Should organisations care or even be bothered about the recruitment company they use?
There’s been recent articles written about the candidates’ view of the world when it comes to using a recruitment agency to find their next job and it also got me thinking about our marketplace too. Over the last few months I’ve seen and heard a few “recruitment practices” from agencies that make me shudder and it got me thinking about the employing organisation. Do they know the dodgy underhand tactics that happen in their name. Yes, in their name, because a candidate’s ( a potential future employee) one bad experience not only stops them using the agency again but also makes them think twice about working for the organisation that the agency was recruiting for and they’ll let all their friends, family and colleagues know too!
Practices that make me shudder;
- Pulling a CV up from a CV search engine – not contacting the individual first – and sending it straight to a client as a shortlisted candidate. Not only is it lazy and a disservice to a paying client but it also scuppers the chances for that candidate to present themselves in the best possible way.
- Mis-advertisements – don’t advertise something that doesn’t exist – it’s against the law and a total waste of everyone’s time!
- Tell the candidate who the job is with – it’s amazing how many recruitment agencies still don’t tell a candidate who the job is with until interview stage. Why is this? It can’t be for the benefit of the organisation ( shouldn’t an agency’s responsibility also include brand awareness, selling the role to the client, gaining a candidate’s buy in etc) and it definitely isn’t for the candidate (how do they even know that they would enjoy working for said organisation?)
- Mis selling their service offerings – niche businesses who say they have project professionals as their recruiting consultants should be just that. Unfortunately it’s not the case – it’s time organisations check a recruitment companies credentials – there’s a lot of me too, making a quick buck, imitators out there.
- The black hole problem – how difficult can it be to acknowledge people’s applications, prepare people for interviews, provide feedback after an interview etc? We recently reviewed one of the most popular recruitment solutions in the marketplace today – a system most recruitment companies use and guess what? It is totally geared towards all the things that are wrong about recruitment in the UK today – no easy way to acknowledge applications personally, tracking systems that enable recruitment managers to measure all the wrong things ( how many CVs submitted per role …regardless of quality) and even logging details of the organisation’s recruiting manager because you never know you might be able to headhunt them too!
Yes I think they should be bothered!
Share your views with us (and unfortunately we can’t name and shame!)
As i sit here looking through countless websites for my next contract role, I am starting to wonder why companies employ recruiting agencies. My own personal history includes 7+ years as an IT Support engineer doing everything from 1st to 3rd line and everything inbetween, in those days I had no problem picking up a new contract, it was as if i was the golden one……..I was literally employed for the whole 7 years…..then I managed to get into Material Handling Systems….no job description but a very enjoyable time in my life…..I personally thought they wanted me to roll out the desktops, servers and network devices but i actually got involved in commissioning, testing and integration of a very large material handling solution, I managed to impress the customer and the client to the point where i was offered promotion and a permanent job…..as I progressed I became more and more involved in Projects whether they were small enhancements or actually working closer with the Project Team…….it peeked my interest to the point where I was sent on a secondment, where I learnt and enjoyed everything to do with Project Management. Unfortunately my position was made redundant, which gave me the opportunity to get my PRINCE 2 Practitioner and I also managed to do the ITIL Foundation………..that was back in December 2007………with all the experience, skills, knowledge and now certification………I am struggling to find an opportunity let alone get an interview……countless job applications, and phone calls to agencies, where I am expressing my desire to work in either IT or Materials Handling…..yes of course there are less MH jobs out there – very niche market and very competitive, but even trying to get back into the IT Arena as a Junior PM is proving frustratingly difficult…………..I have had several calls from agencies that ask the appropriate questions and then say “We’ll ring you back with an interview slot”, unfortunately trying to write down the name and agency and talk at the same time just doesn’t go to well when they’re speaking so fast……despite asking them to slow down and explain what the role is etc etc………I’ve even had calls from agency’s expressing interest but when i call them back to chase for feedback i either get the voice mail, or “They’re busy on the other line at the moment”……….and then not actually having a return call or even an email with feedback…..Am i the only person in the country/world that wants to know feedback whether its good or bad?? I’m now wondering with this supposed recession looming, how many other PMs are suffering the same as me.
Hi Gareth
No you’re not the only person – and how can anyone understand where they might be going wrong if no feedback is forthcoming. Often what’s happening when you don’t receive feedback from an agency after your application has gone in – is they don’t have any feedback. The end client often doesn’t bother to give any, in fact most of the time what does happen is a candidate or candidates are shortlisted for an interview – the client is focused on these people now – and the feedback is obvious – you weren’t as good as the people they selected. So what should the recruitment consultant be doing? Well, they should be able to tell you why the client picked the other candidate over you – what did that person have that you didn’t? So why don’t they do this? Because it takes time and now they’re focused on the people who made the interview and not on the ones who didn’t. Well does this make me shudder? Because they’re missing a trick – “treat everyone as you would like to be treated yourself” – call it good customer service – whatever. Why are they missing a trick? Because people remember people for good and bad reasons – and when that un-shortlisted candidate with no feedback does find their next job through different routes or a recruitment agency that does care, they’ll remember who to go to when they need to hire people into their project teams and who to avoid.
It takes approximately 2 minutes to give constructive feedback – I sincerely hope you receive some Gareth