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Recruitment Agencies - any recommendations or advice?

Edinburgh Girl's picture
Submitted by Edinburgh Girl on 3 October 2008 - 10:43am.

I am looking for a new job and challenge - i know not great in the current climate but life goes on.  I was wondering about signing up with a recruitment agency as i am not really sure what i want to do and wondered if they would have a wide range of opportunities for me.  Can anyone recommend a good recruitment agency and are they worth using - thanks

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dianadawson's picture
Submitted by dianadawson on 19 November 2008 - 2:10pm.
As a Registered Career Counsellor and Coach my advice would be to know what you want before going to a recruitment agency. As the previous writer mentioned and having worked in recruitment myself, the recruitment job is target driven and a sales job, so recruiters will be more motivated to put energy into helping those who know what they want and will do well at interview. So start by knowing what you want to do (independant career counselling like myself or Careers Scotland or even books like What Colour is My Rainbow might help). Then think about how you're going to get there. Search on sites like s1 jobs to find agencies that deal with the type of role you are looking for and always try to see them face to face before you get taken on their books.
md36's picture
Submitted by md36 on 30 October 2008 - 8:07pm.
I am in HR and have had experience of using agencies to find employees and temping through an agency myself many times. They are worth using but remember they are salespeople and money is their motivation. Some agencies are much better than others. You are the product and they make money out of you. If you are looking for part-time work agencies are not always the best option as companies have to pay quite a large fee to the agency for finding an employee. Companies are more likely to get part-time staff through word of mouth or advertising in the local papers. It is always an option to send your cv and letter to HR Manager of a company you would like to work for. Remember an HR dept will get lots of CVs so yours needs to stand out. Get the name of the manager to put on covering letter.

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