CVs and Interviews

The Job Hunting Blame Game …..

As the economy continues to tighten we are all looking for someone or something to blame for or situation or woes. This is no different when job hunting. I regularly work with jobseekers who can list out many factors to blame while they themselves come out unscathed.

Top of the blame game hit list are the poor old recruitment agencies. I worked in the sector a number of years back and had my own agency so I have a good insight into the sector. I know there are some cowboys out there but equally there are many good recruiters. The fact remains they are not the reason why you can’t change jobs or can’t find a job. And another point blaming recruiters won’t get you a job!!

How to manage a recruiter

Below are some pointers but there are more ……

Firstly manage your expectations. This is a free service so expect to get what you pay for – nothing. Anything above this will be a bonus.

Recruiters are not there to offer career advice – they put bums on seats. Having said this you may meet a nice recruiter will to help – again remember these are sales guys and gals.

In this market don’t expect a response to your email or phone call. Recruiters are coming down with paper. They don’t have time to talk to you if you do not represent $$$. Believe me if you are hot property you will know!!

Try to make contact with the recruiter but again remember previous point. A good way to get contact is via an open vacancy that you could fill. Speculative CVs are a bit of a waste of time in this market. You could also make contact via referrals.

If you do get to meet or talk to a recruiter it is up to you to maintain the communication and manage the relationship. Again these guys and gals are extremely busy. They are frantically trying to source new jobs in order to place you. They don’t have time to call you up to tell you nothing. You have to stay in touch BUT avoid stalking.

Be good to recruiters and they will be good to you.

STOP BLAMING as it won’t help you find a new job!! Are you really doing everything you can? From experience working with many jobseekers most are not.

Measurability for Job Hunting Staregies, CV Writing & Interview Coaching.

Many individuals I support through Career Coaching give out about recruitment agencies which I think is sometimes over the top as agencies provide a free service to the jobseeker. The main complaint about agencies revolves around the lack of communication from recruiters. The Irish Independent article below has some comments from my good friend Ivan which can help explain why recruiters are struggling to get back in touch.

OVER a third of recruiters have lost their own jobs, due to the record hike in unemployment.
The industry dedicated to matching vacancies with workers has itself been decimated over the last 12 months with a total of 4,500 jobs lost in what was once a 12,000-strong sector.
Many employment agencies have drastically reduced their staffing levels as the numbers signing on soared by 97pc.

The group representing employment agencies, the National Recruitment Federation (NRF), saw just a handful of clients go to the wall but has recorded a massive drop in the number of employees.
NRF president Frank Collins, said he knew of one agency where staffing levels plummeted from 12 to just one person, and another where they fell from 28 to eight.

He said “green shoots’ were visible in some sectors of the economy, although employers were waiting to see if this would lead to a recovery.

Managing director of recruitment website employireland.ie, Ivan Stojanovic, said his business survived purely because it was not heavily dependent on placement adverts.

“Recruiters have been the hardest hit of any sector,” he said. “As time goes by, it’s getting worse and worse. I believe the figure of those who have lost their jobs in recruitment could be around two out of three.

Most jobseekers use recruitment agencies in Ireland. It’s an effective way to get a job when it works for you. Bang off a few emails and sit back and wait for the interviews to roll in. I have heard my fair share of bad recruitment agency stories but they play a key role in Ireland. So who recruits for what in Ireland?

General Recruitment Agencies - Here are some of the bigger generalist agencies in Ireland. When I say generalist they have specialist divisions for most areas such as IT, Sales, Engineering, Pharmaceutical, Banking & Finance, Accountancy, Administration, HR and more – Eden Recruitment, CPL, HRM, Brightwater, Sigmar Recruitment, Manpower, Premier Group

Recruitment Agencies specialising in Sales & Marketing – Sales Placement, School of Sales, Berkley & BMS

Recruitment Agencies specialising in Finance & Banking – Q.E.D, Accountancy Solutions, Executive Connections, FH Recruitment & Delta Resource

Recruitment Agencies specialising in IT both permanent and contracting – Elan IT, Enterprise People, Rescon & Computer Futures

Recruitment Agencies specialising in Construction – Atlanco, ICDS & Matrix

Recruitment Agencies specialising in Pharmaceutical - Life Science, Brunel & Kingsley

Recruitment Agencies specialising in Administration, Commercial & Temping – La Crème, Office Angels, Maryb & Capital Recruitment

Recruitment Agencies in Hotel & Catering – Noel Recruitment & Caterassist

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