Cross with Recruitment Agency, and now cross with myself. Is it just me?

[clumsymum]

I saw a part-time temp job advertised for Sept, and as our coffers could do with topping up, I applied.

Agency rang me last Wednesday, as I was driving up to Northumberland. I explained (hands free) that wasn't a good time to talk, That I was busy on summer hol activities the following day, agent agreed to ring me 7:00 that evening.
She rang me mid the following morning, so ds had to kick around trying to keep out of trouble for about 20 mins in the middle of Beamish museum while I dealt with it.
Agent wanted to see me URGENTLY so I agreed to go in to see her at 11:00 this morning. She was going to email the agency's registration forms to me.

I got home over the weekend. Agent had emailed, but forgot to attach the forms. I replied telling her so. She emailed them to me at 9:45 this morning.
I rang her to say I would fill them in (5 pages, repeating just about everything that is in the CV she already has), but as that would delay me, could we arrange a later time? She said she had no one after me, she would be happy to see me at 11:30.

I got together an activity pack for ds, filled in the forms, walked into her office at EXACTLY 11:30.
I settled ds into the reception area with his books, and was conducted into a tiny airless and very dusty interview room, where I waited........... and waited.
The agent finally came in at about 3 minutes to 12, by which time I was seething, partly because I now felt they were totally unprofessional, and I suppose partly cos I was a little concerned that I would be leaving ds for longer than I anticipated.
The young agent didn't seem to understand anything about my past experience (accounts with a strong I.T. bias), asked what seemed to be really dim questions, and I think I must have seemed over assertive, even a bit aggressive by the end. I explained that I also work on the accounts for our own company, and she asked me what my drawings were from that. I pointed out that was personal information I wasn't prepared to disclose. She seemed to think that was unreasonable of me.


Anyway, the interview lasted about 40 mins, fortunately ds was an angel (mind you, I knew he could be). But now I'm cross with myself cos I let it get to me, and I guess she'll be unlikely to put me forward, so I've stressed myself out and wasted an hour of my time for nothing.


Anyone got any comforting words while I put the kettle on?

[flowerybeanbag]

Sorry to hear that. Recruitment agencies are a necessary evil I'm afraid, but a lot of them are a bit rubbish. You do have to try and not let it get to you, and fortunately it doesn't always follow that a rubbish agency means a rubbish job.
Fingers crossed!

[clumsymum]

Thing is this was such a shock, as when I registered with Hays back in March, they were soooo good, impressed by my CV, got me a good temp job within 2 weeks, etc.

They know I'm available from next week, perhaps they'll come up with something else.

[flowerybeanbag]

hopefully. A lot of it is down to the individual you see rather than necessarily the agency itself as well, so perhap the woman you were dealing with was crap but the agency in general are ok. Works the other way round obviously as well. I registered with Hays waaaay back and spent over an hour discussing my cv and what kind of position I was looking for, what kind of organisations were definitely not what I wanted etc, came away really impressed by thoroughness, and then received a phone call telling me all about a completely unsuitable job.
Hopefully they'll have other things as well - keep showing you're keen and they'll consider you for stuff.