What is the point of this?

[Punter]

Dear Punter ,

I hope this email finds you well.

I specialise in placing contract staff into the Life, Pensions and General Insurance market and I am currently shortlisting for a high number of project manager contract opportunities.

I am looking for candidates who have significant experience working as a project manager in the following UK markets (ranked in order of desirability):
- General Insurance
- Life Insurnace/Assurance
- Pensions
- Bancassurance
- Candidates with some experience of the above among a wider career as a business analyst in UK retail banking/financial services will also be of interest.

PLEASE NOTE: if you do not have extensive experience in the above markets then you will not meet my clients requirements.

These roles range in focus across business and IT/systems. They range from 3-6 months.

If you are immediately available for contracts based in the Midlands, North and Scotland then please respond to this email with an up to date copy of your CV in the first instance and I will call you to discuss the specifics of suitable roles in more detail.

If these roles are not for you then please feel free to forward this email on to anyone in your network who could be interested and suitable.

Kind regards,


Hywel Smith
Real Staffing - Banking & Finance Division

[RichardCranium]

Translation:

Dear Potential Punter,

I am a resourcer. My job is to populate the database with contacts and CVs for the agent / team I am attached to.

My agent / team specialises in the insurance sector, so I particularly am tasked with getting CVs with the words "insurance", "pensions" or "assurance" in them, although I'll be furked if I know what those words mean.

We do not have any roles to fill, which is why I've got the boring update-the-database job again.

Please send me your CV so I can put it on our system.

And if you pass it on to others, you're doing my job for me.

Kind regards,

<could be anyone>
<any agency>

Seems fair enough to me. It's one way they gather contacts.

If you match what they said, and you are near the end of your contract, send your CV.

Just don't be surprised when the 'phone rings: "Hi, got a perfect role for you, please send me two references...".

[norrahe]

What's worse is when they send you that e-mail and they already have an up to date CV on their books.

They obviously don't check their records.

[RichardCranium]

What's worse is when they send you that e-mail and you are already working through them.

FTFY

Parity and Rullion have both done that to me.

One of those two even phoned me about a role and were keen to get me to leave my current gig ... until I told them I was already working through them.

[Fred Bloggs]

FTFY

Parity and Rullion have both done that to me.

One of those two even phoned me about a role and were keen to get me to leave my current gig ... until I told them I was already working through them.

Yes, I had exactly the same when I was working through DATS. One of their reps was trying hard to persuade me to apply for a vacancy till I told him his colleague had placed me in a role two months earlier.

[nomadd]

FTFY

Parity and Rullion have both done that to me.

One of those two even phoned me about a role and were keen to get me to leave my current gig ... until I told them I was already working through them.

Yep, Modis and Harvey Nash have done this to me. Mind you, there's no honour among agents (or thieves - same thing. )

[thunderlizard]

Sometimes those are great for making you feel inadequate:
"Dear person-I-picked-at-random-and-probably-has-no-experience-in-XYZ,
I need an XYZ specialist. If you do not have 10 years of XYZ experience you are useless vermin, so please do not waste my valuable time by replying to this."