Why do employers use recruitment agencies?

[Brussels Slumdog]

Agents seem to like the UK

It works both ways. When markets are stronger for contractors, are line managers going to simply settle for sending job specs to India and then rely upon faceless people who know and understand little about the UK contractor market to secure the people with the skills they need? Often the contractor market exists because certain skills are very hard to secure and therefore quite a bit of persuading and understanding needs to happen in order to secure the contractor with the right skills.

There are more UK agents working the Belgian market than local Belgian agents which means that line managers are already rely upon faceless people.
What is amazing is that everytime I speak to an agency about a possible
contract in France it's a French person working for a UK agency. The UK
seems to be the place to work if you want to be an agent I guess. Only Indians will want to work as agents in India and will serve the English speaking
world only. I have noticed that during this current downturn the number of
English speaking roles in europe have nearly vanished.
Skills which were very hard to secure now receive so many applicants that some agents seem to spend all day reading CVs

[DodgyAgent]

There are more UK agents working the Belgian market than local Belgian agents which means that line managers are already rely upon faceless people.
What is amazing is that everytime I speak to an agency about a possible
contract in France it's a French person working for a UK agency. The UK
seems to be the place to work if you want to be an agent I guess. Only Indians will want to work as agents in India and will serve the English speaking
world only. I have noticed that during this current downturn the number of
English speaking roles in europe have nearly vanished.
Skills which were very hard to secure now receive so many applicants that some agents seem to spend all day reading CVs

I have found it fascinating that there are very few French/Belgian/German agencies. I think it is because these people dont quite have the "cowboy" attitude that is needed to be successful in this market.

[SoupDragon]

I have been contacted direct by clients who found my CV on jobsite/monster/jobserve - not all of them were small companies, one was Duetschebank which suprised me a bit

[chapeau]

Which is the best job site for advertising jobs do you think?

[SoupDragon]

Which is the best job site for advertising jobs do you think?

I mainly use jobserve because it is easy to search.

Hasn't found me a contract yet though...

[pzz76077]

www.gulp.de

seems to be used a lot here in Europe.

PZZ

[chapeau]

I mainly use jobserve because it is easy to search.

Yes, was thinking that or cwjobs.

Got to fill two (permanent unfortunately for here) positions and it only costs a couple of hundred quid to post an ad, compare that to the (say) 15% minimum that agencies want. I think a problem related to the subject of the thread is that the company never considered this, they talked going to an agency by default. I got them to buy into the idea of direct advert very quickly infact, though I'd pay it out of my own pocket if I had to if it means avoiding having to deal with agencies I also get to see every cv too so can make my own mind up. Even if I get 250 applicants I can exclude most of them in a day, got to be cheaper to pay me to do that than an agency, in fact I know it is.

[rootsnall]

I have found it fascinating that there are very few French/Belgian/German agencies. I think it is because these people dont quite have the "cowboy" attitude that is needed to be successful in this market.

I think bureaucracy and european employment laws are a big factor.

[The Agents View]

Yes, was thinking that or cwjobs.

Got to fill two (permanent unfortunately for here) positions and it only costs a couple of hundred quid to post an ad, compare that to the (say) 15% minimum that agencies want. I think a problem related to the subject of the thread is that the company never considered this, they talked going to an agency by default. I got them to buy into the idea of direct advert very quickly infact, though I'd pay it out of my own pocket if I had to if it means avoiding having to deal with agencies I also get to see every cv too so can make my own mind up. Even if I get 250 applicants I can exclude most of them in a day, got to be cheaper to pay me to do that than an agency, in fact I know it is.

Good luck with that. Once you've been through each application and assessed it, dealt with the absolute barrage of follow up calls, Decided on a short list of 10, interviewed 5, and still found nobody because the best people in the market don't actually advertise their services - they use their network, and you've spent more than double the 15% that it would cost to pass it to an agent, and get a focused service (you have to consider the cost of running you for about a week including desk space, utilities, phone costs, plus lost opportunities you could have been generating through doing what you're paid to do. You'll also want to consider the cost of wasting the time of your senior staff because you've not been through the intensive due dilligence process, plus the cost of doing the due dilligence to avoid this.) Do feel free to contact a reputable, recommended agent, who can get under the skin of your requirement and deliver what you've been struggling to deliver for the previous week, with one profile.

No - not all the agents out there are as good as the select few who really know what they're doing - but for the sake of a couple of grand, is it really worth the hassle of doing anything but using the best?

Best of luck
TAV

[chapeau]

... but for the sake of a couple of grand..

Let's see.

2 positions
£40k each
15% agency fee

That makes twelve grand, not a couple.

So you have already been caught out telling porky pies. Why should I believe the rest? Been doing this for some time you know, you cannot BS me.

Or

Two hundred quid for a direct ad, one day of my time, and if it doesn't work, I grit my teeth and phone an agency and end up having to do all the real work anyway Just the same if I put the ad in myself and got the cvs direct.

I shall let you know what happens...