. I pointed out that I'm currently an IT Director earning a little bit more than £20K and I clearly stated that I wasn't going to relocate
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Haha

Actually it's not really a laughing matter, this happens all the time...

I think I'll give Spring another shot, they seemed pretty on the ball last time.

I've spoken to some absolutely atrocious agency staff from companies I've never heard of - "Oh yeah mate, yeah yeah this role is pretty ideal for you. What do you mean you don't want a 2 hour commute every day? You're a young guy! This company's looking for X Y and Z have you got all of them? (cue tapping of keyboard to filll in a checklist). Right great they want your CV and an interview. What do you mean you can't get time off work?" etc. As someone above said, bunch of shysters. Only in it for the commission, and not interested in trying to fill the role with someone suitable.
 
I have had Spring put me forward for some work, and I thought they were quite good, even though I didn't get the job.

I do agree with many people's feelings about agents though. Being an Aussie with the UK passport, I get phonecalls and emails from agents trying to get me to go for Contract jobs, even though my CV on gojobsite, monster and jobsearch says Perm only.

I got my current job (2 weeks here) through a small firm, and he was not bad as far as they go.

I still get phone calls for 1st level jobs even though I'm currently doing 3rd line support. WTF do I want to do a 1st line job for £20k or less??

Pax
 
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