I have worked in the recruitment industry for over 10 years, and in that time I have worked for a number of companies. Most of the companies I have worked for have worked in a similar way, and as I have got more involved in social media I felt it was about time to write something about them, and maybe offer some advice to candidates over the pitfalls of using recruitment agencies. Unfortunately candidates usually only find out about this when its too late and by then the damage has been done.
Now, firstly lets get the information out of the way that most of you will know. Recruitment Consultants are sales people, they earn commission by making sales. Now comes the bit that you might not have been aware of, and that is that most agencies are very KPI (Key Performance Indicator) driven organisations. This means that the Consultant you're speaking to will be managed on different areas, and that's not just making placements. Now different agencies will have different KPI's but they usually revolve around: Number of candidates they have spoken to; number of clients again they've spoken to; number of CV's they've sent out; number of vacancies they have picked up; number of interviews they've set up, and then number of placements they've made.
Now when you have managers within recruitment agencies pressing their staff to hit these KPI's its going to lead to problems with the candidates and clients that they're working with, and over the last week or so this has been highlighted to me. This is why I decided to write this blog post. I felt that I wanted to make people aware of the pitfalls of working with many of the Recruitment Agencies operating today.
Most candidates when they decide to look for a new job, will post their CV onto some job boards, and may also send their CV's to a number of agencies. This I feel is where the first problem arises. Agencies scan the job boards and will contact the candidate. So where you went from having your CV with a couple of agencies, all of a sudden its with 5 or more and they all want to get your CV out to their clients ASAP. Usually with clients its a first come first serve basis, so whoever gets it there first wins, and also the agencies have a target for number of CV's to send out. So then you're in the situation where your CV is with a client and you've not even given permission for the agency to send it. Now the client is getting annoyed as they've received it 5 times and no longer see you as a viable option, your CV becomes blacklisted with that client.
If the above happens with multiple clients, you can see how it all of a sudden becomes increasingly difficult for you to get a new job, and the options open to you become extremely limited.
I'm not saying all recruitment agencies work this way, at Digital Minds we don't operate this way and the reason we set up the business was to show that recruitment can be done differently. We are certainly not the only ones either, there are plenty of good recruitment companies fighting against these draconian methods, however the majority of recruitment companies are set in their ways and focussed purely on quick profits and short term relationships.
So in conclusion there are some great forward thinking recruitment agencies out there and I'm sure you'll be impressed when you find them as they'll get you a new job, and one that'll you'll be happy with. But remember to put the time in at the beginning, you need to invest time in deciding which recruiters you want to represent you and which ones will provide you with the best service. Moving jobs is one of the biggest decisions you will ever make – ensure the people who are helping you are suitable and have your best interests at heart.
So in future be careful before sending your CV out, it may not be helping your career.
Feel free to contact me at any time and I would be happy to offer you some advice.
Now, firstly lets get the information out of the way that most of you will know. Recruitment Consultants are sales people, they earn commission by making sales. Now comes the bit that you might not have been aware of, and that is that most agencies are very KPI (Key Performance Indicator) driven organisations. This means that the Consultant you're speaking to will be managed on different areas, and that's not just making placements. Now different agencies will have different KPI's but they usually revolve around: Number of candidates they have spoken to; number of clients again they've spoken to; number of CV's they've sent out; number of vacancies they have picked up; number of interviews they've set up, and then number of placements they've made.
Now when you have managers within recruitment agencies pressing their staff to hit these KPI's its going to lead to problems with the candidates and clients that they're working with, and over the last week or so this has been highlighted to me. This is why I decided to write this blog post. I felt that I wanted to make people aware of the pitfalls of working with many of the Recruitment Agencies operating today.
Most candidates when they decide to look for a new job, will post their CV onto some job boards, and may also send their CV's to a number of agencies. This I feel is where the first problem arises. Agencies scan the job boards and will contact the candidate. So where you went from having your CV with a couple of agencies, all of a sudden its with 5 or more and they all want to get your CV out to their clients ASAP. Usually with clients its a first come first serve basis, so whoever gets it there first wins, and also the agencies have a target for number of CV's to send out. So then you're in the situation where your CV is with a client and you've not even given permission for the agency to send it. Now the client is getting annoyed as they've received it 5 times and no longer see you as a viable option, your CV becomes blacklisted with that client.
If the above happens with multiple clients, you can see how it all of a sudden becomes increasingly difficult for you to get a new job, and the options open to you become extremely limited.
I'm not saying all recruitment agencies work this way, at Digital Minds we don't operate this way and the reason we set up the business was to show that recruitment can be done differently. We are certainly not the only ones either, there are plenty of good recruitment companies fighting against these draconian methods, however the majority of recruitment companies are set in their ways and focussed purely on quick profits and short term relationships.
So in conclusion there are some great forward thinking recruitment agencies out there and I'm sure you'll be impressed when you find them as they'll get you a new job, and one that'll you'll be happy with. But remember to put the time in at the beginning, you need to invest time in deciding which recruiters you want to represent you and which ones will provide you with the best service. Moving jobs is one of the biggest decisions you will ever make – ensure the people who are helping you are suitable and have your best interests at heart.
So in future be careful before sending your CV out, it may not be helping your career.
Feel free to contact me at any time and I would be happy to offer you some advice.
If you're looking for PPC jobs, SEO Jobs, SEM Jobs, Search Jobs, Social Media Jobs, Display Jobs, Digital Planning & Buying Jobs, Mobile Jobs, Web Development Jobs or Senior Digital Jobs, just give me a shout. Or if you have any questions drop me a line on: dale@digital-minds.co.uk
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