do agencies know what they are doing?
- Thread starter crashuk
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lol i get the same but for up north, then i get have you ever done logging and phone support forwarding it to the engineers, i keep say no because iam the guy the help desk call to resolve it.Robdav said:Some agencies suck, others like Deerfoot don't. Talk to Nick at deerfoot.co.uk if your looking for it work in the south oh and say I sent you
I've had calls before where they bang on about how suitible i am for this or that job only to go to the interview and the guy is there recruiting for something completly different.
Also the other classic is.. where do you want to work.. I want to work in XYZ and I don't want to work in London. So about this job in london ..
lol guys. Dont get hung up about this cut and paste business. I highly doubt he didnt get the job based on his punctuation.
At the end of the day either it was a made up job or for that 1 vacancy there mightve been about 10-50 possible candidates. At this point, getting the job wouldve been similar to winning the lottery (albeit with better odds).
At the end of the day either it was a made up job or for that 1 vacancy there mightve been about 10-50 possible candidates. At this point, getting the job wouldve been similar to winning the lottery (albeit with better odds).
crashuk said:
lol, 1 rejection and your wondering why ? the I.T. sectors over staffed, there are 20 thousand technicians and front line I.T. staff who cant find work as a lot of its being moved to dusty little countrys. ive got 147 rejections here you can take a look at if you like, 67 from agencies, 45 from the council and NHS and 35 from online applications. also you have to remember that most possitions are filled internally anyway. good luck out there,
Soldato
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I've found standard recruitment agencies to be little more than morons however some IT recruitment companies have enough knowledge to correctly vet the candidates and have proved useful in the past.
Soldato
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locutus12 said:
Just wondering, what sort of qualifications do you have? I'm coming to the end of the second year of my degree and starting to look at what sort of jobs are around. I'm slightly concerned I'm going to have difficulty finding something that isn't telephone support.
Most agencies are full of monkeys, end of 
I get calls daily from agencies:
1) asking if I want a fulltime position on rubbish money...NO.
2) do I know anybody who is looking for a full time position on rubbish money...NO, do your own job.
3) offering 6 month contract jobs 200 miles from where I live...that'd be a bit of a commute wouldn't it.
4) offering local contract jobs on barely more than minimum wage...NO, just NO!
5) obviously just trying to find out about other companies i've worked for, clearly just looking for new sources of income for them...I've turned not mentioning any company i've ever heard of into an art form.
I have on occasion taken short term agency contracts, they're a good way of building up your contacts, especially if you get into a place which works with a lot of freelancers. As long as you're good at what you do then there's plenty of work around without bothering with agencies
Seeing the struggle people have from the other side of agencies trying to get people in is just as funny.
"Hi, im looking for a PHP/MySql developer for a few days next week, would you beable to help?" "Yes, I specialise in ESP developers and what was it? YourSql?" "No, MySql" "Yes, YourSql" *sigh*
I maintain we should have let him have a go at finding some developers with ESP skills to come in
Mick.
I get calls daily from agencies:
1) asking if I want a fulltime position on rubbish money...NO.
2) do I know anybody who is looking for a full time position on rubbish money...NO, do your own job.
3) offering 6 month contract jobs 200 miles from where I live...that'd be a bit of a commute wouldn't it.
4) offering local contract jobs on barely more than minimum wage...NO, just NO!
5) obviously just trying to find out about other companies i've worked for, clearly just looking for new sources of income for them...I've turned not mentioning any company i've ever heard of into an art form.
I have on occasion taken short term agency contracts, they're a good way of building up your contacts, especially if you get into a place which works with a lot of freelancers. As long as you're good at what you do then there's plenty of work around without bothering with agencies
Seeing the struggle people have from the other side of agencies trying to get people in is just as funny.
"Hi, im looking for a PHP/MySql developer for a few days next week, would you beable to help?" "Yes, I specialise in ESP developers and what was it? YourSql?" "No, MySql" "Yes, YourSql" *sigh*
I maintain we should have let him have a go at finding some developers with ESP skills to come in
Mick.
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Job agencies are a re-spawn of estate agents, avoid at all costs.
Why?
1) Lies, lies and damning lies.
2) Waste your time
3) Try to offer jobs slightly over the minimum wage or 250 miles away for peanuts
4) They like to cheat your allowences for petrol and wages
5) Generally treat you like rubbish.
Why?
1) Lies, lies and damning lies.
2) Waste your time
3) Try to offer jobs slightly over the minimum wage or 250 miles away for peanuts
4) They like to cheat your allowences for petrol and wages
5) Generally treat you like rubbish.
crashuk said:
Look at what they asked for, and look at what you gave them.
You don't mention explicitly :
- microsoft
- Windows 2000
- Windows XP
- Office
- Ghost
- Outlook
What you did do was give a very general description that basically said 'I can set up a PC'. For all they knew you could set up an OS/2 PC in 5 seconds flat but have never touched windows in your life.
However you have to play their game. Chances are the person who filters applicants for this job has no idea what any of those things are, they just know they're required.
So whilst someone knowledgeable could read between the lines of your statements and surmise you probably suit the job, the person who is actually vetting doesn't get a match on any of the keywords they need or want.
Even worse it might be machine processed. Essentially scans all CV's for those keywords and spits out the ones that contain x% of them.
Basically, they asked for x, y and z. You didn't tell them you could do any of them and they will guaranteed have had other applicants who specifically listed x,y and z as skills.
In short you're not selling your skills. Its fine to mention, as you've done, what you're capable of doing but you need to explain what you're capable of doing these things with / in.
My own CV has a segment expressly where I just list 'keywords' that I have experience with - I call it 'skills summary'. It lists operating systems, programming languages and key applications (server and client) that I'm comfortable with.
In my previous employment section I give them what you have done as well, a breif explanation of what the job entitled. And they can either cross reference this with the skills summary or their automated drone (human or computer) will accept my CV from keyword hits on the skills summary.
It sucks, but to be honest when you reach a certain level in any profession you can't expect the person on the other end of a job application to fully understand what you can do unless you spell it out for them.
Kev
This is what most agencies do these days, they have hundreds/thousands of CV's and just scan them all for the keywords required for the job - This is why they insist on word/rtf documents. This is why they also phone you up saying they've read your CV without knowing a thing about whats written in it.eztiger said:
I have a list of key skills at the top of my CV too, its a good format as it gives them an easy way to see what you can do. Directly under this I have a list of key projects i've worked on with the skills used.
There's also a trick of using the document properties keywords/comments fields if you're finding it hard to get calls. I don't have this but I know people who've used it with good results.
In Word, go File->Properties->Summary tab, then put every keyword you can think of thats relevant, variations on them to e.g. "Win2k Windows 2k Windows 2000", this way you have all the keywords in the file so its picked up on any scans they do but it doesn't ruin the CV if they actually come to read it.
Mick.
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"Do agencies know what they're doing?"
In short: no.
They are more interested in getting you on their books than anything else. I get a few agency kiddies turn up for jobs, most of them don't even meet the standards.
The classic is sending a 16 yr old kid whose experience is playing computer games all day to work for me building networks. Oh how I laughed... right up to the point where I picked up the phone and unloaded on the agency.
In short: no.
They are more interested in getting you on their books than anything else. I get a few agency kiddies turn up for jobs, most of them don't even meet the standards.
The classic is sending a 16 yr old kid whose experience is playing computer games all day to work for me building networks. Oh how I laughed... right up to the point where I picked up the phone and unloaded on the agency.
All they see is how much they'll be making out of it. If they can get un-experienced people who they think will manage the job then they can pay them less but charge you the same.Cueball said:
One of the short agency jobs I took, I had a bit of a struggle with the guy to talk him up to an almost reasonable hourly rate. Later, once in the company I found that the agency were making 2/3rds as much as they were paying me! That was on a fixed price contract between the agency and the company. So if they'd have found someone willing to work for their original (laughable) offer they'd have been making twice as much as they'd be paying the contractor.
As it was, for sitting there making a few phonecalls, THEY were making over £600 a week to give me the honour of working for them.
Mick.
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Associate
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- Cardiff/Coventry
got my job through an agency (its a full time one).
No real problems, they were professional about it, got interview 30 minutes after I sent my cv, job offer the next day (knowing my boss now its no surprise really as he doesn't like to **** about).
Some are atrocious though.
As for monster, I find it sucks. Other sites are a _lot_ better for recruitment.
No real problems, they were professional about it, got interview 30 minutes after I sent my cv, job offer the next day (knowing my boss now its no surprise really as he doesn't like to **** about).
Some are atrocious though.
As for monster, I find it sucks. Other sites are a _lot_ better for recruitment.
Best to stick to specialist recruitment consultants who are keen on building a relationship with you, not just making a quick buck in placing you. I uses one or two who offer very good advice with a view to possibly placing me in the future.
If they help me, and offer good advice, I'm likely to come to them in the future when I need a new job.
These sort of people usually aren't availble to lower end - it's only worth the investment if the possible gain is high, I.e., 25% of a large salary.
If they help me, and offer good advice, I'm likely to come to them in the future when I need a new job.
These sort of people usually aren't availble to lower end - it's only worth the investment if the possible gain is high, I.e., 25% of a large salary.
Before my current job (which I've been doing for just over six years) I used two agencies for work.
Between them they got me contract work for various periods of time and every single one of them was spot-on for the kind of work I was looking for and the money I wanted.
One of the agencies did ask me to go for an interview at a place too far away, however I went for the interview and then told them I wasn't prepared to travel that far and that was the last I heard on that particular contract.
The two agencies I dealt with of course didn't charge me anything for "being on their books" and they only deal with IT related jobs.
When I'm looking for work I make sure I read all the right trade papers, check out the job centre and the local newspapers.
All of the work the agencies got me were certainly never advertised anywhere else, so there is so kind of dealing going on.
Between them they got me contract work for various periods of time and every single one of them was spot-on for the kind of work I was looking for and the money I wanted.
One of the agencies did ask me to go for an interview at a place too far away, however I went for the interview and then told them I wasn't prepared to travel that far and that was the last I heard on that particular contract.
The two agencies I dealt with of course didn't charge me anything for "being on their books" and they only deal with IT related jobs.
When I'm looking for work I make sure I read all the right trade papers, check out the job centre and the local newspapers.
All of the work the agencies got me were certainly never advertised anywhere else, so there is so kind of dealing going on.