Careers in the UK - England Scotland Ireland and Wales
You are in a good job, the conditions seem acceptable, you get paid a reasonable amount, the travel is alright, but there are times in your life when it feels like it is time to move on to your next challenge, maybe for something that stretches your skills a little more, gives you a better remuneration package, or makes your job more rewarding by working with different people. So how do you decide whether you should sign up with a recruitment agency, a company that will do its best to find you the position you deserve, or whether you should do the job yourself, contacting employers directly, cutting out the middleman (or woman!) and acting in your own interest?
The difficulty is that a recruiter might not be able to achieve all that you want in securing you a new job opportunity because they have a large number of jobs on their books, a large number of client companies who they work for and a large number of potential recruits who they have to match together. If you sign up with a recruitment agency then how do you know that they will act solely in your best interest, tirelessly matching your needs and desires with the jobs that are available in the employment marketplace.
If you take some personal responsibility for the job of identifying your group of potential target employers in addition to deciding on an initial group of recruitment agencies then you will take the process into your own hands, lending you an element of control that will greatly benefit you. This does put some responsibility for your job search into your hands, but it is far more likely to make your assessment of the available opportunities more comprehensive, and will help you to get things in perspective when you come to interview.
The real trick is to become adept at choosing recruitment companies who are really working in your best interests. A lot of this involves unbundling what they say from what they do, and experience will bring you some rewards here. How long does your recruitment agent spend understanding what drives you, learning what you want from your career, and helping you to decide what you want from your next job, and which employers you would like to work with. If your agent immediately starts to discuss their available jobs then you get an insight into how important your personal concerns are to them. It is obviously just a case of filling jobs for them and getting their commission, they are not really working for you, they are working for themselves.
If one of the first things the recruitment agent says is what jobs they have available then you are on the fast track to a job that doesn't quite fit your needs. Some of this is to do with the individual agent, and some of it is to do with the corporate culture in their agency. Unfortunately your ability to move between individual agents is probably limited which means your relationship with an agency is a bit like a dance, where you try to be selective about who you talk to, and the agent tries to get you to commit quickly, making a fast sale and earning them commission.
The really skilled agents are those who can balance their relationship with their client whose job they are trying to fill, with the people who they bring to interview, achieving a win win situation for both parties. The clumsy agents try and fill every job with every potential recruit, and in the process fail to create a good long term relationship with employers, and leave a burnt out trail of recruits in their wake who have to find another job, who don't achieve their potential in their job and become disillusioned with the recruitment agency marketplace.
If your agent rushes you into an interview you should be very wary. You need some time to think, and research the target company, and your agent needs the time to really consider the kind of interviews you should go for that will enable you to fulfil your personal potential, in the context of your own career path.
If you have the opportunity to meet your recruitment agent in person then this is usually a really good sign. If you have an interview and some isometric testing, along with some research into the CV you have prepared for them, then they are likely to be very well briefed when they start considering the employers who might fit with your personal profile.
It's not just that they should check the validity of your claims on your CV, they should also help you to tune it to the specific needs of any employers who you send it to. A generic CV is all well and good but if you make tiny amendments to try and make it match a specific employer then you are that much more likely to make it to interview because you seem like a more natural match. Your recruitment agent is the ideal person to help you understand this match and help you make the subtle changes to your CV that will make the difference. As long as they are honest with you and tell you all the facts you should have a good chance of linking up with the right employer.
If get plenty of comments and feedback from your recruitment consultant then it's safe to assume that they really care about you and your career and are doing their best for you. Their passion converts directly into success for you, and when you go for interview you should be properly briefed and able to answer any tricky questions that are sent your way by the inquisitive employer.
Likewise, if you don't get offered a particular position then your agent should be frank and upfront with you, and able to explain why this happened and what you should do to make certain that your job seeking process stays on track. Maybe a rebuttal by an employer will help you to work with your recruitment agency to make sure that your next interview is with a more appropriate company. It is important that you look carefully to see whether this was just a single opportunity that your agent had available, or whether they have the gumption to go out there and locate a more appropriate interview opportunity for you.
Another factor to consider is how informed your agent keeps you. Do they call you regularly to talk about updates or do they go away for weeks and leave it to you to get in touch with them. If you are doing all the legwork then you have to ask yourself why you are giving them the opportunity to earn commission from your employment.
Jobs and careers at the main centres throughout the UK:
Jobs in the UK | Career opportunities | Your next job | Seeking employment | UK Jobseeker allowance | Finding the right job | Training and personal development | Your perfect CV | Interviews and interview techniques | Succeeding with job interviews