Agent: Please complete this skills matrix..

[MaryPoppins]

...this is a new one I've noticed recently.

More and more often, as my CV is submitted for a role, agents are asking me to complete a summary of my skills, which I assume they use to summarise my CV. I'm sure they used to do this themselves.

I can't decide whether it's irritating to be doing something they should be doing, or helpful to be able to complete it myself so that it actually makes sense.

[Zippy]

I have a summary at the top of my cv so am suspicious of agents that ask me to go through it again.
You could look at it this way - its better than them making it up?

[TinTrump]

I have a summary at the top of my cv so am suspicious of agents that ask me to go through it again.

Same here so I don't fill those things in and I tell them why.

[nomadd]

Same here so I don't fill those things in and I tell them why.

+1

I always tell the lazy buggers to pull their fingers out and do the job they are being paid for... If the role seems genuine, I just tell them to cut-n-paste the second half of page 1 of my cv - the bit that reads "Career Summary" - as that's all I'd be prepared to do. It's amazing how many agents then actually bother to look at your cv and go "Oh, yeah, that's just what they were looking for.. I'll do that, then."

Nomadd

[TheFaQQer]

I've had a few that have asked for that recently. One they approached me for a role, of which I had maybe one of the six required skills, and could I fill out the skills matrix.

In the end, I said it wasn't worth my time and theirs completing it, since the skills that they had on the matrix weren't ones that I was any good at (there were others on the advert that I could do well, but they weren't on the matrix).

[XLMonkey]

Skills matrices are becoming normal practice for public sector contracts (its a change that has come through with the new Catalist preferred supplier agreements). Its not the agents, its the end customer who is asking for them.

So, if you are applying for public sector roles, its a pain in the arse but you're going to have to get used to it...

On the bright side, the effort involved in filling one in puts plenty of people off, which can only be a good thing for those who can be bothered.

[stillooking]

I've had more than a few requests to fill in Matrix's (matrices?), I've completed them but having had less success than I used to having completed them, I'd consider the effort/likelihood/are they being lazy factor?

One I did in the summer was through Capita for Dwp, to cut a long story short I felt that Capita weren't doing their job properly and i complained that the selection process was none existent, which it was. Would not recommend Capita (or indeed the dwp) full stop.