Reply to: Just landed in UK, some questions?

[tay]

I ahve gone to meet a few, but I just see it as a chance to sell my skills and convince them that next time they get a good role, I will be one of the ones they call. Its not hard to chat to them for 30 min about the services you offer. I prefer not to meet them as it takes time that I could lounging about the house, but if they want to meet, thats cool.

[TheFaQQer]

Just a curiosity, what type of excuses do you guys make not to meet with agencies? So far I have met 3 agents and did not get any jobs off them. Always got a contract from other agencies or on my own.

I've never met an agent yet - is this a common thing?

If you don't want to meet face to face, then make something up about where you are. If you're in contract then there's a ready made excuse for you. If you're not in contract, then tell them that you are going to be travelling to friends that day - will still be contactable, but won't be able to meet up.

[JohannM]

and if you are out of contract? You still tell them that you are busy?

Well sometimes they just ask for what positions you have applied, so that they go for them

[sli_gryn]

Just a curiosity, what type of excuses do you guys make not to meet with agencies? So far I have met 3 agents and did not get any jobs off them. Always got a contract from other agencies or on my own.

'am busy doing [insert excuse here], can we just do this over the phone?' sometimes they ask for a face-to-face to assess your appearance (two so far have confessed to this) and one of the other excuses is to make you feel all warm and fuzzy so that if you're in the position to call on them (i.e. looking for a candidate) you will

[JohannM]

Just a curiosity, what type of excuses do you guys make not to meet with agencies? So far I have met 3 agents and did not get any jobs off them. Always got a contract from other agencies or on my own.

[buffdaddy]

ay? sorry buff, but am not spamming, am a contractor (currently in the US) and foudn this lot useful (to an extent) when i was in the UK. yeah, they take a cut (have no idea how much) and i certainly didn't use them for that, but a free office (internet/phone/fax) is free, so y not? (or was it itjobswatch u were saying was spam?)

basically they provide the "free" office facilities when u sign up with companies like this. Once you sign up however u might have to pay them if u find a job all by urself. Thats what i am saying. I was almost lured into a company like this one. Shall I name and shame?

I am not saying that these guys are just as bad or anything...but be careful is what i am saying

[sli_gryn]

be wary of companies like this. They don't even help in finding u a job. and they charge ridiculously large cuts ( i have heard as large as 15%). So ur take home after tax will be effectively halved

ay? sorry buff, but am not spamming, am a contractor (currently in the US) and foudn this lot useful (to an extent) when i was in the UK. yeah, they take a cut (have no idea how much) and i certainly didn't use them for that, but a free office (internet/phone/fax) is free, so y not? (or was it itjobswatch u were saying was spam?)

[unemployed]

Nomateski

[Troll]

Offensice is pretty much the default setting here - don't worry, they're mostly lonely and miserable.

Nomateski

[Old Greg]

my partners name ends in "ski" so I find that offensive.

Offensice is pretty much the default setting here - don't worry, they're mostly lonely and miserable.

[unemployed]

my partners name ends in "ski" so I find that offensive.

regretski

[Troll]

my partners name ends in "ski" so I find that offensive.

Feckoffski ??

[King Cnvt]

my partners name ends in "ski" so I find that offensive.

Jet Ski?
Après-Ski?

[autodial]

Well then fack off back to Australia you feckin toss pot. What Oz not good enough for you?

What is it with these immigrants!

Your family from Oz then?

[fridge]

Jobserve is fine, I always start there. I personally only apply if it's with a large agency as there is less risk of non-payment etc. and they are slightly less likely to be fishing for CVs. Just checkout the agency web site if you don't know the names and you'll be able to get a good indication of whether they are decent or not by the quality of the site. Once you have applied for a few you'll get more calls from people in the same agency as your CV gets passed around. Keep track of what you've applied for and who you've spoken to. Meeting agents is a waste of your time in my opinion. I've never meet mine until contracts needed signing and sometimes not even then, plus I have never used the same agent more than once in 10 yrs (not through choice, it's just the nature of the game). If you get no reply from an agent and you really want the role you can call the agent to confirm your CV got through as sometimes Jobserve fails to send (I've heard) but expect a lot of agents to just ignore your mails if you are not ideal.

I always start with the jobserve site.Just watch out for the tax man though as you may have probs with the ir35 s***e here.Good luck though.