Recruitment Agencies

I currently work through a recruiting firm for a food manufacturer. It's not a bad job but the commute is not so hot so I'm starting to check out other options. My question pertains to the recruiting agency itself.

I'm not exactly sure how to handle my CV or speaking with a prospective employer about the agency. Should I not be bothered to give out the name of the company? Would the prospective employer be likely to contact the agency, or the company I'm working for? I'm a bit flummoxed as how to deal with this.

Anyone else out there work through a recruiting agency and want to help me out a bit?

Thanks!

I find that most companies have certain agencies they use and can be hesitate to use another and some don't use agencies at all.

My recommendation is to approach whatever company you're interested yourself. I wouldn't bring up the agency unless you feel particularly attached to them.

Or you could go to your agency and let them know you're interested in so and so company ask them if they can get you the interview. They'd love you after that.

Hmm, I just thought, you might be referring to referrals, is that right? If that's the case then it depends on how well you're getting along in the company you're working for. I have a couple of companies on my CV which I worked for through an agency. They can contact these companies because I know they'll give me a good reference.

Some, not so much, so I put the agency I worked for in that case. Agencies will give you good references every time. (well, unless you were truly crap at your job which I'm guessing is not the case)

Did I help at all?

That is really helpful - thanks!

I hadn't actually thought about referrals to be honest, but thanks for bringing it up. So you give the reference of the company you worked for, not the agency?  I thought that would be the best idea since my supervisor has a much better idea of how I'm actually doing in my job than the agency.

Thanks a lot for the feedback!

I run an electronics company so this is from an employer's point of view.....
I get dozens of unsolicited CVs from agencies.
They offer lots of very good skilled people, but the vast majority do not have skills appropriate to the business. I might see one or two a year that generate a spark of interest.  It put this down to the agiencies not really having the skills to know the match of skills to the target company - not a criticism, just a matter of practicalities. To them, it is a numbers job. More attempts, more hits.

Headhunters do a better job in that they usually know more about the candidate and companies they need to approach.

Both, from the employer's poit of view, are very expensive options. Typically they try to charge 30% of the first years salary.

My advice would be to try to find prospective employers in your field and within your geographical area. Check out in detail what they do. Check out employment ads in newspapers local to that area.

When you know what they do and, assuming you have a skill that you could sell them, write directly to the person/dept you think could benefit from your input.

Don't get discouraged. Remember what I said about the numbers job.

Cheers, Cascode. I'm really amazed at the amount of money agencies make out of pimping out employees! I know for the work I'm doing now, each of the contractors working in the lab personally bring in £25 000/year for the agency. Wow!

Good advice about personally sending out CV's. It's what I'm more used to doing, but I got the distinct impression that it's not the done thing here. No? I certainly don't mind personally sending out my CV's as long as it doesn't decrease my chances of actually getting an interview.

what i have found, in the financial services business, is the RIGHT agents really do a great job of finding the right opprotunity for you.

I was registered with about 10.....and only 4 of them are really trying and setting me up with jobs that are right for me.  so i dropped the other 6, as they don't care about me or my career-just my sallary.

I do have to say, i applied directly to a few major financial houses.  the tough bit, if an agent who you really like has an 'in' at the company you already sent your cv into, due to conflict of interest they can NOT talk to that company about you-as you are already in their database.  that's tough, and it happened to me for a job i may have liked.

so really, maybe it's more agency specific....but really interview the agencies.  they are working for you, they will profit off of you and you want to be sure they are representing you correctly!

i've gotten the most respect and the most results from being tough with them.  letting them know i know the recruitment game.....and it's worked wonders. 

As it happens I have a prospective candidate that I will interview next week.

It was a cold call from a recruitment agency who really had no clue about what we do. The rep had picked up on one buzz word and sent me a CV. It was enough to make me think that a telephone interview was worth the time it would take.

The telephone interview went well enough to set up a face to face interview.

If the interview goes well I will then discuss the fees that the recruitment agency wants. The job is a £35-£40k position and their "srandard" fee is 30% of the first year salary.

My opening gambit will be 10%
The most we have ever paid is 15%.