Recruitment companies...
Discussion
Hi all,
Is it normal to receive no reply to, or even acknowledgement of receipt of an application from a recruitment company these days?
I have sent numerous applications and CVs to companies in response to their adverts and have received pretty much zero communication from them in return. I've tried to email asking if they have received my CV, tried to 'phone them, tried to get a response if my application was unsuccessful.... the list goes on. If my CV is poor, or my application is terrible, or whatever is wrong, I'd just like to know that they've got it and had a look at it. Maybe even offer a few words of advice on where I'm going wrong. But to completely ignore me just seems like they're all playing at being a b
d.
It seems almost impossible to find an engineering or production firm that doesn't use one or more of these companies... and yet it's almost impossible to apply for any of their vacancies!
Ooops, can someone edit the spooling in the title please? (maybe that's is why I can't get a job!)
Is it normal to receive no reply to, or even acknowledgement of receipt of an application from a recruitment company these days?
I have sent numerous applications and CVs to companies in response to their adverts and have received pretty much zero communication from them in return. I've tried to email asking if they have received my CV, tried to 'phone them, tried to get a response if my application was unsuccessful.... the list goes on. If my CV is poor, or my application is terrible, or whatever is wrong, I'd just like to know that they've got it and had a look at it. Maybe even offer a few words of advice on where I'm going wrong. But to completely ignore me just seems like they're all playing at being a b
d.It seems almost impossible to find an engineering or production firm that doesn't use one or more of these companies... and yet it's almost impossible to apply for any of their vacancies!
Ooops, can someone edit the spooling in the title please? (maybe that's is why I can't get a job!)
Edited by rodgerramjet on Thursday 5th May 13:57
rodgerramjet said:
Hi all,
Is it normal to receive no reply to, or even acknowledgement of receipt of an application from a recruitment company these days?
I have sent numerous applications and CVs to companies in response to their adverts and have received pretty much zero communication from them in return. I've tried to email asking if they have received my CV, tried to 'phone them, tried to get a response if my application was unsuccessful.... the list goes on. If my CV is poor, or my application is terrible, or whatever is wrong, I'd just like to know that they've got it and had a look at it. Maybe even offer a few words of advice on where I'm going wrong. But to completely ignore me just seems like they're all playing at being a bd.
It seems almost impossible to find an engineering or production firm that doesn't use one or more of these companies... and yet it's almost impossible to apply for any of their vacancies!
Yes it's fairly standard, unfortunately.Is it normal to receive no reply to, or even acknowledgement of receipt of an application from a recruitment company these days?
I have sent numerous applications and CVs to companies in response to their adverts and have received pretty much zero communication from them in return. I've tried to email asking if they have received my CV, tried to 'phone them, tried to get a response if my application was unsuccessful.... the list goes on. If my CV is poor, or my application is terrible, or whatever is wrong, I'd just like to know that they've got it and had a look at it. Maybe even offer a few words of advice on where I'm going wrong. But to completely ignore me just seems like they're all playing at being a b
d.It seems almost impossible to find an engineering or production firm that doesn't use one or more of these companies... and yet it's almost impossible to apply for any of their vacancies!
The stock answer is typically "we get too many applications to respond to each one individually" etc and they won't provide a service for evaluating CVs blah blah.
Your best bet is to get a few other people (ideally managerial types who have hired people) to look at your CV as a starting point. A few have posted their CV (anonymised) on here for feedback.
V8mate said:
They're probably fake jobs and the consultants are just trawling for CVs.
I actually hadn't considered this. All of the jobs I have applied for have been through large, well known, alledgedly reputable companies, so not sure this applies. It's making me think though that there must be some unscrupulous sorts out there who do this.I just think their employees are perhaps less polite than I expect them to be.
I was contemplating sending an email to a director of one of the companies as they, perhaps rather stupidly, have their contact details online. I decided against this as it would probably just mean any and every future application would be immediately discarded, regardless of suitability for a role.
Thesaint01708 said:
V8mate said:
They're probably fake jobs and the consultants are just trawling for CVs.
this!!I worked at Reed as a senior employment adviser for 2 years and we got that all the time from the smaller agencies.
Why would an agency spend money on an advert (a lot of money often) for a job they may or may not get in the future, spend thier day cataloguing the CVs and refusing calls from hundreds of applicants when they could simply wait until they get a job and advertise then?
Its just bizarre that everyone assumes agencies spend half thier lives doing this. They don't.
FraserLFA said:
Coming from a company who doesn't trawl for CV's, i can tell you that we always reply to applicants, no matter how suitable they may or may not be.
Not replying is in my opinion, rude.
Glad to hear there are still good ones out there.Not replying is in my opinion, rude.
When I worked in recruitment (IT and medical) we always replied to every CV received by telephone and tried to build up a better idea of what the applicant was looking for and try to understand them a little bit more. As time went on the managers would post fake jobs on Jobserve to trawl CVs, it was at this point that I decided it wasn't for me and moved on. My policy was always to be 100% honest and it worked well for me, telling people a job had been filled internally or cancelled when it never existed just didn't seem right.
These days I'm on the other side of the fence and applying for jobs through agencies - I rarely get a reply and tend to get more contact when I just stick my CV on the generic job sites. Maybe I'm not up to scratch though
Not receiving a response is standard practice Im afraid.
I have applied for probably 50-60 jobs over the past few years, and I can count the reponses on one hand!
The only time you ever receive a response is if they want to interview you, or ask about your skills, current pay etc etc.
Surely they could have the decency to send out a mass email to all the unsuccessful people?
That said however, if you do a bit of research/investigation online, you can quite often find the phone number for the "consultant" and to be fair, they will often speak to you about your application if you phone up.
I have applied for probably 50-60 jobs over the past few years, and I can count the reponses on one hand!
The only time you ever receive a response is if they want to interview you, or ask about your skills, current pay etc etc.
Surely they could have the decency to send out a mass email to all the unsuccessful people?
That said however, if you do a bit of research/investigation online, you can quite often find the phone number for the "consultant" and to be fair, they will often speak to you about your application if you phone up.
blindswelledrat said:
THis gets trawled out so often on here it makes me cringe.
Why would an agency spend money on an advert (a lot of money often) for a job they may or may not get in the future, spend thier day cataloguing the CVs and refusing calls from hundreds of applicants when they could simply wait until they get a job and advertise then?
Its just bizarre that everyone assumes agencies spend half thier lives doing this. They don't.
they do.Why would an agency spend money on an advert (a lot of money often) for a job they may or may not get in the future, spend thier day cataloguing the CVs and refusing calls from hundreds of applicants when they could simply wait until they get a job and advertise then?
Its just bizarre that everyone assumes agencies spend half thier lives doing this. They don't.
Its to give them a larger 'pool' of candidates without actually having to talk people into signing up.
Putting an ad for a job is often free where as advertising your new agency costs money.
Thesaint01708 said:
they do.
Its to give them a larger 'pool' of candidates without actually having to talk people into signing up.
Putting an ad for a job is often free where as advertising your new agency costs money.
No they don't. Its pointless. If you started a new agency in the type of industry where CV's are ten a penny- would you spend your time trying to get business in or organising CVs and talking to potential candidates when you don't have a job?Its to give them a larger 'pool' of candidates without actually having to talk people into signing up.
Putting an ad for a job is often free where as advertising your new agency costs money.
Every time you hear an anecdote about this- its always second hand. "I worked for Reed -we didnt do it but I know other companies did". "My mate worked for an agency that did it" etc etc.
blindswelledrat said:
No they don't. Its pointless. If you started a new agency in the type of industry where CV's are ten a penny- would you spend your time trying to get business in or organising CVs and talking to potential candidates when you don't have a job?
Every time you hear an anecdote about this- its always second hand. "I worked for Reed -we didnt do it but I know other companies did". "My mate worked for an agency that did it" etc etc.
I worked for an agency that did it, I was expected to do it - it really does happen.Every time you hear an anecdote about this- its always second hand. "I worked for Reed -we didnt do it but I know other companies did". "My mate worked for an agency that did it" etc etc.
The theory was that if a particular job comes in it's better to have 5 good candidates ready to call and standardised CVs ready to submit within the hour than advertise and wait a couple of days for them to come in only to discover another agency has submitted the same person already.
If the database was weak in a particular area then the management would still an assortment of jobs on Jobserve (for free due to a subscription allowing unlimited ads at that time) and wait for the CVs to come in. We'd then be expected to feed excuses to people but make them feel wanted enough to keep in touch or go through for something else.
I hated it.
thetapeworm said:
FraserLFA said:
Coming from a company who doesn't trawl for CV's, i can tell you that we always reply to applicants, no matter how suitable they may or may not be.
Not replying is in my opinion, rude.
Glad to hear there are still good ones out there.Not replying is in my opinion, rude.
I never see the point in collecting CV's, especially as most markets (Or at least the ones we operate in) are moving at a pace that means the people who's CV's we collect will probably have found employment by the time we receive a vacancy suitable for them.
I'm not sure if some wires are being crossed here, but it's not contract type work, or agency work as some call it, I'm refering to. It's just normal, everyday, permanent full time jobs I'm applying for.
A few of the jobs are advertised by other recruitment companies, with the adverts reading almost verbatim to one another, so not all of them will be fake, if any.
I understand that I won't be suitable for every vacancy, or that there will be more suitable candidates than me for certain jobs. Hell, even if I'm totally unemployable, I'd just like to know that they've got my application and if I'm usuccessful then a little "I'm sorry..." few lines wouldn't be too much trouble. It's easy enough to send one email to the hundred or so applicants who failed and to set up an auto reply saying you're application has been received!
A few of the jobs are advertised by other recruitment companies, with the adverts reading almost verbatim to one another, so not all of them will be fake, if any.
I understand that I won't be suitable for every vacancy, or that there will be more suitable candidates than me for certain jobs. Hell, even if I'm totally unemployable, I'd just like to know that they've got my application and if I'm usuccessful then a little "I'm sorry..." few lines wouldn't be too much trouble. It's easy enough to send one email to the hundred or so applicants who failed and to set up an auto reply saying you're application has been received!
Edited by rodgerramjet on Thursday 5th May 20:33
blindswelledrat said:
No they don't. Its pointless. If you started a new agency in the type of industry where CV's are ten a penny- would you spend your time trying to get business in or organising CVs and talking to potential candidates when you don't have a job?
Every time you hear an anecdote about this- its always second hand. "I worked for Reed -we didnt do it but I know other companies did". "My mate worked for an agency that did it" etc etc.
If i started a business i would dedicate at least one person to building our database of candidates via this method and i would go to companies punting our 'vast database of quality candidates'Every time you hear an anecdote about this- its always second hand. "I worked for Reed -we didnt do it but I know other companies did". "My mate worked for an agency that did it" etc etc.
I have seen it being done first hand by at least one company (which i wont name but in Canary Wharf) and i have had it done to ME!
Just because you think its 'pointless' doesnt mean it doesnt happen.
Some of them take their time. I applied for a job 2 weeks ago, along with 75 others, and heard nothing. Today I received an email asking for a few more details, when can I start etc.
Sorry to hi-jack this thread, but when a consultant says they are putting my CV forward to an employer, do they really mean it or are they just putting a nice finish to the conversation? I applied for 5 jobs on Tuesday (all wanting immediate starts), to which I received 3 calls on Wednesday (took about 20 minutes each), each time I was told to expect a call tomorrow (which is today) to arrange an interview for tomorrow. Unfortunately the trail has gone cold...
Sorry to hi-jack this thread, but when a consultant says they are putting my CV forward to an employer, do they really mean it or are they just putting a nice finish to the conversation? I applied for 5 jobs on Tuesday (all wanting immediate starts), to which I received 3 calls on Wednesday (took about 20 minutes each), each time I was told to expect a call tomorrow (which is today) to arrange an interview for tomorrow. Unfortunately the trail has gone cold...
As I have posted on one of the other Recruitment Agency threads, when an agency gets your CV they may well send your boss a load of prospective candidates to replace you out of the blue - BEFORE you tell your boss you are leaving!
It would be nice if someone could confirm first hand whether this is a common business generating practice used by agencies, or whether I was a freak case!
It would be nice if someone could confirm first hand whether this is a common business generating practice used by agencies, or whether I was a freak case!
The Serious recruitmEnt agencies, give contact details, so that you can phone them before you send a CV and taylor the CV following the conversation, and believe me you'll know if you get them in conversation, if they are going to take your CV seriously before you send it.
Any agency that gives no contact details, can be contacted by googling them and you'll find a website with all the vacancies they hold and usually names of senior staff.
So far I've always got an interview if I talk to the agency before I send a CV.
Any agency that gives no contact details, can be contacted by googling them and you'll find a website with all the vacancies they hold and usually names of senior staff.
So far I've always got an interview if I talk to the agency before I send a CV.
TurricanII said:
As I have posted on one of the other Recruitment Agency threads, when an agency gets your CV they may well send your boss a load of prospective candidates to replace you out of the blue - BEFORE you tell your boss you are leaving!
It would be nice if someone could confirm first hand whether this is a common business generating practice used by agencies, or whether I was a freak case!
I would always wait until the leaver was safely signed up for another position and the boss notified by them before trying to pimp someone else into the gap we'd helped create, anything else is plain rude... but probably happens.It would be nice if someone could confirm first hand whether this is a common business generating practice used by agencies, or whether I was a freak case!
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