Go through agency or apply direct
Discussion
I've seen a job on Jobserve I'm thinking about applying for, which was advertised through an agency. I've worked out who this was for and it's also advertised on that company's web site.
Do you think I would be more likely to be successful applying directly (saving the company agency fees) or going through the agency (and having a salesperson sell me to the company and tell me the things I ought to say at interviews that would appeal to them)?
Do you think I would be more likely to be successful applying directly (saving the company agency fees) or going through the agency (and having a salesperson sell me to the company and tell me the things I ought to say at interviews that would appeal to them)?
At the moment companies age getting so many direct applicants that it is difficult to see the wood from the trees.
The benefit of an agency at the moment is that when your CV lands with the hiring manager it wil be the only one he sees at that time and can respond individually.
A few bits of advice. Make sure the recruiter is going direct to the hiring manager, if they're not you may end up in camp 1 at HR. If this is the case then maybe find out who the hiring manager is and drop him a personal call and follow up with your CV to his direct address.
Secondly, make sure the recruiter has a good relationship with the company, that way they can call up, book an interview with the hiring manager and then send your CV.
To conclude, agency, unfortunatly, is probably best route currently.
The benefit of an agency at the moment is that when your CV lands with the hiring manager it wil be the only one he sees at that time and can respond individually.
A few bits of advice. Make sure the recruiter is going direct to the hiring manager, if they're not you may end up in camp 1 at HR. If this is the case then maybe find out who the hiring manager is and drop him a personal call and follow up with your CV to his direct address.
Secondly, make sure the recruiter has a good relationship with the company, that way they can call up, book an interview with the hiring manager and then send your CV.
To conclude, agency, unfortunatly, is probably best route currently.
maix27 said:
At the moment companies age getting so many direct applicants that it is difficult to see the wood from the trees.
The benefit of an agency at the moment is that when your CV lands with the hiring manager it wil be the only one he sees at that time and can respond individually.
I've found that to be beneficial in the past.The benefit of an agency at the moment is that when your CV lands with the hiring manager it wil be the only one he sees at that time and can respond individually.
Overall I'd say if it's an agency you know to be alright then go through them, otherwise do it yourself.
Symbolica said:
maix27 said:
At the moment companies age getting so many direct applicants that it is difficult to see the wood from the trees.
The benefit of an agency at the moment is that when your CV lands with the hiring manager it wil be the only one he sees at that time and can respond individually.
I've found that to be beneficial in the past.The benefit of an agency at the moment is that when your CV lands with the hiring manager it wil be the only one he sees at that time and can respond individually.
Overall I'd say if it's an agency you know to be alright then go through them, otherwise do it yourself.
One hiring manager came to me and told me he'd just binned the pile of CVs he had on his desk and he wanted me to find him 2 spot-on people so as he didn't have to go through more applications.
The problem with applying direct is anyone can apply, and that means for every good CV they'll be getting 10/15 from people who are desperate but very hopeful.
If you are going to go direct, do it the right way. Don't apply from the website, find out who the hiring manager is and get on the phone. They'll appreciate the effort too.
When I have recruited in the past I have always given candidates that have approached directly a good look and held them in better stead than agency candidates. A good number of reasons for this, one the fact that someone has gone to the trouble of investigating is a good thing, two more often than not they will have supplied a cover letter to give a bit more background than just a CV, and last but by no means least it won't cost me £5k+ to recruit them!
I'd always recommend going directly unless the agency is very good.
I'd always recommend going directly unless the agency is very good.
So what happens if you post a job and you don't find the right people through direct application?
Or, you post direct but you don't take someone on for 5/6 months, how much does that actually cost your business in real terms?
Take a sales person for example, you wait 6 months and finally get a direct applicant. Or you go to an agency, with 2 months you've taken someone on and paid say £5K. The next 4 months you've got that person in a role building pipeline and probably closing business. Say they close £20K worth of business, sudenly the £5K fee doesn't look all that bad, does it?
As a growing business you can't just sit and hope that the right candidates happen to apply to your company direct, that's terrible business sense. Imagine if a company just sat and waited for customers to come to them!
I think agencies do have their place and i think they can be value for money. Have you seen how much it costs to advertise on Monster these days?!
Amazingly as well most agenices will only ask to be paid if they're successful. We charge retainers before we even start working on a role.
People are quick to bash agencies as there are a lot of bad ones about, however, there are also a lot of good ones who work their nuts off to give a great service to their customers and add real value.
Cutting them out might seem like saving money, but you've got to hope that you've got an amazing offering that people are searching out in the first place.
Or, you post direct but you don't take someone on for 5/6 months, how much does that actually cost your business in real terms?
Take a sales person for example, you wait 6 months and finally get a direct applicant. Or you go to an agency, with 2 months you've taken someone on and paid say £5K. The next 4 months you've got that person in a role building pipeline and probably closing business. Say they close £20K worth of business, sudenly the £5K fee doesn't look all that bad, does it?
As a growing business you can't just sit and hope that the right candidates happen to apply to your company direct, that's terrible business sense. Imagine if a company just sat and waited for customers to come to them!
I think agencies do have their place and i think they can be value for money. Have you seen how much it costs to advertise on Monster these days?!
Amazingly as well most agenices will only ask to be paid if they're successful. We charge retainers before we even start working on a role.
People are quick to bash agencies as there are a lot of bad ones about, however, there are also a lot of good ones who work their nuts off to give a great service to their customers and add real value.
Cutting them out might seem like saving money, but you've got to hope that you've got an amazing offering that people are searching out in the first place.
maix27 said:
So what happens if you post a job and you don't find the right people through direct application?
Or, you post direct but you don't take someone on for 5/6 months, how much does that actually cost your business in real terms?
Take a sales person for example, you wait 6 months and finally get a direct applicant. Or you go to an agency, with 2 months you've taken someone on and paid say £5K. The next 4 months you've got that person in a role building pipeline and probably closing business. Say they close £20K worth of business, sudenly the £5K fee doesn't look all that bad, does it?
As a growing business you can't just sit and hope that the right candidates happen to apply to your company direct, that's terrible business sense. Imagine if a company just sat and waited for customers to come to them!
I think agencies do have their place and i think they can be value for money. Have you seen how much it costs to advertise on Monster these days?!
Amazingly as well most agenices will only ask to be paid if they're successful. We charge retainers before we even start working on a role.
People are quick to bash agencies as there are a lot of bad ones about, however, there are also a lot of good ones who work their nuts off to give a great service to their customers and add real value.
Cutting them out might seem like saving money, but you've got to hope that you've got an amazing offering that people are searching out in the first place.
Very well said.Or, you post direct but you don't take someone on for 5/6 months, how much does that actually cost your business in real terms?
Take a sales person for example, you wait 6 months and finally get a direct applicant. Or you go to an agency, with 2 months you've taken someone on and paid say £5K. The next 4 months you've got that person in a role building pipeline and probably closing business. Say they close £20K worth of business, sudenly the £5K fee doesn't look all that bad, does it?
As a growing business you can't just sit and hope that the right candidates happen to apply to your company direct, that's terrible business sense. Imagine if a company just sat and waited for customers to come to them!
I think agencies do have their place and i think they can be value for money. Have you seen how much it costs to advertise on Monster these days?!
Amazingly as well most agenices will only ask to be paid if they're successful. We charge retainers before we even start working on a role.
People are quick to bash agencies as there are a lot of bad ones about, however, there are also a lot of good ones who work their nuts off to give a great service to their customers and add real value.
Cutting them out might seem like saving money, but you've got to hope that you've got an amazing offering that people are searching out in the first place.
It is a shame the industry is full of complete morons.
henrycrun said:
BTW why do agencies always insist that you phone them immediately after coming out of the interview ?
Because if you do well, they make money... they'll tell you other reasons but it's mainly so that if you do well they can relax a bit or if you've done badly they need to start looking for more people ASAP. henrycrun said:
BTW why do agencies always insist that you phone them immediately after coming out of the interview ?
So they can ask you everything the interviewer askedSo they can tell their next candidate what to prepare for
So they'll get the job rather than you.
Don't tell them anything!
john_p said:
henrycrun said:
BTW why do agencies always insist that you phone them immediately after coming out of the interview ?
So they can ask you everything the interviewer askedSo they can tell their next candidate what to prepare for
So they'll get the job rather than you.
Don't tell them anything!
maix27 said:
So what happens if you post a job and you don't find the right people through direct application?
Or, you post direct but you don't take someone on for 5/6 months, how much does that actually cost your business in real terms?
Take a sales person for example, you wait 6 months and finally get a direct applicant. Or you go to an agency, with 2 months you've taken someone on and paid say £5K. The next 4 months you've got that person in a role building pipeline and probably closing business. Say they close £20K worth of business, sudenly the £5K fee doesn't look all that bad, does it?
As a growing business you can't just sit and hope that the right candidates happen to apply to your company direct, that's terrible business sense. Imagine if a company just sat and waited for customers to come to them!
I think agencies do have their place and i think they can be value for money. Have you seen how much it costs to advertise on Monster these days?!
Amazingly as well most agenices will only ask to be paid if they're successful. We charge retainers before we even start working on a role.
People are quick to bash agencies as there are a lot of bad ones about, however, there are also a lot of good ones who work their nuts off to give a great service to their customers and add real value.
Cutting them out might seem like saving money, but you've got to hope that you've got an amazing offering that people are searching out in the first place.
For me it's a balance, I have used an agency the last few jobs that we have had and currently working with a new agency now. Or, you post direct but you don't take someone on for 5/6 months, how much does that actually cost your business in real terms?
Take a sales person for example, you wait 6 months and finally get a direct applicant. Or you go to an agency, with 2 months you've taken someone on and paid say £5K. The next 4 months you've got that person in a role building pipeline and probably closing business. Say they close £20K worth of business, sudenly the £5K fee doesn't look all that bad, does it?
As a growing business you can't just sit and hope that the right candidates happen to apply to your company direct, that's terrible business sense. Imagine if a company just sat and waited for customers to come to them!
I think agencies do have their place and i think they can be value for money. Have you seen how much it costs to advertise on Monster these days?!
Amazingly as well most agenices will only ask to be paid if they're successful. We charge retainers before we even start working on a role.
People are quick to bash agencies as there are a lot of bad ones about, however, there are also a lot of good ones who work their nuts off to give a great service to their customers and add real value.
Cutting them out might seem like saving money, but you've got to hope that you've got an amazing offering that people are searching out in the first place.
I just prefer it when candidates contact me direct, if we have a vacancy we will often interview them and if we don't we keep their details on file.
henrycrun said:
BTW why do agencies always insist that you phone them immediately after coming out of the interview ?
I personally get candidates to call me straight after the interview incase the above scenario happens -Interview finishes at 2.30pm -
Client calls at 2.45pm - So what are his thoughts on the company and the role?
Me - Ummmm I don't know I have not spoken with him yet
Client - He clearly isn't that interested then.....
This does happen, it has caught me out before many moons ago.
bga said:
Go direct. The people screening the CV's at the companies end will do a better job than 99% of agencies unless that particular agent has experience of working in that company or that industry.
Really?! I know a few HR departments who just do 'ctrl+f' on the buzz words in the spec, if they don't come up, CV's out the door.
Very few companies will give CVs directly to the hiring manager and HR tend to know little about what their company actually does, especially if we're talking technical recruitment and actually understanding of how relevent technoloiges interact.
maix27 said:
I know a few HR departments who just do 'ctrl+f' on the buzz words in the spec, if they don't come up, CV's out the door.
And agencies don't? I get CV's day in and day out from agencies that have chosen candidates that fit our company. It is endemic in the industry.maix27 said:
Very few companies will give CVs directly to the hiring manager and HR tend to know little about what their company actually does, especially if we're talking technical recruitment and actually understanding of how relevent technoloiges interact.
I disagree, without experience of working in the industry or with the technology then the odds are that the screening will be below the quality of that provided by the internal staff. The few rec agents who have the previous experience in the industry or tech are worth their with in gold, without it then HR will generally do a better job IME.Taking a tech angle, I see it as the difference between pre-sales and sales. The pre-sales skills are there to identify the fit, the sales to close the deal. If the industry focussed a bit more towards the former then clients would get a better deal.
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