How do recruitment agencies work?

[KristinaM]

DD has just finished university and is looking for her first job. She doesn't have a clue what she wants to do but has registered with a number of recruitment agencies. Instead of finding her her interviews with other companies they have all tried to persuade her to work for them instead.

We are a bit but we don't know this business at all and just wonder what is going on? Can anyone enlighten us please?

[KristinaM]

tequila - she has NO IDEA about hard work, but she will soon have to learn. or get fired! ( she has had 9 days paid employment in her whole life)

Lizzylou - the agencies she has mentioned are holland and tisdall, jam and hydrogen. she has dismissed robert walters as they didn't mention fun or being cool and stylish

Anna - i am sure you are right about her being happier. she has floated through the last 5 years on a haze of alcohol and drugs while we are up all night worrying about her . mind you i guess thats our job

[bran]

Well, you say that she has no idea about hard work but from what you say she has managed to charm and bullshit her way through life reasonably successfully which I would say is great training for a career in recruitment or sales. Personally I find being professionally charming and talkative very hard work indeed and would burn out in that sort of career in a matter of months. Perhaps the recruitment agencies have recognised her as one of their own.

I hope she does well.

[KristinaM]

i think you are right bran. i find this hard to accept as i don't have a charming bone in my body and have zero ability to bullshit. i say this as a matter of fact and not of pride as its quite a drawback in many jobs ( fortunately not academia)

DH is charming and confident professionally but very shy personally ( especially with women, as he works in a very male dominated field).He is a scientist so BS not well regarded in his field either. So we don't knwo what to make of this 22yo who calls us to say that all the major recruitment agencies in London are competeing for the privilege of hiring her. And she will be earning £35K in the first year. And BTW could you send me another £500 for essentialsfor the flat?

We are struggling to get our heads around the person DD is rather than who we are deluding ourselves that she is. But of course the real DD is fine and it sounds like she has found the ideal job for her

[dannyb]

I worked in Recruitment for years. It is hard work, the pressure is huge but the money can be good. She's a fool to dismiss Robert Walters, they are well established, have an excellent reputation and will open doors for her to move on at a later date. There are many many sharks out there, many of them encourage cold calling for non existant jobs and have little interest in the candidate, just in getting any old placement.

Of course, there are also many who are good and reputable and if she is looking seriously as REcruitment she could do worse than reconsidering Robert Walters, Harvey Nash and Michael Page. Personally I would avoid most of the IT agents like the plague as I am yet to come across on who isn't a shark. The high street agents are generally reputable and at the top end there are the proper headhunters who pay their researchers extremely well, graduates can start on 30k, are ethical but will ask for good academics. The legal recruiters also tend to be ok but often prefer their employees to have a legal background.

Recruitment is hard work, it is a tough market at the moment and if she doesn't make her targets she will lose her job. I loved it but it's not the easy option

[dannyb]

I have had a look at the agencies you have mentioned. From what I can see, Hydrogen looks like it's a reasonable company and I am pretty sure that I know the marketing director and if it's who I think it is then I would expect that it's probably ok. On a personal level I would avoid Jam, there doesn't seem to be any substance to it and I can't get a handle on any directors details which always concerns me. Holland and Tisdale looks fine but they work in some sectors which don't sound very exciting for a girl looking for something cool and funky to do. I also worry when an agency sells themselves as having consultants with experience of the sectors they are working in when clearly your daughter doesn't.

[TequilaMockinBird]

Kristina, the £35k your DD has been told she will earn in her first year will probably be made up of basic and bonus.

She needs to be aware that the basic may only be £20k and the rest made up of bonus. And usually the targets in recruitment are pretty steep. It will take her a while to get into the swing of it seeing as she hasn't had any direct experience of it and so she may not make much bonus in her first year.

I've never heard of the agencies you mention but them I'm oop north and so if they are London based then I wouldn't have!

I worked for one of the big high-street agencies which had branches all over the world. There were some excellent opportunities for secondments in different parts of the world but my DD was only about 18 months at the time and so it was out of the question really.

[dannyb]

I think that the previous poster is correct, the basics may be quite low and it's hard work to make up the targets plus as it is target based there is no guarantee that she'll make the £35k. The proper headhunters will pay £30k ish as basics and give excellent training but it's much more corporate.

PLease make sure that your DD is under no illusions about how much cold calling can be involved in these jobs. There can be a lot of underhand lying about who you are and using false names to get the names of people working for particular companies and it's not a pretty way to work. This is less the case in more established agencies with good databases but that is how many of them find candidates. It can be numbers game ie 100+ phone calls a day to get one person saying that they are interested in your job.

[KristinaM]

Thank you for all this useful information. TBH I don't think she has a clue what the job actually invlolves, just a vague impression that they are, as you say, "cool and funky".

i know nothing about this business but the robert walters site was very impressive and to offer lots of opprtunities for travel & excellent training. But they didnt mention any of her buzz words - cool , creative, stylish, celebs, media, funky.....

sigh

i am to admit that ethics don't seem to concern her very much at the moment...she is very naive. though i guess we all were at 22

[katch]

I agree with dannyb re. the work - cold-calling is still hard selling even when you're calling 'cool and funky' people. I worked for a high street agency years ago, and then, as I believenow, Robert Walters was seen as upmarket, although they often poached consultants from us and we shared the same candidates. I think they were seen as exclusive beacause they didn't have loads of offices everywhere.

The reason your dd is not getting interviews with prospective employers is this: employers can fill graduate trainee posts through the milkrounds and such, so they don't need to go to agencies and incur a fee. I'm sure it is still extremely rare for an agency to place a graduate in a trainee role, and I'm surprised no one has explained that to her.

We used to place students as temps in the summer holidays, and sometimes graduates would do this just to be working, but a fresh graduate is not a prime candidate in the perms market.

Having said that, consultants can always spot a potential consltant (and they probably get a little bonus for placing her), so she probably will do well. It is really hard work, though, and you're constantly monitored and judged for your 'figures', which obviously would not suit some people.

Re. going back to work after babies: I'm not convinced it's easy to go back to - maybe in a training role, but it's so cutthroat and youth-oriented I can't see how anyone could manage it. Sorry this is long - hope it helps.

[KristinaM]

thank you so much katch - we wondered why she was not getting interviews for graduate trainee schemes! You are right - its a shame that no one has been honest with her about this. However it does sound like she is very well suited to a job in recruitment and at least it will teach her what hard work is!

[KristinaM]

dannyb - apparently Hydrogen has been mentioned in the Guardian and the Sunday Times as a good employer (however thats evaluated)

[KatieMorag]

My SIL works in recruitment and loves it but she has a lot of self confidence and a very thick skin. I think you need that to cope with all the cold calling, as people can be very blunt!

[KristinaM]

i will talk to her about the sales aspect of the job. she certainly has lots of confidence.

i really appreciate all these posts - you have all been so helpful

[KristinaM]

just to update this thread - she has accepted a job with a small recruitment agency and starts today. They had her do soem cold calling at teh interview so i expect that will be a large part of the job. We are more intrigued to see how she gets on with working 8.30 to 5.30, 5 days a week, as she has never had a job in her life

thank you to all of you who posted...we now feel quite reassured that this may work out well for her ( if she can get out of bed on time)