You need to remember that an agency works for the employer and not candidates. They are indifferent to whether it is you that fills a particular vacancy or another candidate, as long as someone from their own agency that gets the job. You will be disappointed if you expect your agency to spend money and time protecting your interests, looking after you, coaching and training you or even promoting you.
The easiest way to encourage your agency to put you forward for positions is by making it easy for them to sell your personality and abilities as an employee. On the other hand, if you are known as being difficult to work with, hard to define or you yourself are not exactly clear with what you are looking for or want; you may find that even the most reputable recruiters will put more effort into other candidates instead.
If you are looking to become one of your recruitment agencies favorite candidates for positions, you need to put the following tips into practice.
Top 10 Tips From Recruitment Agencies
- Always reply quickly to an email or telephone call from your recruitment agency, as they may be involved in a competition for a particular position or positions with other agencies.
- Recruitment agencies generally favor the candidates that are seeking positions that are similar to their previous roles, as they are much easier to sell to employers. Ensure that you have a CV that puts you out there as a great choice for the roles you are interested in.
- You will be unlikely to be put forward for different roles to the ones you have had previously when looking for a change in your career unless you can convince them that you are better than other candidates they would normally put forward for the same positions.
- Keep in mind that the main focus for agencies is fulfilling the needs of their customers, the employers, not their candidates. Therefore, they will not work on your behalf – so don’t expect them to.
- Ensure that your CV is full of relevant keywords featured in the job description and advert for a particular role you are applying for if doing so online as these will be used by the agency to choose the best candidates from their records.
- The old adage ‘if something seems too good to be true, it probably is’ can be applied to the recruitment agency sector. You can expect that sometimes when you apply for a particular position through an agency that you will be told it has already been taken and then become available again sometime later. It is not uncommon for agencies to post fake jobs to entice great candidates to their agency using fake adverts. Even though this practice prohibited by the code of practice set out by the Recruitment And Employment Confederation (REC).
- It is illegal for an agency to charge commission or any other kind of fee in order for you to get a job. Therefore, never part with money when working with a recruitment agency, unless you are working within the modeling and entertainment industry. This is different because agencies in that sector actively promote their candidates.
- Always go for the positions you want. Recruiters are trained to be experts at persuading candidates to go for particular roles. However, it will just waste everyone’s time, including your own, if you let agencies put you up for jobs you don’t actually want.
- Tell the truth and make sure you give accurate details regarding employment dates, grades and other related information. Recruitment agencies will look bad if employers discover there are things that don’t quite add up or are inaccurate on your CV. In turn, it may mean that your recruiter is reluctant to put you up for other vacancies in the future.
- As recruitment agencies understand the market rates and keep abreast of changes, you need to inquire whether your expected earnings are realistic or not.
Author photostock and image courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net
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