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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Recruiters making you go in

99 replies

TheMythicalChicken · 10/04/2018 06:22

So I’m job hunting at the moment. I have applied for a few things and got calls back from recruitment consultants. They all seemed keen and said that I had a good CV and should go in and meet them and register.

So I get dressed up and shlep into town, paying money for travel and wasting a day, to find that the job I applied for isn’t available or they’re looking for different experience, etc.

So why do they get you to go in? It really pisses me off. I just got another call from a recruiter asking me to come in and register. She said they didn’t have anything at the moment but roles come up all the time. My response: “Why the fuck would I waste time and money coming in to see you if you don’t have jobs?”

AIBU?

OP posts:
Cat12321 · 10/04/2018 09:35

@Pengggwn how so?

Pengggwn · 10/04/2018 09:42

Cat12321

Sorry, I apologise - I didn't read the second half of your post where you recognise that recruiters have to meet candidates if that is what the client wants. But, in that case, it is imperative for them to do it. It isn't the law, but it is something that they have to do if they are going to make a placement.

I had no targets, by the way, not in the sense of 'meet this number of people and send X CVs' - that's counterproductive when your clients want quality, not quantity.

Cat12321 · 10/04/2018 09:47

@Pengggwnn No worries Smile

Did you not have those targets? I completely agree that it's counterproductive to have so many KPIs rather than being targeted on quality of outcome. It just turns into recruiters meeting candidates/sending CVs just for the sake of it.

All the best Smile

Pengggwn · 10/04/2018 10:03

No, just a revenue target for us.

Original poster
TheMythicalChicken · 10/04/2018 10:27

I don’t mind going in if they are actually considering putting me forward for a job, it’s when they don’t have anything but still waste a day of my life and $20 in traveling expenses to get there just to meet their targets.

Cheeky fuckers.

OP posts:
Sparklesocks · 10/04/2018 10:35

This happened to me a LOT when I was jobhunting in London. I’d apply to a role online, get a call from the recruiter managing the vacancy and they’d ask me to come in. I would think it was a pre-interview or screening process but actually it was just to register on the books, and most of the time they weren’t putting me forward for the specific jobs I’d applied for!
I later found out from a friend that recruiters normally have to sign up X number of new people in a timeframe to meet targets etc, so they’re probably putting forward 2-3 candidates for the job and then signing up another 5-10 ‘just in case’. Sometimes they’d call me about other roles, but mostly not…
It got to the stage when they’d ring I’d ask ‘OK I can come in, but could you please let me know if you’re putting me forward for the role I’ve applied for?’ if they umm-ed and ahh-ed or said no then I would decline to come in.
It’s a pain but you do have to be quite firm with them. I know how time consuming it can be.

Original poster
TheMythicalChicken · 10/04/2018 10:43

It’s despicable isn’t it, Sparklesocks? They are conning people.

OP posts:
AccidentallyRunToWindsor · 10/04/2018 10:44

A good trick is to ask questions about the role. A decent recruiter can answer them confidently for you, one who is working on a made up role will bluster.

I love contacting agencies who are advertising jobs at our company when we haven't engaged with them to ask them what they are playing at. Happened all the time in our customer service business- were the only company of that type, in a tiny town and the adverts would be all 'one of the largest UK energy companies in xxx town'

ReinettePompadour · 10/04/2018 10:48

Agencies have been useless for me and they do waste your time when they ask you to go in. I've been in to see 4 agencies since last November. 3 of them didn't have the job available I had applied for. I wasn't interested in other roles just those I had applied for. And they really dont need to see you. Out of 4 all of them just sat me down with more forms to fill in, barely said 2 words to me, took the forms back and said thanks, they'd be in touch if anything suitable comes up. Hmm

The thing is they don't know what is suitable for me, I do. If I say I'm looking for admin work why on earth do they think I would be interested in packing and picking? If I say I can work in X location why suggest jobs in Y location? Theyve wasted a phone call to me and dozens of others from their conversation and they still haven't found anyone for their clients and nothing for me.

I wish employers would just advertise their own position. Surely they know whether someone is suitable for them, not someone who has never worked in the company, doesn't know anyone in that company and has no idea how flexible a company can be.

I used to dislike estate agents but recruitment agencies are now my most disliked. Hmm

Stroller15 · 10/04/2018 10:55

I used to be a recruiter for IT and admin roles. We had to meet candidates to meet our own targets and KPI's but it very rarely resulted in actually filling the roles. We had great relationships with our clients and candidates but it just isn't how it worked.
I'd say depending on your sector it's a waste of time and I would ask them if they are calling you in for a specific role and if not, don't go and keep applying for specific jobs you're interested in. If they like your CV they will put it forward to the client and you can meet the recruiter afterwards.

hjublen · 10/04/2018 11:01

It's partly building a relationship with the agency. If a job matching your experience comes up after they've met you and they rate you they'll contact you.
I understand a lot of matching jobs to applicants in agencies is done initially by algorhythms so make sure you have the correct words on your cv that match the computer search for whatever field you're in.

mogonfoxnight · 10/04/2018 11:54

I think it is what you make it. My last post was about when I was qualified, but when I was a student I needed holiday work admin/secretarial to make ends meet, and I found that the way to make sure my local agencies would remember me would be going in to see them or phoning at around 10.15-10.30am. Everyone seemed at their most receptive then. They'd had their morning coffee, checked their messages and had a gossip, but hadn't yet been bogged down in the work of the day. If jobs came in, they would definitely give them to the people in their minds. There is nothing to stop you going around and charming the agencies and also applying for specific jobs at the same time. Not everyone will be conning you.

A friend of mine has just returned to work after maternity break, and she had her CV picked up by a recruiter but not for the job she had applied for, for another job, which she got.

Geoff1969 · 10/04/2018 12:11

I wish employers would just advertise their own position

Couldn't agree more. Why have recruitment companies got such a hold on the market and taken over to such an extent? Especially with large, corporate organisations who have well-staff HR departments who still use external companies.

Many recruiters are in their early 20s, gone straight into recruiting with no prior industry experience so I really don't believe that they are in the best position to fill these roles.

Cat12321 · 10/04/2018 12:28

@Geoff1969 what I usually found was that the companies themselves failed to build a good enough internal team that they'd have to choice but to branch out externally :)

Geoff1969 · 10/04/2018 12:31

What a depressing state of affairs the job-hunting process is these days.

frankchickens · 10/04/2018 12:32

YANBU in theory it’s against all sorts of rules for recruitment agencies to advertise jobs that don’t exist.

But they almost all do it.

SarfE4sticated · 10/04/2018 13:10

Lots of companies have out-sourced this part of their recruitment process haven't they, it must be cheaper than employing specific HR personnel.

Geoff1969 · 10/04/2018 13:17

In my experience, the hiring manager (with support from HR and colleagues) is the person best-placed to decide who's best for the role as they understand the requirements for the role and skills/experience needed.

Cat12321 · 10/04/2018 13:23

@Geoff1969 the reason that I usually found that companies outsource their recruitment is that hiring managers sometimes don't have the time to shift through CVs/arrange interviews etc

AgentProvocateur · 10/04/2018 13:36

I’ve been a hiring manager, and I lost the will to live after receiving 300 poorly written applications, full of spelling mistakes and incomplete sections. The agency will whittle these down and give the company a shortlist, saving time and money.

BlueNeighbourhood · 10/04/2018 13:56

I'm an ex Recruitment Consultant - and what a PP said about it being sales driven is completely correct. At our company you had a target for how many people you needed to register each week for the agency.

We needed these people registered and ID verified as if a temporary job came in at 5pm Friday to start on Monday then candidate then didn't need to come in again to pass over ID for payroll and NI purposes, they could just go ahead and start Monday.

For permanent roles it's down to the recruiter. If the role and company is in the South and you're in the North it isn't feasible to meet the candidate and this is what Skype or Facetime is here for, now that I work internally we conduct a lot of interviews via this method and find it much better than making candidates travel and potentially waste their time.

External Recruitment Consultants are salespeople. That's the beginning and end of it, you'll meet nice ones and you'll meet cheesy ones in flashy suits who just see the pound signs of what you can generate them above your head. But you'll quickly work it out. The consultant is there for the client, not the candidate.

AccidentallyRunToWindsor · 10/04/2018 14:03

I diddnt last long in agency recruitment because the people I worked with were just out for themselves. I could stand lying to candidates and clients all day long to try and make a few quid- especially in your standard high street agency. Working for an 'executive headhunters' was even worse- cold calling people and telling them they had been recommended to us by someone they work with and they would be great in XYZ role when actually a resourcer had just called the reception desk the day before to get the name of the FD or whatever.

Geoff1969 · 10/04/2018 14:06

So when/why did it become like this? How do all these hundreds of agencies survive?

crazycatlady5 · 10/04/2018 14:12

This annoys me tbh. I don’t live in london but am job hunting in london. I have a toddler and it costs me £25 for a london travelcard so it’s really not great to have to do this. It’s hard to say no without sounding like you can’t be arsed.

BrightYellowDaffodil · 10/04/2018 14:15

I'm also job hunting and I've been putting off approaching any agencies for all of the reasons above as well as past experience.

I registered with an agency once and handed over my CV. They handed me a form and asked me to fill it in - every single bit of information they needed was on my CV. Why could they not have earned their fees by filling it in themselves? Like a mug I filled it in anyway, they promised me the moon on a stick and I never heard from them again.

Likewise, a recruiter rang me a few weeks ago about a role - I wasn't interested in the job but he asked if would I meet him for a cup of coffee anyway? Except that it would have cost me £40 to go to London on the train for this cup of coffee. He seemed to think that was reasonable. I didn't.