Recruitment agent feedback

[nomadd]

Sounds like you misheard her and what she actually said was "We have special needs here - can you handle that?"

No, I don't think she was an agent.

Yesterday, I had a classic:

Agent's lackey phones up after I apply for role on Jobserve. "Do you have any Enterprise Java - this J2EE stuff?"

I reply, "Yes, it's the last 10 years of my cv, the one you are currently looking at."

She says, "Great, I'll pass your cv to the Account Manager".

Ten minutes later, phone goes again.

Lacky says, "The Account Manager can't see J2EE on your cv, so can't put you forward for the role."

I ask her, "Does the Account Manager know what a Servlet, a JSP or an EJB is? Or a Web Application Server?"

She puts her hand over the phone to ask. The reply comes back, "No, she doesn't know what those things are."

I say, "OK, tell her that's the J2EE she was looking for. The last 10 years of my cv..."

Agents. Utter fookwits. But thicker.

Nomadd

[HeadOfTesting]

"We have a special problem here - we use UNIX, not Windows for development. Do YOU have any UNIX?"

Sounds like you misheard her and what she actually said was "We have special needs here - can you handle that?"

[Pogle]

I had an interview yesterday - it was not remotely technical and I was rejected because "They felt I would not go the extra mile for the job" and I did not give off the right "vibe"

What a load of bollocks they deserve what they get, pah public sector twerps.

Interestingly one of their current folk was interviewed for a role here, but turned down as he was blagging his technical knowledge.

[The Agents View]

"We have a special problem here - we use UNIX, not Windows for development. Do YOU have any UNIX?"

READ

THE

FLAMING

CV!!!!!!!!!!

Grrrrrrrrrr I HATE HR/Managed Service imbeciles....

<rant over>

TAV

[nomadd]

And, as has been said, the feedback might not even be true anyway.

I had a phone interview last week. A girl who was in it on the clients behalf from an outside supplier was trying to prove how smart and valuable she was by telling me: "We have a special problem here - we use UNIX, not Windows for development. Do YOU have any UNIX?"

I replied: "Yes, 26 years. As it shows on my cv. Is that enough..?"

She didn't like that. Not one bit. The silence was deafening. Things didn't go any further.

Interviews - take them with a large dose of salt.

Cheers,

Nomadd

[BolshieBastard]

And, as has been said, the feedback might not even be true anyway..............my hiring manager would make up all kinds of reasons to reject people, just to get HR/agents off his back about why he was rejecting people.

The truth was, apart from obvious technical incompetence, that he just didn't like the person (for whatever reason) or just had a bad feeling about them...nothing more concrete than that...and that's probably a more true indication of how reliable/useful/impartial the interview process really is.

Yep. I'd wholeheartedly agree with that. Unless you dont measure up technically for the role, the reason you are generally rejected has little to do with rate and more to do with the 'feel' the interviewer has for you.

In fact, the first contract I got after leaving permiedom was because the interviewer said he thought I would get on with the team better than any of the other candidates.

So in that particular circumstance, it worked in my favour!

[thunderlizard]

If a recruitment agent has a client who is 99% sure he wants a staff member rather than a consultant, he will still advertise for contractors rather than lose the 1% chance of a sale.

[EddieNambulous]

Has anyone else experienced this before?

Yep, I've had this happen - not much you can do about it so you just accept the situation and move on.

Although, to make myself feel better, I tend to reframe it so that I've had some interview practice. I try to look back and learn something from every interview I've ever gone through and think about how to improve my interview technique further in future as a result...that way you don't feel as though it was wasted time (as much).

And, as has been said, the feedback might not even be true anyway. When I used to be helping out on the hiring side, my hiring manager would make up all kinds of reasons to reject people, just to get HR/agents off his back about why he was rejecting people.

The truth was, apart from obvious technical incompetence, that he just didn't like the person (for whatever reason) or just had a bad feeling about them...nothing more concrete than that...and that's probably a more true indication of how reliable/useful/impartial the interview process really is.

Having said that it is possible to become extremely good at interviews but that's more a study of human psychology/influence than a contractor discussion.

[nomadd]

Hi people, I have been for 2 contract interviews recently and have been unsuccessful for both of them as both recruitment agents stated that the client has decided to go for a candidate who wishes to go permanent instead. I don't understand why they advertise a contract role in the first place or is this just the agent saying in a nice way that i didn't get the role. Has anyone else experienced this before?

Costs. Costs. Costs. That's what it's all about these days. And candidates who are likely to accept permie will bring the lowest costs. Half the "contract" roles posted on Jobserve over the last couple of weeks for my skillset have had "rates" posted of "35k-55k" sort of thing; some of them as low as "25k pro rata"

Agents will do anything to get their commission - which certainly includes shafting you. Just accept it and move on.

Nomadd

[RichardCranium]

(You probably got no response as nobody noticed your post get moderated.)

Top tip: If you can hear a recruitment agent speaking, they are probably lying.

You were very lucky to get any feedback at all; agents don't like giving out bad news. There is a fair chacne that either the client or the agent made that feedback up.

[Rewind]

Hi people, I have been for 2 contract interviews recently and have been unsuccessful for both of them as both recruitment agents stated that the client has decided to go for a candidate who wishes to go permanent instead. I don't understand why they advertise a contract role in the first place or is this just the agent saying in a nice way that i didn't get the role. Has anyone else experienced this before?