Does an agency have to speak to you...

[havoc1]

Does an agency have to speak to you before submitting your cv?

I am in the position, as others are, where I applied through agent 1. They didn't get back to me, deadline was looming, so I applied by email to agent 2.

Agent 1 then gets back to me and gets things moving. Agent 2 also tries to phone, emails - I didn't reply, as I was kinda hedging with agent 1 in case they then didn't submit me in which case I could go back to agent 2 just in case.

Both then submit me, and agent 1, who seemed to put a bit of effort in, then moans to me about agent 2.

Question - did me emailing my CV and cover letter to agent 2 give them authority to proceed or should they have physically spoken to me? They emailed me a cover sheet to fill in and I didn't respond so they clearly just went ahead just on the basis of my initial email.

[KevinS]

IMO, no they didn't.. I have always had agents call me to confirm after I submit, at which point I normally try and get them to divulge details of the company in question, just in case I get other agents calling (who may already know me as I am in a fairly small market) about the same company..

[Cowboy Bob]

It is illegal to submit your CV without your express permission. If you don't get the gig, there may even be a slight chance of suing Agency 2 for loss of earnings - though that may be stretching it a bit.

[TheFaQQer]

Does an agency have to speak to you before submitting your cv?

I am in the position, as others are, where I applied through agent 1. They didn't get back to me, deadline was looming, so I applied by email to agent 2.

Agent 1 then gets back to me and gets things moving. Agent 2 also tries to phone, emails - I didn't reply, as I was kinda hedging with agent 1 in case they then didn't submit me in which case I could go back to agent 2 just in case.

Both then submit me, and agent 1, who seemed to put a bit of effort in, then moans to me about agent 2.

Question - did me emailing my CV and cover letter to agent 2 give them authority to proceed or should they have physically spoken to me? They emailed me a cover sheet to fill in and I didn't respond so they clearly just went ahead just on the basis of my initial email.

They should have discussed the opportunity with you before submitting the CV. The role may have been something that you weren't interested in once you had more information, so best practice suggests that they should have spoken to you before sending it over.

BTW - "physically spoken"? How else do you speak to someone?

[VectraMan]

You'd expect them to, but I think if you email your cv for a specific job, then you've given them permission to submit your cv for that job.