Hi there,
I was recently put forward for a permanent position by a recruitment agency, which for the moment shall remain anonymous. The agent said salary would be £45-50k plus the usual permie benefits.
I had to do the assessment centre numerical and verbal reasoning tests prior to interview. The interview was mostly competency based plus questions about career to date.
In my experience all these type of interviews are very similar and unoriginal in terms of what the companies claim to be looking for, and claim about themselves as employers.
Before the interview the agent gave me a mock interview on the phone and discouraged me from any negativity whatsoever. He helped me get my story straight as to why I wanted to leave contracting and go perm. So I went to the interview full of positivity and acting like this was my dream job, would be my career highlight and to leave that unprogressive contracting career. Why? As I wanted to get a perm job to settle in the area and develop my career in their excellent company.
The competency interview went ok, I had examples for all the situations they were looking for.
However, after the interview I was called by the agent. He asked me how it went, if I liked them, if I thought they liked me, and if I was 'honestly keen' about the role.
I answered all these in the positive with enthusiasm, partly as this call from the agent felt like a second interview, and partly because I've had these calls from agents after interview in the past and just don't trust their true motives.
Then the agent asked me if I had discussed salary at all. I said yes, they asked me about my salary expectation and I told them £45-50k, just as the agent had told me. The agent asked me if they offered £40k would I accept. I said I didn't really understand why the agent was asking me this when no offer had been made to my understanding? I was non-committal to this but I said I would consider any offer made to me by the company but that I had attended the interview based on an expectation of £45-50k and that I wanted to know more about the other benefits not just the salary to properly decide, should the offer consist of a lower salary.
So what's going on here guys?
Here are my thoughts.
The agent has put 3-4 people forward to be interviewed here. The agent's commission is in the bag no matter who they take on. I have 10 years experience and the max qualifications required for this role. The other candidates have not as much quals and experience but enough for the job. The other candidates have told the agent after their interview they would accept £35-40k.
What other possibilities could there be? And isn't this a good reason not to use agents for applying for permanent positions?
A few years ago, when I had less experience and qualifications something similar happened. The job was 2 hours away and they put me for an interview for a £40-45k job but in the end they offered me £30k. I said sorry, but that's well short of what agent told me the job paid. They then increased the offer to £31k and I said no thanks.
It just seems to me, with these agents involved, that applying for perm jobs is a waste of time through them as they tell you £10k higher salary than what you need to accept to actually get the job, as some desperate other candidate they have will take the £10k less.
Is my thinking on the right lines, do you think?
I was recently put forward for a permanent position by a recruitment agency, which for the moment shall remain anonymous. The agent said salary would be £45-50k plus the usual permie benefits.
I had to do the assessment centre numerical and verbal reasoning tests prior to interview. The interview was mostly competency based plus questions about career to date.
In my experience all these type of interviews are very similar and unoriginal in terms of what the companies claim to be looking for, and claim about themselves as employers.
Before the interview the agent gave me a mock interview on the phone and discouraged me from any negativity whatsoever. He helped me get my story straight as to why I wanted to leave contracting and go perm. So I went to the interview full of positivity and acting like this was my dream job, would be my career highlight and to leave that unprogressive contracting career. Why? As I wanted to get a perm job to settle in the area and develop my career in their excellent company.
The competency interview went ok, I had examples for all the situations they were looking for.
However, after the interview I was called by the agent. He asked me how it went, if I liked them, if I thought they liked me, and if I was 'honestly keen' about the role.
I answered all these in the positive with enthusiasm, partly as this call from the agent felt like a second interview, and partly because I've had these calls from agents after interview in the past and just don't trust their true motives.
Then the agent asked me if I had discussed salary at all. I said yes, they asked me about my salary expectation and I told them £45-50k, just as the agent had told me. The agent asked me if they offered £40k would I accept. I said I didn't really understand why the agent was asking me this when no offer had been made to my understanding? I was non-committal to this but I said I would consider any offer made to me by the company but that I had attended the interview based on an expectation of £45-50k and that I wanted to know more about the other benefits not just the salary to properly decide, should the offer consist of a lower salary.
So what's going on here guys?
Here are my thoughts.
The agent has put 3-4 people forward to be interviewed here. The agent's commission is in the bag no matter who they take on. I have 10 years experience and the max qualifications required for this role. The other candidates have not as much quals and experience but enough for the job. The other candidates have told the agent after their interview they would accept £35-40k.
What other possibilities could there be? And isn't this a good reason not to use agents for applying for permanent positions?
A few years ago, when I had less experience and qualifications something similar happened. The job was 2 hours away and they put me for an interview for a £40-45k job but in the end they offered me £30k. I said sorry, but that's well short of what agent told me the job paid. They then increased the offer to £31k and I said no thanks.
It just seems to me, with these agents involved, that applying for perm jobs is a waste of time through them as they tell you £10k higher salary than what you need to accept to actually get the job, as some desperate other candidate they have will take the £10k less.
Is my thinking on the right lines, do you think?
Comment