Job hunting without the agencies

[Ste1987]

Getting a bit frustrated with Reed; nothing but recruitment agencies who never get back to you, just data gathering. I don't know anything about alternative options but surely there'll be job sites out there that companies can list their own jobs themselves without the agencies, or am I just stuck with trawling through individual company websites?

[edc]

Research the market place you want to be in. Use resources like LinkedIn to define a long list of target companies and also for networking within those respective companies. Don't rely solely on firing off emails.

[andy-xr]

Indeed, jobsite and knowing who the companies are in your area/sector will see you making some more targeted contacts than filling out forms and never hearing back (or worse, just getting profiled by some agency who never calls back)

Any calls I get from agencies now I just tell them I'm not looking for help via an agency at this stage. I'm not looking at the moment, but if/when I am I'll be approaching companies I know already to see if they've got any openings, then asking my friends/network of ex colleagues and people I know from the industry I'm in. Then cold networking in the industry I'm in. If that doesnt work out, then I'll start on the Indeeds

I'll always avoid agencies though, they generally waste their time and mine

Edited by andy-xr on Thursday 8th September 16:11

[CaptainCosworth]

Try and build a relationship with someone in your local recruitment agency office. Make an appointment or try to arrange a Skype call, and then give them a quick phonecall every couple of weeks so they remember you.

What sort of job are you looking for?

[edc]

CaptainCosworth said:

Try and build a relationship with someone in your local recruitment agency office. Make an appointment or try to arrange a Skype call, and then give them a quick phonecall every couple of weeks so they remember you.

What sort of job are you looking for?

Depending on the level of work you are looking for this may work. However, the branch based high street/general agency is quite location specifc and tends to service short-term temp needs or permanent roles up to say 50k or manager level. If your line of work is in any way specialist then you will likely find better (ie with more relevant jobs) recruiters out there.

[lewisf182]

I found indeed to be the best job site in terms of offerings and responses when I did go through to apply. Yes there are a lot of speculative agencies who still contacted me but they turned out to be genuine jobs rather than data gathering. I haven't bothered with reed/monster or any similar for years now.

[rog007]

Ste1987 said:

Getting a bit frustrated with Reed; nothing but recruitment agencies who never get back to you, just data gathering. I don't know anything about alternative options but surely there'll be job sites out there that companies can list their own jobs themselves without the agencies, or am I just stuck with trawling through individual company websites?

What is it you want to do, where and for how much? From that additional advice/signposting may be possible.