Recruitment agencies - how do they really operate? First time 'using' them

[cakeorwine]

So all the jobs I have had have been through straight forward applications through companies. See an advert. Apply and see what happens.

I have recently started using some recruitment agencies. The kind you see on Reed, Indeed. They have a role advertised - you send your CV and then the next day, the recruitment agent gives you a ring, tells you about the role and it seems that they are the sole recruiters for the company.

Except I have seen the same role 'advertised' by 3 recruitment agencies. I applied via a Reed link and my CV got sent in. Spoke at length to a recruitment agent and he sent me more details about the role. I read it and thought it looked a bit familiar as I had seen it elsewhere.

So how do they work? Do they act as 'sole' agents for a company or is it more cowboyish than that? Do the roles even exist?

Any experiences would be welcome.

An agency could have exclusive rights to a role or the hiring company could advertise with more than one agency. It's entirely dependent on the hiring company and what they want.

As above it depends on their contract with the company. Both partner and I got our current jobs through recruiters. They were fantastic for interview advice and chasing feedback etc.

Ds1 got his first job via a graduate agency. He told them what qualifications and skills he had and they matched him up with suitable jobs and arranged the interviews. They were very good and obtained feedback from employers etc. He had a job within two weeks. He's still there and is doing very well.

He was a bit dubious about using an agency because he wasn't sure how it all worked, but he ended up recommending them to all his university friends.