Friday, June 5th, 2009
Recruitment Agencies – Can’t Win
Agencies are getting a terrible time from jobseekers in the current market place. I know there have been some dodgy operators about over the years with poor quality and customer service skills but reaction of many jobseekers is over the top in this marketplace.
Advice for jobseekers for dealing with agencies…..
Agency employment figures have been slashed by up to 60% which means that there are less consultants to manage what can be described as an avalanche of CV’s.
Recruitment agencies have less jobs and in some cases no jobs. This means that they need to spend their time trying to find them. This involves canvassing companies who on the most part don’t need them the attract candidates in this market.
Tips
Avoid speculative CV’s to agencies as it is like throwing your CV into outer space. Try to target agencies who have specific jobs.
If you are not getting a call back don’t get mad – move on to the next application. If the recruiter spoke to and replied to every jobseeker they would not have time to try and get jobs in.
Try more proactive job search strategies – to me using recruitment agencies is lazy job hunting in this market. Yes you have to cover the recruitment agency strategy BUT there is much more that you can do.
Tags: Recruitment Agencies
Posted in Recruitment, Recruitment Agencies | No Comments »
Wednesday, March 18th, 2009
I worked in Recruitment for a good number of years and ran a successful agency in Dublin. I know the market very well and understand the challenges facing many agencies in Ireland in 2009.
One trend I have noticed is that agencies are throwing money at online marketing such as google adwords and online job boards in order to ride this period of economic turmoil. Are these giving you the results you need? Why not try a different tool to access the online market?
To cut the the chase – I will offer online advertising for recruitment agencies in the form of a SEO optimised post on their company or a number of SEO optimised job posts. This site has approx 200-250 visitors a day and with a url containing the words “HR” and “Recruitment” and over 100 relevant posts you can be sure the traffic is relevant to your business – quite possibly employers which is what you need!!
Why am I doing this? – Firstly it could benefit our readers as quite a few are looking for jobs but there are many employers who could find benefit in your services. Secondly – after you see the results you will realise that it could be worth the small investment to pay for advertising!!
I would also point out that we have 6 other similar sites with a combined daily traffic of approx 1200 during the week.
I look forward to your replies.
Tags: Agencies, Consultants, Employers, Ireland, Irish Agencies, Irish Recruitment Agencies, Job Boards, Jobseekers, Recruitment, Recruitment Agencies
Posted in HR, HR & Recruitment, Jobs, News, Recruitment, Recruitment Agencies | No Comments »
Monday, November 17th, 2008
I offered some free advertising on this site for Recruiters or HR Service providers. One thing I didn’t clarify was that direct competition would not get a look in. As we offer Outplacement Services those seeking to advertise similar services need not apply.
Anyway I received little response BUT was surprised that the small response was all from Recruitment Agencies who were seeking to advertise outplacement and career services. Sign of the times I guess.
Now I am not anti-agency providing these services as many commentators are. I am actually from an agency background some moons ago and I realise that there are many skilled professionals in the recruitment sector with qualifications and experience to support organisations and employees through redundancy. I know of many professionals who have moved from recruitment into outplacement and career services very successfully (again including this writer). BUT there is a distinct difference between those professionals in that they chose and were not forced to.
The questions I ask are:
“How committed are recruitment agencies to Outplacement & Career services?”
Possessing the ability and capability is one thing but the commitment is another. Having discussed this with some agencies they have no more interest in Outplacement or Careers and this is purely for income generation during a tough recruitment market. Once the market picks up the interest will subside. One particular agency left a post on this site advertising Outplacement services. When I visited their website there was no mention of these services. One other agency I read about “had been thinking of this for some time” – really!!
“Can you be a recruiter and give impartial Career & Outplacement advice?”
This is a 50 million dollar question. If a sales professional affected by redundancy is telling the recruitment consultant offering outplacement support that the want a career change. What will the recruiter do/ how will they respond when they have an open vacancy for sales which this sales professional would fill in a heartbeat. Tough one!!
Anyway – any views on this please post.
Tags: Consultant, HR, Ireland, Outplacement, Recruiter, Recruitment Agencies, Redundancy, Services
Posted in Career Coaching, Outplacement Services, Recruitment, Recruitment Agencies | No Comments »
Monday, March 17th, 2008
The internet and technology has changed many areas of life including recruitment. Initially it was the introduction of online jobboards but now it is Bebo, Blogs and Second Life.
Many companies are now considering Second Life as a platform to attract, meet, provide information and provide open days to potential employees. Yes virtual questions and answers!! Sounds mad BUT if you don’t explore this option you could be missing out on a wealth of talent. Many progressive companies have started – have a look for your self. There are company offices and even recruitment agencies. I hope they are better than the agencies in the real world.
I find it hard to get many clients to use psychometric testing when recruiting so I don’t know how I could get them to log into Second Life.
Tags: Bebo, Blogs, Ireland, Jobboards, Psychometric Testing, Recruitment Agencies, Second Life
Posted in HR, Jobs, News | No Comments »
Sunday, February 10th, 2008
Employers love to complain about Recruitment Agencies. I agree that there are cowboys out there BUT agencies do have and always will have an important role to play in recruiting staff.
I help clients to assess and select applicants BUT I do not help them attract or source candidates. I am often asked what agencies I recommend. I have many great contacts in the industry but I tend to let clients make their own decisions. The advice I give to clients is somewhat similar to that that is given to jobseekers.
For employers not familiar with the recruitment agency market or employers recruiting in Ireland for the first I have identified agencies under a number of categories. I would point out that there are over 500 recruitment agencies registered in Ireland so the list below is a short summary to point you in the right direction.
General Recruitment Agencies
These agencies have divisions to cater for most roles including Sales, Technical, IT, Administration, Pharmaceutical, HR, Banking & Finance, Construction and Hotel & Catering.
Eden Recruitment
CPL Recruitment
Brightwater Recruitment
HRM Recruitment
Premier Group
Manpower
Grafton Recruitment
Hudson
Sigmar Recruitment
Hunter Marshal
Qualitas
Ormond Recruitment
Specialist Recruiters
The list below is agencies that are specialist generally focusing on a particular sector or function.
Sales Recruiters
BMS
Sales Placement
School of Sales
Berkley Sales & Marketing
IT Recruiters.
Rescon
Computer Futures
Elan IT
Enterprise People
Banking & Finance Recruiters
Executive Connections
Delta Resource
Accountancy Solutions
Q.E.D
FH Recruitment
Hotel & Catering Recruiters
Noel Recruitment
Caterassist
Maria Logan Recruitment
Administration & HR Recruiters
Maryb Recruitment
Capital Recruitment
La Crème
Office Angels
Pharmaceutical Recruiters
Kingsley Recruitment
Life Science Recuitment
Brunel Recruitment
Construction Recruiters
ICDS
Atlanco
Matrix
Tags: Accountancy Solutions, Administration, Atlanco, Banking & Finance, Berkley Sales & Marketing, BMS, Brightwater, Brunel Recruitment, Capital Recruitment, Caterassist, Computer Futures, CPL Recruitment, Delta Resource, Eden Recruitment, Elan IT, Enterprise People, Executive Connections, FH Recruitment, Grafton Recruitment, Hotel & Catering, HR, HRM, Hudson, Hunter Marshal, ICDS, IT, Kingsley, La Crème, Life Science, Manpower, Maria Logan, Maryb, Matrix, Noel Recruitment, Office Angels, Ormond, Pharmaceutical, Premier Group, Q.E.D, Qualitas, Recruitment Agencies, Rescon, Sales, Sales Placement, School of Sales, Sigmar Recruitment, Technical
Posted in Jobs, Recruitment Agencies | 1 Comment »
