What are the best agents?

[DaveB]

I've never landed a gig from a direct application through one of the jobsites.

What I have done is get gigs from agents calling after I've uploaded my CV. When you are actively looking it's worth doing this every 10 days or so as the agents have software that scans the jobsite databases for new CV's and flags them up.

You'll get a lot more hits this way that trying to apply for every vacancy you see.

It's also worth taking the time to complete the job site profiles with your skills and experience. Agents will skim these for the key words in their job specs and pull out the matches for a closer look.

From the agents point of view it's quicker and easier to run a couple of searches for key words on their CV database and the job site databases and pull out relevent CV's that way than trawl through random responses to an advert.

[lukemg]

I suggest you learn how to play the game, it ain't going to change any time soon.
Your CV needs to be a PERFECT match for the role, then Fire and Forget. Agencies frequently put a list of candidates together for an expected client requirement so they can provide people incredibly quickly.
Prepare CV, fire at job (preferably soon after it is posted), phone up of you want to (I don't bother with this) forget until you get a call.
Otherwise you will drive yourself nuts hoping and waiting.
Any agent gets in touch, works in the right areas and seems ok, consider attaching on linked-in.
If you can't deal with all this, suggest you consider permanent employment....

[Peoplesoft bloke]

I've spent (wasted) loads of time talking to agents and in the end got all gigs from personal contacts - maybe I was just a bit daft in thinking that there was some chance of agents being any use.

[calder]

Your CV needs to be a PERFECT match for the role, then Fire and Forget. Agencies frequently put a list of candidates together for an expected client requirement so they can provide people incredibly quickly.
Prepare CV, fire at job (preferably soon after it is posted), phone up of you want to (I don't bother with this) forget until you get a call.
Otherwise you will drive yourself nuts hoping and waiting.
Any agent gets in touch, works in the right areas and seems ok, consider attaching on linked-in.

Thanks for the tips

If you can't deal with all this, suggest you consider permanent employment....

You may keep your suggestions for yourself. People come to forums to ask questions or help others by answering their questions in a constructive way. If you have a patronising behaviour problem, I suggest you consult the appropriate specialists that might eventually treat you...

[tarbera]

best agents are

dead agents

[DaveB]

dead agents

The one that got you your current gig until they screw up your invoices or dont pay you on time. Then they are tulip.

[simplicity]

I got my current job from Jobserve. I replied to an advert then had:

1- a telephone interview with the agent followed by
2-a telephone interview with the client and lastly
3-a face to face interview with 5 people.

I got the job and its fairly stable..so Jobserve can work!

[NorthWestPerm2Contr]

Really good agents I have dealt with recently:

Morson International
Rullion

Both are large enough that they don't waste time doing phishing and only actually call you when a role is available.

[The Agents View]

Really good agents I have dealt with recently:

Morson International
Rullion

Both are large enough that they don't waste time doing phishing and only actually call you when a role is available.

Amazing. Shows how clearly it comes down to the individual agent really.... those two businesses have some of the worst reputations in the recruitment industry!

[craig1]

Amazing. Shows how clearly it comes down to the individual agent really.... those two businesses have some of the worst reputations in the recruitment industry!

You're right that it's more of an individual thing. For example, the agency I'm working through now is abysmal as a company and it's painfully obvious that that's driven from the top down but some of the people there are fantastic. Their AP people are professional, helpful and go out of their way to help me despite the persistent battles I have to have with their manglement to get what are really trivial things done. Some of their "unofficial" help in getting through their peculiar minefield of invoicing has meant that I've avoided the worst of the problems.

Find the good agents and build working relationships with them. If a particular agent screws you around, and if you need to do business with them again, remember it and protect yourself appropriately. Once you're in a role, the crap agents will rarely want to speak to you again until renewal comes around so you can essentially ignore them.