Do you need to meet a recruitment consultant any more?

[Frimley111R]

My sister is now looking for a job and I've gone through as much as know about the internet job searches but she says she might go and meet a few recruitment consultants but do people do that any more/is it worth doing?

[944fan]

Might depend on the industry I guess. I have worked in IT for 14 years in a few roles and have always dealt with recruitment consultants.

Never met any of them.

[creampuff]

Engineering. It is always good to meet a recruitment agent, but it is not necessary. You will usually do it all over the phone.

[Ghost91]

I work in engineering and have been working for agencies for the last 3 years. The only time I have ever met any of the consultants is when they've visited the company to see how their staff are getting on etc.

I'm sure it can't hurt though, if the agency has someone sat Infront of them wanting a job its better than someone who sent their CV by email.

[Shaoxter]

Apart from my graduation and internship jobs, all my roles have been through recruitment agents. I've met most of them face to face at the start but after that it's all calls and email. Same for my wife.

IMO jobs posted on the internet are generally out of date already. Recruiters will know of jobs coming up well before the hiring manager can be bothered to write a job spec. Not sure why they seem to have such a bad rep, they've all been very useful for me.

[rog007]

It can also often be a decision based upon the seniority of the roles under discussion; i.e. the more senior (read more expensive and thus greater risk of getting the hire wrong) then the more benefit there will be to both parties meeting.

[andy-xr]

Each and every time I've met a recruiter I really wished I'd spent that time eating my feet or rearranging my sock drawer instead

[Hoolio]

Shaoxter said:

Apart from my graduation and internship jobs, all my roles have been through recruitment agents. I've met most of them face to face at the start but after that it's all calls and email. Same for my wife.

IMO jobs posted on the internet are generally out of date already. Recruiters will know of jobs coming up well before the hiring manager can be bothered to write a job spec. Not sure why they seem to have such a bad rep, they've all been very useful for me.

You met your wife face to face at the start but now just do everything on email/phone?

I like to meet as many candidates as I can, it's makes matching them to roles much easier, particularly if the role is hard to fill / client very picky.

[bad company]

Some employers still insist that recruiters have met and interviewed candidates before putting them in for a job.

Having said that my agency did most of its interviews by phone.