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Recruitment consultants: best friend or sales shark? Totaljobs 29th June
2010
Having spent many years in the industry, I know
that both can be true. But you can find helpful consultants and keep them on side just by following my
three “R” guide:
Recommendations:
There are literally thousands of recruitment consultancies out there, so how do you know who to register with?
- Ask for recommendations from people you trust.
-
If you’ve been made redundant and can look for a job openly
ask your HR team who they use to recruit.
- Getting a name you can call is a great start as you already have a “warm contact”.
-
Look on a consultancy’s website to see who their biggest clients
are. Are they businesses you want to work for?
Relationships: Recruitment consultants are paid only when they successfully place people.
So it’s no surprise that as sales people they will see you as a product they could make money from! Make sure they treat
you as a human being instead by establishing personal relationships with them.
-
Keep in regular contact and let them know about any other jobs you
are going for.
- The best consultancies will interview you face to face to get to know you, or at the very least conduct a telephone
interview. Be sceptical about how professional they are if they don’t! Never agree to be put forward for the same job by several different consultancies and make sure your consultant
won’t send out your CV without speaking to you – you could really annoy a potential employer
if they see your CV more than once.
- Register with the best three to four consultancies in your area of expertise. Quantity is
not necessarily better here; the quality of consultancy and their clients is much more important.
Reliance: Finally, don’t rely entirely on recruitment consultants. Most
employers are cutting costs by using them less and will try every other method of attracting applicants first.
So make the most of job sites, social networking sites and company websites too. Ask your friends or ex-colleagues
who work for companies you’re interested if they run employee referral schemes.Good
luck with forging solid relationships with the best recruitment consultants out there!
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