Has anyone else noticed that the number of 'direct employer' positions are increasing? Not because there are any more jobs, just that the agencies are not being honest, and are listing as direct employers. Perhaps they have realised what we have know for a while, not many people read, or have faith in, agency positions that may or may not exist.

I do agree with Ray, that agencies can be a bit of a lottery, I saw a post advertised recently and replied to the contact address, I was contacted by phone and asked to send in my CV via an email address sent to me later via text. I have heard nothing since, that was 6 weeks ago. I have tried chasing up the emails with telephone calls and all I ever get told is the person is out of the office and will call me back, and of cause they never do !!!! If I am not the right candidate for the position why don't they just tell me, GRRRR !!!! really frustrating. Does this happen often ?? SB

I too am very cynical of the services offered by some agencies. However, saying that I did get my last role (if that is any form of endorsement) through an agency that approached me via LinkedIn. I too feel that they (some) do fish for CV's in an attempt to fill a database. All too often recently I have applied for a role only to follow up with a phone call a couple of days later to find that the role had 'just closed for CV's' or had just been withdrawn by the client (which it is rare that you get to find out who it was/is). I am with Safety Butterfly the whole process of lack of communication is SOOOOO frustrating - as I have said on my 'blog' i can take rejection just tell me the truth please. As for agencies, I gather that they are generally paid a % of the salary that you are placed on so if they feel that you have no chance of getting the role then...................

It costs money to reply to job apllicants that aren't going anywhere/obviously not suitable/experienced etc - even if a job exists. Just don't take it personally. Remember recruitment consultancies have a pcking order to satisfy 1. Secure a placement so they get paid/get their individual commission. 2. Keep their client happy, so they get repeat business / requests to find other people when jobs come up. 3. Maybe just then, they will consider the applicants needs in terms of position/location/salary etc. Remember recruiters are first and foremost shallow sales types who don't see beyonf the next sale/end of month figures. Its ALL about money - stupid!!

I have worked with agencies on both sides of their fence. Although my section of the business has not recruited externally in the last three years, agencies still frequently send me speculative CVs and there are some very good candidates out in the market place. In terms of fees, agencies are paid a percentage of salary and one employer I previously worked for (in the good times) had an upper limit which they were prepared to pay and this often resulted in candidates (or job opportunities) being pulled with no agreement on this matter being reached. This may be one of the reasons (as a candidate) that job opportunities appear to evaporate. I am aware of one senior opportunity which was advertised externally by that organisation’s web-site and agencies were approached, as there were already over fifty applicants, on this occasion agencies were expected to submit exceptional candidates.

No I don't agree. I doubt that many outside the world of h&s are even aware of FFI.

Believe it or not Ray there are some within H&S who are not aware of FFI too - a fellow interviewee dropped himself in it at an interview/selection day lunch break when he said he was not aware of the forthcoming changes - the interviewing chap who we were sharing lunch with, was quite taken aback that he was not aware - i know he went no further! Keeping up to date is essential!!

Quote “does common courtesy really have to disappear from the service providers” I think the answer is no, but it is. Unfortunately I don’t think it is confined to some recruitment agencies. A new wheeze seems to be selling your details, I have a number of email addresses and one dedicated to agencies. Since the start of September this email address has been inundated by spam, so it can only be an agency or one of their customers, nice people. I will probably never know who passed on my details, but the effect has been to completely trash that email address, I don’t even like bingo!

OH for an edit button to clean up that last post, sorry

Hopefully you are right and they will wither away...... If anyone is looking for work then if possible ignore the agencies and make speculative applications pointing out that 1 - you have got off your bum and are keen and motivated and 2 you have potentially saved the client a shed load of fee. To put that in perspective, in a commercial consultancy we often found that the agency fee would nearly be the same as the profit on the employee for the first year..... The ones that I really really detest are the "we have got a graduate for you!!! now give us £2k". I could go on and on and on

My only two-penneth on this subject would be to say that not all Agencies are the same. I have obtained my last two Roles via Agencies and have also come across some really bad ones (In my experience). Do remember to cast your net far and wide as not all positions are advertised the same. I have seen exclusive jobs (that do genuinely exist) on only LinkedIn, some major job boards and others on Agency sites. Not every job is advertised across the board - some are not advertised at all. Most of the major agencies will reveal the name of the prospective employer if you ask them nicely enough and have built up a rapport with a certain individual at that company - this is a good indication of the authenticity of the role. Spinning the approach around a little I would advise that better success is to send a fully (attractive) up to date CV to the main Agencies and they will contact you should a match occur rather than you applying for something that may not exist. Its not for me to namedrop on a public forum my best/worst agencies as this would be skewwed by my personal experiences but if any one would like to PM me I can certainly tell you one big player to avoid like the plague! Final point is I cannot stress enough to make sure your CV is with an Agency that specialises in your work area (not just H&S) - I mean 'manufacturing' or 'FMCG' or 'Chemicals', 'Engineering' etc etc. Point I'm making is there is no point wasting time with a construction biased Agency when you are a looking for factory role.