Agency tactics

[LukeBrown66]

This is one I am never sure of.

When you are talking to recruitment agencies they are often asking you where you work or where you might be going. Digging I guess. And we all know why, to network and then get hold of HR etc to bombard them with calls and emails.

I am annoyingly in this field again much to my frustration, and am finding this a lot more.

For instance, I mentioned to one that I had some interviews lined up and prying to find out where?

Now why would I tell you that, so you can pester them and potentially have a candidate that is better than me?

So, now I tend to either bluff it or simply say "I am not going to tell you", do you think this goes against me?

[Scrump]

The reason they ask may be as you say, but from my perspective as an employer I don’t want the same CV in from multiple agencies so finding out where you are already in contact with saves them and the employer time.

Asking where you currently work is vital as they don’t want to send your CV to your current employer! Also I always ask the agency where candidates are currently employed.

[seyre1972]

Ah - affectionately known as "pimps" in the IT recruitment world. Usually with a superb title of Executive talent search director or the like. When you look at their LinkedIn profile - Graduate, worked in Subway for 2 years, and then became a recruitment agent.

Unfortunately a necessary evil as most companies won't even entertain direct approaches and use said agencies to "filter" candidates. Have had a few examples where they actually modified a CV to make their candidate match the requirements - without the candidate knowing .....

Farming contacts, getting leads .... if they want somebody - give them the name of the person whom you disliked most at your previous place of employment

[Countdown]

LukeBrown66 said:

This is one I am never sure of.

When you are talking to recruitment agencies they are often asking you where you work or where you might be going. Digging I guess. And we all know why, to network and then get hold of HR etc to bombard them with calls and emails.

I am annoyingly in this field again much to my frustration, and am finding this a lot more.

For instance, I mentioned to one that I had some interviews lined up and prying to find out where?

Now why would I tell you that, so you can pester them and potentially have a candidate that is better than me?

So, now I tend to either bluff it or simply say "I am not going to tell you", do you think this goes against me?

On the one hand RAs have absolutely zero morals so if they can earn money by placing you they will, regardless of what they think about you. OTOH if they have umpteen other candidates with the same skill set they might send forward the other CVs rather than yours. I suggest just answering that you are not applying anywhere else. Really they should check with you before sending out your CV so that would stop any prospective employer from getting your CV twice.

It is scummy behaviour but Recruitment Agents will tell you that it's normal/standard and they openly admit it's so they can send other CVs through to the Recruiting organisation.

By the way when they ask you where you're currently working it's so they can find out who the key people are with responsibility for recruiting (so they can spam them with emails and calls).

[seyre1972]

Scrump said:

The reason they ask may be as you say, but from my perspective as an employer I don’t want the same CV in from multiple agencies so finding out where you are already in contact with saves them and the employer time.

Asking where you currently work is vital as they don’t want to send your CV to your current employer! Also I always ask the agency where candidates are currently employed.

Another question is to ensure they are on the PSL (Preferred Supplier List) for the company they are advertising for. As above - if your CV comes through from 2 agencies, you maybe ruled out of taken further etc.

[ashleyman]

I always ask if the recruiter is working exclusively on the role?

It they're not then no chance. Don't want to hear anything else. The other thing I've learnt is when they phone about 1 role and then say that doesn't sound like a fit but I have this instead. No chance again.

My last role I got through a recruiter and it was a good experience for a change. But I spoke to loads who were just a waste of time.

[dibblecorse]

ashleyman said:

I always ask if the recruiter is working exclusively on the role?

It they're not then no chance. Don't want to hear anything else. The other thing I've learnt is when they phone about 1 role and then say that doesn't sound like a fit but I have this instead. No chance again.

My last role I got through a recruiter and it was a good experience for a change. But I spoke to loads who were just a waste of time.

I wouldn't rule out roles with more than one agency, I say this as an Internal Recruitment Lead, I wouldn't ever place a role her with just one agency, we have a minimum of 2 and a max of 3, usually just the 2 though as having all my eggs in one basket doesn't work, we only for 3 if we are trying to fill multiples of the same role and for quick coverage, that way each has a good chance of writing some business with us.

The PSL question is a good one, if they are not formally approved to work the role, don'y go near it, we regularly get CVs in with 'saw this on LinkedIn and wanted to send you candidate x' we reply with a blunt thanks but no thanks and if we subsequently hire we won't pay a fee as we don't accept unsolicited CVs, if an agency makes our life hard in those regards we will and have walked away from candidates.

I did in excess of 10 years agency side before coming in house so know all the plays, I never worked in Subway though !!!

[okgo]

Increasingly external agents are becoming obsolete in my world, companies have their own talent teams and with LinkedIn being what it is you can get a job to the right audience without recruitment agents and manage it in-house.

The last 3 job offers I’ve had have been direct applications, and frankly even before that I can’t remember the agents being of much use.

So go and do your own research and apply direct.

[LukeBrown66]

I always have and always will find Linkedn utterly useless, I simply do not understand how it works! and I have been in the game for a very long time, people I know get jobs all the time on there, and do little different to me, I simply most have missed the memo but it is offered me nothing in years, literally nothing other than spam.

[okgo]

I’d suggest it’s worth working out how it works. The world is changing recruitment wise and LI is at the forefront of that.

[LukeBrown66]

I had a priofile on there without even knowing and never once, despite activating, setting it all up got no phones call from it, I do OK using the methods I use now. So no loss.

[anonymous-user]

I once went to an RA to sign up to them back in my engineering days. They asked me days, hours and wages I was expecting. After filling out all the crap, I got the answer of sorry, we only give out night work at minimum wage.

[Gargamel]

Countdown said:

By the way when they ask you where you're currently working it's so they can find out who the key people are with responsibility for recruiting (so they can spam them with emails and calls).

You say spam with calls and emails, Recruitment Consultants might say ''network with them to provide a high value service in placing an ideal candidate into their open vacancy'

For the OP, they are absolutely only trying to lead generate, just let them know about the ones you didn't get. Keeps them happy and helps your relationship with them. On the other hand it doesn't introduce additional competition into roles that you are being considered for.

Reformed RA of 20 years...

[TonyRPH]

A few years back, I was looking for a job and the RA asked where I was working.

At the time, I was working for a small company, and my manager (the operations director) was frequently off site with no internet access, and would quite often ask me to access his mailbox.

Imagine my surprise when he asked me to access his mailbox a few days after speaking to the RA, and his mailbox had several mailshots from the RA containing CVs for my job (and I'd not even resigned nor found another job at this stage).

Not very ethical at all...

I have a very low opinion of recruitment agencies (although there are some exceptions but they are rare).

[Countdown]

Gargamel said:

You say spam with calls and emails, Recruitment Consultants might say ''network with them to provide a high value service in placing an ideal candidate into their open vacancy'

The definition of spam is an unwanted / unsolicited email. I don't know if RA's are aware but it's very easy to block senders on Outlook. This means that even if we've advertised a vacancy their emails won't get through because they've been blocked. The same applies with phone calls.

[Gargamel]

Countdown said:

Gargamel said:

You say spam with calls and emails, Recruitment Consultants might say ''network with them to provide a high value service in placing an ideal candidate into their open vacancy'

The definition of spam is an unwanted / unsolicited email. I don't know if RA's are aware but it's very easy to block senders on Outlook. This means that even if we've advertised a vacancy their emails won't get through because they've been blocked. The same applies with phone calls.

It's a shame how you are missing out on great talents in the market, who could be giving your business a competitive advantage, through this kind of closed minded blocking.

[bad company]

Gargamel said:

Countdown said:

Gargamel said:

You say spam with calls and emails, Recruitment Consultants might say ''network with them to provide a high value service in placing an ideal candidate into their open vacancy'

The definition of spam is an unwanted / unsolicited email. I don't know if RA's are aware but it's very easy to block senders on Outlook. This means that even if we've advertised a vacancy their emails won't get through because they've been blocked. The same applies with phone calls.

It's a shame how you are missing out on great talents in the market, who could be giving your business a competitive advantage, through this kind of closed minded blocking.

Closed mind indeed. The recruitment industry is worth and contributes £billions:-

https://www.rec.uk.com/our-view/news/press-release...

[Countdown]

bad company said:

Closed mind indeed. The recruitment industry is worth and contributes £billions:-

https://www.rec.uk.com/our-view/news/press-release...

Just because an industry is worth billions doesn't mean that it's not full of scummy/sleazy practices, as mentioned by the OP. Let's be honest, not all Agencies feel the need to operate like that. You certainly won't get cold called by some of the Agencies working at the top end of the market. Neither will they be ringing up your staff and asking for an Org Chart or the email addresses for HR.

[bad company]

Countdown said:

bad company said:

Closed mind indeed. The recruitment industry is worth and contributes £billions:-

https://www.rec.uk.com/our-view/news/press-release...

Just because an industry is worth billions doesn't mean that it's not full of scummy/sleazy practices, as mentioned by the OP. Let's be honest, not all Agencies feel the need to operate like that. You certainly won't get cold called by some of the Agencies working at the top end of the market. Neither will they be ringing up your staff and asking for an Org Chart or the email addresses for HR.

The industry hasn’t grown to that size if most of the agencies were as you say. I suspect that those resorting to underhand methods are new, trying to get established and have no established client bases.

As you may recall I owned and ran an agency dealing with the legal profession for many years. I sold up over 10 years ago though.

[Hoolio]

I'd be interested to understand how the OP thinks the recruitment (agency) market works.