Jobserve/ Recruitment Agents

[tim123]

As i said, If you KNOW the decision makers. KNOWING implies some trust, so yeah they will trust your Joe Bloggs computing one man band company enough because they know and trust YOU.

This is not my experience. Even though I have shown myself to be trustworthy and capable to a client manager, whenever I have discussed the possibility of bidding for some, suitable sized, fixed price work, the response is always that my company is too small for the appropriate manager to accept my bid.

I've known one person manage to do this, but that's all.

tim

[Spacecadet]

This is not my experience. Even though I have shown myself to be trustworthy and capable to a client manager, whenever I have discussed the possibility of bidding for some, suitable sized, fixed price work, the response is always that my company is too small for the appropriate manager to accept my bid.

I've known one person manage to do this, but that's all.

tim

ok - I wasn't drawing any distinction between fixed price and by the hour work. My experience with direct has been by the hour.

Also the people who i've gone direct with have already known me in a proffesional capacity for 5+ years. No need for interviews, all they've needed is a recent CV of mine to keep the board happy.

[Solid]

xeon

Hi xeon

I understand your frustrations. Unfortunately sometimes Jobserve causes more problems than it solves for both contractors and recruiters alike.

I run the resourcing department for a software testing consultancy, so have to use Jobserve to source associate contractors for our projects. Within 5 minutes of placing the advert, my inbox is swamped. I suspect that there is some sort of keyword trigger that automatically sends your CV when certain pre-determined words are placed in the ad. In my case "test" or "testing". Not all testing is the same, but I'll get hundreds of responses from people whether they have the right skills or not. Some auto reply, some don't read the ads carefully, some just are desperate for any job.

However, mostly I would blame unethical recruiters and the tactics they are willing to employ to make money. Some recruiters post jobs purely to obtain CVs, market info, etc. They are supposed to have a qualified job role before placing an ad, but the number of jobs being placed means this is almost impossible to police despite what the ad board company says.

Some will talk to you just to find out about who you are working for at the moment so they can socially engineer names from you at your present company.

Others will even ring the ads themselves trying to trick rival recruiters into thinking they are contractors in order to get the job details and try and place their own candidates there. I have even had a contractor who was accepting money to pass on details of our jobs to a recruitment company. They must think I was born yesterday. Needless to say we don't work with any individual who acts like this.

My advice. See if there is a specialist company that works in your area of expertise. Call them, don't just send your CV. Get to know someone there, build a relationship. They are far more likely to help you if they know you, rather than just being another CV in the pile. Do this with several agencies of similar calibre. The more irons and the more fires, the more likely you are to find work. If you see them advertising a job on Jobserve, call your consultant and tell him, don't just submit your CV. Have a conversation and ask them if they'd like your updated CV. It works far better. It gives you an opportunity to remind them of your skills and tell them why you should be submitted based on your understanding of the role and the skills you have. Don't be phoning every 5 minutes though. Noone likes a phone pest.

Just remember. In a perfect world we all get what we want. Unfortunately this world is far from perfect and there are unsavoury characters on both sides of the fence. You'll soon find out who you can trust and who you can't.