Awful recruitment agency or am I just too sensitive 😢

[user1471867483]

I am currently unemployed and I registered with a particular recruitment agency just before Christmas. I either text or email this recruiter to 'check in' and let him know my availability about every week. He hasn't done much to find me work, but Monday he contacted me about a role for two months. I told him I can only work to 4pm each day (due to new personal commitments) and said I can start the role in a week's time. Like I said, I've waited 4 months for work from him! He told me he'd put me forward for that role and "I'll work my magic" regarding my leave time each day and start date, he said. Ten minutes later, I emailed asking for the job description (which I think they have to provide?) and reaffirmed my start date and 4pm finish time (I like we everything in writing). In the meantime he never emailed me the job description and I never heard back from him until yesterday. I signed on yesterday late afternoon and by the time I got home, he had left a voicemail at the time I was signing on, asking me to call him. It got a little late and I emailed to say I'd call him the next morning. I rang him this morning and was met with a very abrupt recruiter. He argued with me saying that when he rings me he expects me to pick up my phone right away and speak. I told him I'm a very busy woman with many interviews. I reminded him he told me he'd work his magic and he said jobs move quick and I need to work quick with him. He told me the job has now gone and I said, "Well, it wasn't to be". I told him I needed everything put in writing too including the job desc but he went on and on basically making me feel guilty and argued saying my name about four times like he was arguing with his gf or something. His voice rose and he wouldn't stop arguing. I can come and go as I please? I felt controlled. Am I wrong? There wasn't any respect for me at all.

He must have been fucked off because he’s worked his magic on the hours and you didn’t bother picking up. They work late so no issue to call him later. Also they don’t ’have’ to provide a written job spec 😁.

Two wrongs don't make a right here.

Though not the first occasion I have heard of or read about poor performing recruitment agencies. The alternative of having in-house HR do it all has its drawbacks too.

I am sure that the economy would be in a better place if recruitment was a much better process, but not sure how that could happen.

He’s doing his job. Jobs DO move quickly. You have to be extremely proactive and make sure you get back to him quickly.
A 4pm finish is really going to hinder you I’m afraid, so don’t be surprised if there’s not many roles that meet your criteria.

An agency works for their clients finding the employees or temporary staff, not for candidates looking for work. He has a client needing someone asap so needs people to respond asap.

Register with multple agencies and ensure you’re available, keen and easy to deal with. Then I am sure you will find something.

Yeah I think a same day response is an absolute first principle if you’re looking for a job. Even if you’re with your children there’s nothing to stop you making a quick phone call. Emailing to say you would call in the morning basically told him you weren’t bothered.

OP you do realise his job isn't to find you a job don't you???
His job is to fill vacancies for his employers, it's wild you think he's there to get you a job.
I've worked in recruitment for years. You sign people up, note down their skills and attributes, put them in a database and when a suitable job comes up he rings around the 100 odd people he had registered that may be suitable.
Quick calls, can you do it yes, great, no, next!
He is not your job coach!

Definite red flag. If he's like that before I get a job, goodness knows what he'll be like to work with after. Yes, I have four interviews lined up. It's the first time I've been unemployed in 39 years. I have a rock solid work performance without gaps up until now.

Well, that's one way to ignore all productive responses.

In what way do you believe you will be "working with him" if they land you a job? Surely you'd be focused on the job itself!

You wouldn’t be working with him! He gets his client some candidates, they hire one, they pay him the fee, he moves on.

Unless we have misunderstood what you mean by ‘recruiter’.

When my kids joined a temp agency - I told them to prioritise communications with their recruiter, never be the blocker - make it look like you’d be a dream to work with. When you have a job you have more leverage - currently you have none.

He sounds very rude but it also sounds like you think the recruitment agents job is to find you a job which it isn’t, that’s not how it works. Good luck with the job hunt!

Thank you. Yes, he was rude - very rude. I've never experienced anything like it. He's blocked. The reviews aren't great either.

I think I would have prioritised a bird in the hand - the temp role. The jobcentre literally want you to find work so would have been over the moon if you said I'm really sorry I need to take this in the middle of signing on.

My experience of temp agencies is that they prioritise reliable people they have worked with over unknowns so it's hard to get that first job through them, then easy to get the next ones. And I've NEVER had a job description for a temp role.

I’m a contractor and I work through recruitment companies and I can tell you jobs move very quick indeed, when I’m out of contract or my next one is coming to an end, I do answer or at the very least get back to them that same day.

Well that's OK, because as you told us, you are a busy woman with many job interviews.

To be fair, when you said that to the agent, he may well have been put off you totally..

As that busy woman with many interviews, it won't be any skin off your nose, so... all good.

So why bother posting as you clearly think you were right?

When I had temp roles, I was never supplied with a job spec, only a basic overview from the agency of what the employer wanted me to do.

There were times I missed out on a job because I missed the call - I didn’t blame the agency for that.

I have not voted because I think both sides sound a tad unreasonable. He should not have shouted. Your post sounds a tad entitled in your expectations.

It is good you left the agency. I'm sure you will find an agency with a better personality fit for you.

One of my sons works in recruitment. It is a high-pressure sales environment driven by bonuses and the recruiter gets the money when they fill a post. His interest is in finding someone to fill that post before someone else does.

I don't believe for a second he was as rude as he is being painted to be, based on the OP's general attitude towards the whole thing.
It's like when people post someone 'screamed' at them; ridiculous.

Yo weren’t being harassed. I think you let your mask slip here. Yeah he could have been straight and told it like it is but if you were really looking and wanted to work you would be doing everything to do so.

Red flag? You’re not having a relationship with him. You wouldn’t be working with him. He was rude but I expect he is exasperated with you. You should have answered the phone while you were waiting for the interview. You could have quickly told him where you were so the conversation would have been brief.

He was rude but you’re expecting too much from a recruitment agency. They receive their commission from the employer so at the end of the day will be working for them.

To answer your original question, yes you are being too sensitive. If I was the recruiter I would be dropping you at this point anyway. Sure he was rude at the end, but you sound difficult to work with, and your responses so far in this thread make you look pretty inflexible. If you’re looking for temp jobs you need to be responsive. Sounds like you’re use to the process for permanent roles, expecting a detailed job description and longer time scales, but this isn’t usually the case for temp.

He didn't even tell me the hourly rate 🤦

To answer your OP, you sound too sensitive, and have an outdated / unreasonable view on how it works with temp roles and recruitment agencies.