Is recruitment guy bluffing?

[sdyson31]

Recently been to an interview and had positive feedback. I was told by recruitment agency that they are slowly moving to a next stage which will either be seeing HR person on phone or face to face.

I had an interview about three weeks ago and recruitment guy was in and out of the office a lot in last two weeks so it was difficult to get hold of him.

Yesterday i got an email from him saying that company's HR team have a strict process that requires them to interview on site at least 3 people and he said there aren't three available on the market with the skills they are looking for. He also mentioned that there is still a hope we can finalize this but please do not shut the market off to yourself given the circumstances.

I have noticed that this role is not being advertised anymore so don't know how can he say that there aren't many people available in the market.

Has anyone else come across this situation?

I have many years of experience talking to recruitment agencies and know there nerves ver well and it is very difficult to believe what comes out of their mouth.

I would have believed this easily if company had told me all this.

Should i contact the company and find out what they have to say or should i just let it go and forget about this role.

Edited by sdyson31 on Friday 3rd April 19:56

[davepoth]

My guess is that they're lying - it sounds like a "no" to me, TBH.

[MagicalTrevor]

Simply take everything a recruitment agency says with a pinch of salt. Until you have a contract/offer letter then dont believe them

[All that jazz]

sdyson31 said:

I have many years of experience talking to recruitment agencies

Clearly still not enough though otherwise you'd already know that everything that comes out of agencies mouths is always lies and BS.

(I have 15 years experience of dealing with them, mainly in the driving sector).

[Kudos]

Forget about it. Client has found someone else and closing off paperwork or agency is trying to find someone else. Move on.

If there is a sniff of commission, agents are never "in and out" of the office without telling you

[chukwe]

It really doesn't matter whether the recruitment guy is telling the truth or not.

My rule is: after an interview, try to forget it (which is difficult), move on to the next and don't follow it up. Always wait for the agency to come back to you. If he comes back, it's always good news. If not, it's bad news.

If the company want to conduct a second interview, the guy would've come back to you immediately. Since the agency guy is beating about the bushes, it's not good news and you should move on

[bad company]

All that jazz said:

sdyson31 said:

I have many years of experience talking to recruitment agencies

Clearly still not enough though otherwise you'd already know that everything that comes out of agencies mouths is always lies and BS.

(I have 15 years experience of dealing with them, mainly in the driving sector).

All the agents were so bad that you carried on dealing with them for 15 years.

[All that jazz]

bad company said:

All that jazz said:

sdyson31 said:

I have many years of experience talking to recruitment agencies

Clearly still not enough though otherwise you'd already know that everything that comes out of agencies mouths is always lies and BS.

(I have 15 years experience of dealing with them, mainly in the driving sector).

All the agents were so bad that you carried on dealing with them for 15 years.

Correct. Agencies provide useful leads to cut out the middleman (ie. them) and go direct. Once you know their BS script they're pretty easy to work to your advantage.

[bad company]

All that jazz said:

Correct. Agencies provide useful leads to cut out the middleman (ie. them) and go direct. Once you know their BS script they're pretty easy to work to your advantage.

You must have dealt with a very stupid agent. I ran a successful agency for well over 20 years and retired very nicely on the proceeds. We never ever provided leads and anybody applying direct would have been cold shouldered by both us and the clients.

Sorry, I just don't believe you.

[All that jazz]

bad company said:

All that jazz said:

Correct. Agencies provide useful leads to cut out the middleman (ie. them) and go direct. Once you know their BS script they're pretty easy to work to your advantage.

You must have dealt with a very stupid agent. I ran a successful agency for well over 20 years and retired very nicely on the proceeds. We never ever provided leads and anybody applying direct would have been cold shouldered by both us and the clients.

Sorry, I just don't believe you.

You indirectly provide leads when giving temps assignments. With the exception of a couple of places all my direct work now originally started off via an agency. For someone who has allegedly run an agency for "well over 20 years" you don't seem to be too clued up, but that's not really any surprise. The only thing clients are interested in is price and getting the job done without any problems. The only thing agencies are interested in is getting a bum on a seat for the biggest margin between what client will pay and what temp will accept. Loyalty between agencies > clients > temps? Do me a favour..

It is a very satisfying feeling cutting out the agency and contracting direct.

[bad company]

All that jazz said:

bad company said:

All that jazz said:

Correct. Agencies provide useful leads to cut out the middleman (ie. them) and go direct. Once you know their BS script they're pretty easy to work to your advantage.

You must have dealt with a very stupid agent. I ran a successful agency for well over 20 years and retired very nicely on the proceeds. We never ever provided leads and anybody applying direct would have been cold shouldered by both us and the clients.

Sorry, I just don't believe you.

You indirectly provide leads when giving temps assignments. With the exception of a couple of places all my direct work now originally started off via an agency. For someone who has allegedly run an agency for "well over 20 years" you don't seem to be too clued up, but that's not really any surprise. The only thing clients are interested in is price and getting the job done without any problems. The only thing agencies are interested in is getting a bum on a seat for the biggest margin between what client will pay and what temp will accept. Loyalty between agencies > clients > temps? Do me a favour..

It is a very satisfying feeling cutting out the agency and contracting direct.

So the agent had nothing in their terms of business about repeat or extended bookings? We policed this on a regular basis keeping tabs on our temps/locums and if we did not know where they were we would simply call the firms they had worked previously through us to see if they were there. We allowed the firm to simply pay our fee at the first time but had penalties for repeat offenders.

In your case we would have simply not introduced you to any further clients / work

Clearly business morals are not your strongest point.

[phil-sti]

All that jazz said:

bad company said:

All that jazz said:

Correct. Agencies provide useful leads to cut out the middleman (ie. them) and go direct. Once you know their BS script they're pretty easy to work to your advantage.

You must have dealt with a very stupid agent. I ran a successful agency for well over 20 years and retired very nicely on the proceeds. We never ever provided leads and anybody applying direct would have been cold shouldered by both us and the clients.

Sorry, I just don't believe you.

You indirectly provide leads when giving temps assignments. With the exception of a couple of places all my direct work now originally started off via an agency. For someone who has allegedly run an agency for "well over 20 years" you don't seem to be too clued up, but that's not really any surprise. The only thing clients are interested in is price and getting the job done without any problems. The only thing agencies are interested in is getting a bum on a seat for the biggest margin between what client will pay and what temp will accept. Loyalty between agencies > clients > temps? Do me a favour..

It is a very satisfying feeling cutting out the agency and contracting direct.

That does seem a bit cockish if I'm honest.

You don't have to be loyal with an agency but you need a good working relationship. Example, last week I ended up with a spare truck that I need filling. I knew one of guys from an agency we have used and it would be easy to go direct and cut the agency out, instead I spoke with their senior manager and we agreed that I'd take him off them for 4 weeks and he was then mine. We are all happy, they get 4 weeks money, we fill our truck and more importantly the relationship is still there and when I ring then at short notice I tend to get my issue solved.

[bad company]

phil-sti said:

That does seem a bit cockish if I'm honest.

You don't have to be loyal with an agency but you need a good working relationship. Example, last week I ended up with a spare truck that I need filling. I knew one of guys from an agency we have used and it would be easy to go direct and cut the agency out, instead I spoke with their senior manager and we agreed that I'd take him off them for 4 weeks and he was then mine. We are all happy, they get 4 weeks money, we fill our truck and more importantly the relationship is still there and when I ring then at short notice I tend to get my issue solved.

Exactly. Recruitment is a people business so relationships are very important. We were in legal recruiting perrmenant and temporary/locum lawyers. We dealt with the same people year after year. By working this way we often heard from people we had placed years ago as junior lawyers when they were now senior partners of the firm and looking to recruit.

Mind you I wouldn't have parted with a Solicitor for 4 weeks money but that is probably just the difference in the market I was in.

[sdyson31]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

IT + Logistics

[eltawater]

sdyson31 said:

Yesterday i got an email from him saying that company's HR team have a strict process that requires them to interview on site at least 3 people and he said there aren't three available on the market with the skills they are looking for. He also mentioned that there is still a hope we can finalize this but please do not shut the market off to yourself given the circumstances.

Sorry, but you know in your gut already that they are lying to you. It sounds like the company has selected both a first choice and a second choice candidate, neither of which are you. The agency is keeping you hanging on just in case the negotiations / contract paperwork / notice period of those candidates falls through.

For my first role post graduation and following 2 rounds of interviews I was told by an agency that I was successful in securing a role with a large IT services company, the paperwork was in the post and that I should not be applying for any other roles without notifying the agency first. Three weeks of out of the office excuses and contract in the post from the recruitment consultant, I managed to contact the company who told me this was all lies and that no job offer was ever made.

[Willeh85]

sdyson31 said:

I had an interview about three weeks ago and recruitment guy was in and out of the office a lot in last two weeks so it was difficult to get hold of him.

Edited by sdyson31 on Friday 3rd April 19:56

As others have said, sounds like the usual BS from agencies and you don't have a Job. I bet if you were to phone back ten minutes later from a different number and say you were a business with a position to fill and he came highly recommended, the little urchin would miraculously be in the building. I think its safe to say the vacancy has been filled and he's stringing you on incase it doesnt work out in the first few weeks.

I spent a while unemployed a few years ago, and the first 6 months of that I stupidly put my trust mostly in agencies. I was looking for pretty much any office based admin work. Three different agencies promised me the world and 'We'll find a job for you in weeks'. I had all of the things mentioned so far here, person I'm dealing with isn't in the office right now, we've found you a job and details of interview are in the post, went to interviews and the company loved me contracts are in the post etc etc.

After 6 months they all completely lost interest even though I would phone them often to ask if they had anything suitable or I noticed a job I could do on their site. I've been at my current employer three years now and one of the agencies emailed me and called me last month about an 'exciting new position' that they want me for. It was 40 hours a week night shift at minimum wage in a warehouse. I not very politely told them to position the job in a place that would excite them

[MikeGoodwin]

chukwe said:

My rule is: after an interview, try to forget it (which is difficult), move on to the next and don't follow it up. Always wait for the agency to come back to you. If he comes back, it's always good news. If not, it's bad news.

Exactly!