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TOP STORIES
Candidates abusing recruiters
8 May 2008COMMENTS
It actually saddens me when I see such negativity about the recruitment industry (especially in finance). I would never let anyone who works for my firm do anything listed above and they would certainly be in line for dismissal should they do this and hide it from me. Read all comments »With jobs harder to come by, bankers are behaving badly towards recruiters and headhunters, who are suddenly unable to slot them into comfortable new positions.
“We’re starting to get a lot of angry emails,” says one structured credit headhunter. “Bankers are approaching us and questioning why we can’t place them in hedge funds or commodities businesses. They’re venting their spleens, but there just aren’t the jobs.”
“Candidates are more rude and obnoxious,” confirms the head of a derivatives recruitment firm. “We get a lot of emails saying ‘You guys are no good at what you do’.”
“Candidates have become used to getting what they wanted over the past few years,” agrees Adam Buck at recruiters Selby Jennings. “They were able to say, ‘I want to work in a macro hedge fund with £x million under management,’ and we were able to deliver for them. That’s no longer always possible and people need to understand that the market has changed.”
Frustration might also have something to do with the fact that recruiters are no longer doing their best to accommodate everyone.
Zaheer Ibrahim at search firm Kennedy Associates says it just isn’t viable to spend time on borderline candidates any more: “The CVs we see are walking money. We’ll go for the triple and double As, but we can’t waste our time with people who won’t generate money for us in this kind of market.”
COMMENTS
HH, HR & Recruitment, Tue 13 May 08
I'm a headhunter with several prior years in the markets working for a mandate driven firm. I think it is sad to see such comments posted on here but needless to say I would bet these are the bottom quartile performers who were let go in the current restructurings. It is clear to see when dealing with candidates, that the more successful, mature and "market savvy" they are, the better they behave towards recruiters. Meet, exchange information, and in return get the best service and most help from us in trying to find a beter opportunity. Word of advice, if we don't know you, you're not in our system, you won't take our researchers calls and you act arrogant - you have less likelyhood to get any help when you need it. Unless I know it's a sure money bringer, I don't even put forward candidates with bad attitudes. Just a word of advice in a difficult job market!
Add your comment »mr sovereign, Private Equity / Venture Capital, Tue 13 May 08
Excluding maybe a few bunch of people, HH is an industry that could be eliminated.
Personal experience: wasted 4 months (meetings, calls etc) with HH and recruitment agencies. In the end, I found the job I wanted thanks to my personal network, and this is the way we should always do (changed because I wanted to work in PE). I spent a lot of time explaining basic things that they should know already, and I had the impression they don’t know anything about finance, they don’t have any clues about the skills needed in a specific job.
But in the end, let’s be frank, it is our fault. We became too lazy, we don’t want to pick up the phone to call a former colleague or to do some personal research…this is what happens in booming markets.
Also, if we need to recruit someone, do you really need to hire an HH? I think it is enough your assistant to sort out CVs. Here is the same, we became too lazy to spend 1h per month to read CVs or networking with people. HH exist because of our laziness.
Now that I am working in a hot sector…the same HHs contacted me to have some references here…I won’t give my money to them.
Rosso e pelato x sempre, Trading, Tue 13 May 08
Most of the opinions vented on this forum resemble the truth. Some HHs/recruiters are great, especially the ones that work on a retainer basis. That said, many newcomers do resemble carpet salesmen and have no idea what they are talking about, or who's who on the market. In the long run, the carpet salesmen and the firms they represent will not survive.
Add your comment »Name will be supplied if requested, Operations, Tue 13 May 08
People should not be getting angry with their respective agencies. There are a number of big houses in the market that are advertising for roles and interviewing but have either not got sign off for the role or have a headcount freeze. I have attended 3 x interviews for AVP/VP roles with 3 big houses in the past 2-3 weeks and to date have had no feedback from them at all. At first I did think that the agencies were not doing their jobs, however it seems that these big houses are mucking candidates around and not letting them know what is happening. So my message is if you have not got sign off for a role or you have headcount freezes then please let the agencies know so that they are sending candidates for interviews for no reason. These are peoples lives they are playing about with!!!
Add your comment »DominiConnor, Tue 03 Jun 08
Headhunters get a lot of stick here...
Which is fair enough, since most of us only stop short of being war criminals not because of ethics but because we're wimps too.
But whose fault is that precisely ?
Even the most basic due dilligence will show up the names of the cowboys, google is a good start or Wilmott.com will name and shame.
Firms routinely engage HHs who they know for a fact are entirely unprofessional. One large HH sent so many unsolicted CVs to a large investment bank, it caused problems with the email server. They are still a preferred supplier to this bank. If you encourage this behaviour, you will get more.
Dominic Connor, headhunter of old London Town
DominiConnor, Tue 03 Jun 08
"Anon and irate" has a valid point.
It is particualrly bad in IT recruitment where employers simply will not pay for anything that even resembles a service. Do the maths.
Typically 5 CVs from 5 agencies.
Say 15% of first year salary
1/5 * 1/5 * 0.15 = 0.006
Say a base of 80K, so the agency gets 480 quid on average.
Just how much time do you think that buys ?
That's got to cover understanding the job, maintaining the database, chasing invoices, leaving about £5 to buy a coffee for a candidate and check he has the right number of heads.
This is of course why my firm does not do IT recruitment, but similar numbers apply elsewhere.
A while back a large client "persuaded" us to find some spreadsheet development people. We did it properly, they were sat in front of an Excel expert who gave them a laptop with Excel, MSDN, etc and got them to do realistic tasks.
In effect we lost money on that one.
The market is of course always right. Fact is that the banks basically want a tap on a hose that spews CVs, so in much of the market that is what they get.
Ms Professional, HR & Recruitment, Thu 12 Jun 08
To all candidates - disgruntled or satisfied. Go and visit the website: www.hirescores.com which has been set up for people wanting to make comments about their experiences with recruiters.
Add your comment »danny, Research, Fri 25 Jul 08
i had no nice experience with HH, but the problem is some companies just don't post job openings on the web. if i have no friends working there, how can i know there is a vacancy?
Add your comment »Laura, HR & Recruitment, Tue 29 Jul 08
I do find it very sad that HH's and recruiters are held in such poor regard by candidates in the marketplace. There are those out there that work very hard for their candidates and will always go the extra mile - but then they aren't called consultants for nothing. If you want an transactional service then you use a transactional agency, if you want someone that kows the market then you have to deal with the fact that sometimes they know best and can advise you what the market is doing. Sometimes this is news poeple do not want to hear, hence the abuse.
Sad but true.
templelola, Wed 30 Jul 08
Candidates abusing recruiters...HA i would not recommend it but ...
To say I have any sympathy for recruitment agents is an understatement. I am sure not all of them are unprofessional but a great deal of them really take the Jaffa Cake. How can you advertise a job that never exist , call candidates back who apply and then call the company the candidate still works for to pitch for your current job that you have not resigned from . Or call your employer up for a reference when you have not secured a job for a candidate? How do they sleep at nite? (I know ....Horlicks and Cadbury Hot chocolate usually does the trick)
Then again not all of them are like that ...its a relief