{"id":871,"date":"2010-05-06T19:08:55","date_gmt":"2010-05-06T18:08:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/t-machine.org\/?p=871"},"modified":"2010-05-06T19:08:55","modified_gmt":"2010-05-06T18:08:55","slug":"exposing-the-weak-recruitment-agencies-2-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/new.t-machine.org\/index.php\/2010\/05\/06\/exposing-the-weak-recruitment-agencies-2-more\/","title":{"rendered":"Exposing the Weak Recruitment Agencies: 2 more"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two more firms have proven their mettle this week (i.e.: think twice before engaging them).<\/p>\n

As always, it’s nothing personal. If a recruitment agent is doing a job that I and others think weak, but managed to persuade an employer to pay them to do it – and to accept that standard – then all power to them; they’re just making a living. No employer is ever “required” to use an agent, and they have many to choose from; they have no excuse for not insisting on high standards. Shame on the employers for screwing-up their own employee-base like this.<\/p>\n

See here for more examples:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Lorien<\/a>\n
  2. Aardvark Swift<\/a>\n<\/ol>\n

    Ravello\/Enigma<\/h4>\n

    First up, we have Ravello\/Enigma, with two big faux pas.<\/p>\n

    1. You didn’t even bother to read my profile before you approached me. Hmm.<\/h5>\n

    I double-checked. Yep, it’s still there, in black and white (and caps lock)<\/a>:<\/p>\n

    \n“NOTE CAREFULLY! * I only add people I actually know.”\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    2. You cold-contacted me with a job, and then refused to tell me what the job is. Or who it’s for. Or, in fact, *ANY REASON* I might be interested.<\/h5>\n

    \nRecruitment Agent:
    \n“I have the following role for you:
    \nJob type\/s: 2 roles. 6 months fixed term contract or 1 year perm.
    \nSalary: Wide open but depends on experience really.”\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    \nMe:
    \n“What’s the actual role? I’m guessing this is iPhone related? My standard rate for iPhone development and consulting is X”\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    \nRecruitment Agent:
    \n“The project details are top secret as my client advised me but it is an Iphone\/Ipad related role. As stated before, salary depends on experience.”\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    WTF? What is this – MI6? The CIA?<\/p>\n

    I tried to think of an intelligent response. I failed. Maybe I’m supposed to be “intrigued” and start begging the Agent to give me some information? “Artificial scarcity” and all that?<\/p>\n

    Frankly, I have no idea. Just too weird.<\/p>\n

    Unique Selection<\/h4>\n

    Second, we have Unique Selection, asking me to do their job for them gratis (the job that they get paid to do…).<\/p>\n

    1. How many times do you have to ask me to sell-out my network to you (which – as noted above – if you bothered to read my profile you’d see I’m not going to do) .. before you get the hint?<\/h5>\n
      \n
    1. “Also, could we connect on LinkedIn?”\n
    2. “In the meantime if we could connect on LInkedIn that would be great”\n<\/ol>\n

      On the third attempt I relented and pointed the agent at my profile. The one they should have read to start with.<\/p>\n

      2. Why would I do your job for you? And, even if you were paying me to find you candidates, why on earth would I not hire those people myself?<\/h5>\n

      \nAgent:
      \n“I wasn\u2019t sure if you could help me but my client is looking for an perm iPhone\/iPad App developer to join their team”\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

      \nMe:
      \n“I run an iPhone development team”\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

      (basically: I couldn’t believe they were really that cheeky \/ dumb as to ask me to do their recruiting for them.)<\/p>\n

      \nAgent:
      \n“If you were to go perm, what would roughly be the base you would look for?”\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

      \nMe:
      \n“I’m probably not interested.”\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

      \nAgent:
      \n“please feel free to pass my details to anyone you think could be interested.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

      Ah, yes, because those of us who actually “make things” have nothing better to do than offer ourselves up to be exploited so that recruitment agents can get a pay-cheque. Social security, eat your heart out…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Two more firms have proven their mettle this week (i.e.: think twice before engaging them). As always, it’s nothing personal. If a recruitment agent is doing a job that I and others think weak, but managed to persuade an employer to pay them to do it – and to accept that standard – then all […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/new.t-machine.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/new.t-machine.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/new.t-machine.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/new.t-machine.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/new.t-machine.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=871"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/new.t-machine.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/new.t-machine.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/new.t-machine.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/new.t-machine.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}