USING RECRUITMENT AGENCIES – YOUR JOB SECURITY IN THE MOTOR TRADE

It’s a difficult market at the moment.  There’s a recruitment freeze on with many companies but there are still jobs out there – and a lot of agencies chasing them.

 

 If you’re currently unemployed you don’t really have anything to lose when applying for a new position.  But if you have a job and are looking for a new opportunity particularly in today’s market, you don’t want to jeopardise the job you currently have, by applying for another.

  

Being in recruitment for a number of years, you do find yourself in the front line, and you hear a lot of horror stories from candidates – and clients!  But one problem that seems to crop up time and time again is the issue of agencies sending out a candidate’s details without speaking to them beforehand!  Why would this be a problem you may ask?  To put the technicalities first: if an agency puts you forward to your own company – which we hear about constantly – because they are ignorant on who owns who in the motor trade and don’t do their research, you may find that you are invited to attend a very embarrassing meeting with your boss!  The more sensitive the role you hold, the more extreme the outcome.  You could find yourself in Siberia!  Which is why the more the senior the role, the more cautious the candidate.

  

But from the employer’s point of view – and after all they are the ones that pay the fee – they can waste time reviewing candidate details only to find, when they decide on their shortlist that 3 out of the 5 candidates they are interested in – are not interested in them!  Bad PR!

 

 So why do it?  Agencies put candidates forward immediately in the hope of beating the competition to the post and gaining the fee.  Many clients are bullied – by means of the Ts and Cs -  into believing that they must go with the agency that sends the CV first.  Whilst this principle is not upheld in law, clients are led to believe that they will receive more than one invoice for the same candidate if they don’t go with the first submission.  Clever isn’t it!  Consequently the agency who rushes into submitting a CV will not have time to tell the candidate about the job or who their prospective new employer is – and the candidate won’t get a chance to say “No” because his boss knows everyone in the area, for example.

  

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 Case:

 Candidate is called about an opportunity by an agency.  There are no connections with the company he works for and the new employer. The agency is a reputable one and prefers to follow the rule book.  They speak to the candidate but the candidate knows the Financial Controller who knows his Finance Director.  So it’s an emphatic “No”.  Ooops!  That’s the Motor Trade for you!

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The client will go along with this as they don’t have reason to think through the consequences.  The most notable of which is that the really prime candidates – who they probably wish to attract as preference – would never compromise their current role and reputation by registering with every agency around – some of whom may have been only in business for a year or two and do not really understand the “rules” governing recruitment and the reasons for them!  And being in the business for a number of years – like us they’ve heard the horror stories too!

  

For these agencies,  recruiting is one big “happy hour” and they broker CVs and sit back and wait to hit the jackpot – or the **** to hit the fan – whatever the case may be.

 

 Never was the saying “fools rush in” more apt than in Motor Trade recruiting. In these competitive times, where survival is in the balance, long exposure to the sector makes wiser heads cautious – and rightly so.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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