Recruiter problems?? Opinions please.

[LaceyLitch]

I signed up with an estate agent recruiter last Monday. She (Kay) organised an interview for me on Monday who said I was not 'ruthless' enough. I had a telephone interview on Tuesday with company X. Kay phoned me a couple of hours after to say they wanted a second interview with me on Thursday. Had an interview with another company, Z, on Wednesday which I felt went well. Did second interview with X on Thurs, and another interview with company Y on Friday.

I rang Kay to tell her company Y interview went very badly. She told me not too worry and that company X wanted to see me for a third interview and she would try to organise it for Monday or Tuesday.

Come Monday and no update so I contact Kay to ask if she has any updates. She tells me manager at company X is out of office today. We had no contact all day yesterday. I just rang her this morning to see if any updates on scheduling interview and she said she still hadn't heard she also said that company Z had originally wanted to see me for a second interview but decided they need someone more experienced. I asked her if she had any new interviews for me in the meantime. She said she didn't have anything and maybe I should try going to local estate agents personally.

I don't get it? Last week she had no end of interviews and this week none? And company X were so quick to arrange second interview and now they are taking ages, is this normal? I feel like with Kay's comment about trying to find a job myself that she's given up on me. What do you all think?

Recruiters will promise the earth to get you on their books! Having said that, you have had quite a number of interviews through the agency in only one week and things change very quickly so it may be that positions which she had last week are no longer available.

The recruiter is right that you can't just rely on one agency to find you a job, you need to be proactive yourself and get out there chasing down jobs via personal contact, newspaper ads, trade press etc.

With regard to the company which is taking ages to come back, yes unfortunately companies can go off the boil on jobs or filling the role becomes not a priority for them. Give it time! The recruiter will be as anxious as you to get you back in front of them, they're paying her salary.

Now that you have had some interviews, it might be worth while getting some proper feedback from the agent. Could it be that you are not interviewing well and that some of the roles which she originally mentioned to you she now realises are not suitable through your lack of experience or the way you present at interviews?

Well I had interviews with four different companies overall.

First one was looking for a very specific type of person that just isn't me.

Second one we had good interviews and rapport and I am so anxious for them to schedule a 3rd interview.

Third one was good as well but they want someone more experienced, not much I can do about that.

Fourth one was a disaster and I would never in a million years want to work for them.

How long would you say I should wait for? Is it worth me contacting the company directly? And yes I will get on my bike and start searching myself too. I'm just anxious as I left my job to search full time/be available for interviews and feel like I am just wasting my time.

In what way are you wasting your time? You've had four interviews in a week! d=Do not contact the company directly, if they were interested in recruiting directly they wouldn't be paying an agency so you will just annoy them AND the recruiter who you need to put you forward for other jobs.

Why do you want to work in estate agency specifically? If you do not have much experience in that field, can you broaden your search to include other areas?

Why did you leave your last job without one to go to? It could take quite some time to find a new one so would you consider temp roles in the meantime?

Go via as many agents as you can to find any job you can and then start look for a more the permanent position.

Companies can lose funding for roles they have advertised- the staff are as annoyed as you are but don't contact the company directly unless you want to burn bridges with the recruiters.

You need to be signed up with more than one agency. You also need to be on LinkedIn and job sites.

Recruitment agents will be all over you while there's a chance you might make money for them (i.e. get a job through them). Once it's clear that's not going to happen, many of them just go silent. Most of them at least have the courtesy to tell you you haven't got a job you've been interviewed for, but I've had one who couldn't even be bothered to do that.

I agree that reasons for you not getting a job are not always anything to do with how you interview. I was going for a role last year, where the funding was pulled between first and second interviews, and some years back, another job had the funding pulled when I was waiting for the contract after being offered it. But there's also a lot of competition out there, and sometimes, even if you're quite capable of doing the job, someone else might just have that extra bit of experience or whatever.

It's usually easier to get a job when you're working, rather than unemployed, so do consider temping. But the good news is that you're getting interviews, which is something a lot of people don't achieve, so given a bit more time, you should get an offer.

I feel like I am wasting my time in the sense that all this week I've just been sat around at home. Last week she had loads of interviews for me I don't get why she can't/won't get me any now?

I left my previous job as it was making me deeply unhappy so just decided to take the plunge and try my hand at a totally new career. Picked estate agency as I have a background in sales which is beneficial and the nature of the job appeals to me. Also I live in London so no shortage of jobs in the field here.

I would rather find a decent/long term job I want to commit to rather than just take whatever I get, I have enough money put aside for the next 4 months. I decided to spend 2 months looking for estate agent stuff and if I didn't get anywhere look for a job in my old industry which has never taken me more than 2 weeks. Ideally I hoped I could find a job as a trainee lettings negotiator in about a month.

I really want the job with company X it has only been a week from tomorrow since the 2nd interview, so hopefully I am still in the running's. Will take you advice to not contact them directly though - thanks wasn't sure of the protocol.

Thanks for your positive words EBear will get signed up with another couple agencys tomorrow.

Well, probably the reason she had 4 jobs one week and none the next, is she's been looking for candidates like you to fill roles already on her books. It's not like you walked in and then 4 companies rang her up - she will have been looking for people to send to those 4 companies.

Remember, her job is not to find a job for you! It's to fill a role for her clients. They're the ones paying her, not you - so her priority will be filling vacancies before anyone else does, rather than necessarily looking for other vacancies...

I understand how a recruiter works? She is just a sales person making her commission from selling people. What I'm saying is I find it hard to believe she had so many vacancies to fill in one week and none the next.

She doesn't. She had 4 roles on her books already that you fitted the brief for, they probably accumulated over a week or two. You are a new face and she wanted to use you to try and get her commission. She won't have hundreds of jobs coming in daily.