Forget about recruitment agencies

By Selina Barker

Why recruitment agencies are the last place to turn to when you want to change career.

It amazes me how many people, when they want to change career, come to us and complain that recruitment consultants have been utterly hopeless in helping them - only wanting to consider them for roles similar to the ones they've done before, totally disregarding their transferable skills and refusing to consider them for new roles.

Now before you go thinking that I'm about to launch into an assault on recruitment consultants and how narrow minded they are, let me assure you that, if anything, I'm about to do them a favour...

A recruitment consultant's worst nightmare is the career changer who relentlessly calls up saying 'I know I can do this job, I have transferable skills perfectly suited to the role and I'm prepared to take a pay cut'.

I know that it's easy to see a role and say 'yep, I'd be able to do that, and that, and that, and even that - this is perfect for me', but that's not what a recruiter is looking for. They don't assess candidates on their transferable skills - they need to see evidence and proof that you can do that particular job.

Look at it from their point of view - recruiters are hired by their clients to find candidates that match a specific job description perfectly and with 1000s of people on their books to choose from, consultants are going to be selecting the candidates that are the closest possible match to what the client is asking for.

They're hardly going to go back to their client and present someone for the role who 'hasn't got the experience they've asked for but would really like to give it a go'... it's just not going to wash.

So where does it leave career changers? Well, the first thing to remember is that only 25% of roles go through recruitment agencies and advertising. A phenomenal 75% of roles are found through word of mouth and I suspect that with companies keen to cut costs at the moment this percentage is currently even higher.

The great thing about many of these 'word-of-mouth' jobs is that the people that get hired are often taken on, not because they match the role perfectly, but because they've been recommended to the employer by someone that they know. It offers a great way in for career changers.

Career changers have to get out there and make sure they are in the right places to be hearing about those 'word of mouth' job opportunities and that people know that they are out there, what they're looking for and what they can offer.

It's about interviewing people, networking, being clear on what you want and knowing how to sell yourself.

So my advice to all career changers would be to steer clear of recruitment agencies and instead get out there and get yourself known.

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By markmccluretoday

Jane, In the early 90s I tried (and failed) to get on a EU-sponsored 19 month language learning program in Japan. You had to be an employee of a EU-owned company with a presence in Japan. I eventually ended up getting here on an intra-company transfer.

http://www.deljpn.ec.europa.eu/relation/showpage_en_relations.programmes.etp.1.php

It'd be a shame to see those hard working MEPs get all the cash going, and the actual taxpayers miss out.

I am not an ESL teacher but my contacts tell me that Taiwan is a happening place. A good starting place for research is: http://www.eslcafe.com/

Good Luck!

By FranklinU

Hi Jane, I totally agree with your comments. Due to personal circumstances, after graduation, I got drawn into an area of work I did not find stimulating but pretty much got stuck in a rot. For almost 5 years I tried to to get an agency to actually listen to me when I stress I'm looking to do something different. However,it seems to go through one ear and out the other because I keep being offered the same roles. In fact I had quite a heated conversation with a consultant, who got the hump, because I said I was not interested in a certain role for the above stated reason. He basically told me I was lucky he even brought the role to me as he had up to 50 people on his books who would jump at the oppurtunity. I thought it was strange and quite rude of him. Especially as I was on my way home after registering at the same agency less that 30 minutes prior and making it clear I would not consider such roles. I am indeed now relying on contacts, direct recruitment and word-of-mouth because I don't recognise one agency which even comes close to that described by Martin.

By Ruby

Hi, In this current climate of doom and gloom, perhaps it's a good time to go travelling? Or is it?? I'm in my late 20s , have several years of solid work experience behind me but thinking about a fresh challenge. I'd like to use the time wisely and learn a new language at the same time. Does anyone have any ideas of schemes in Europe or further afield.. Getting paid at the same time would be good! Cheers

By willow

Hi Jane, I've no idea if it's a good time to go travelling right now, but I went a few months ago and don't regret it a bit. It is totally worth all the months of planning, organisation and saving. Mind you, I have yet to come back to the UK job situation...And I'm doing it for personal reasons, not for the benefit of my career ;-) I can recommend a good company if you fancy teaching English in China. They won't charge you the earth and you can earn a very decent wage (£1k a month) to have a good lifestyle here and travel a bit. You can also learn Chinese! Why not?!

By Martin Dangerfield

Selina, Wow there's some huge generalisations in there? Whilst I agree that there are some very average recruitment companies out there, it's also fair to say that there are some good ones that do actually listen to their candidates and help them establish where their core skills lie. The vast majority of recruitment is done on the back of a CV and an experience review, there are some of us that take the time to fully evaluate a candidate in terms of experience, motivation, personality and transferable skills. As a recruitment professional i'm not sure you have really done me or my colleaagues much of a favour but then attacking the stereotype is always easier than looking at the industry on a broader level. Whilst we are unlikely to as you say "go back to their client and present someone for the role who 'hasn't got the experience they've asked for but would really like to give it a go'" We would and do go back to clients with strong candidates who have the attitude and capability to tackle a new role that might not immediately look like a good fit but only after rigourous, professional assessment. On the plus side I agree that word of mouth, networking, meeting people are all great but don't leap to an assumption that professional recruiters that understand the markets in which they operate, understand the challenges faced by their clients and more importantly the people requirements their clients have should be ignored too quickly. If you are changing career, talking to good recruiters in the market you want to move to could be the best thing you can do.

By Selina Barker

Hi Martin, thank you for a great response and I really mean that - I like to prompt debate and I'm delighted that it has brought up a recruitment agency that does actively invite career changers to come to them to help them into a new role.

Just to put this into context, I have been a recruitment consultant myself (lovely agency but not great for career changers) and if anything I was genuinely wanting to do agencies a favour by advising career changers not to apply for roles for which they have no experience because recruitment agencies are currently rich in candidates with perfect experience for almost all roles and I know that my former colleagues are inundated and extremely stressed due to the number of candidates and career changers contacting them at the moment for roles that they have no experience of.

It would be great if you could give us the name of your agency so that we can tell career changers that there IS an agency out there that can help them in their career change because it is so demoralising to get radio silence from other agencies.

Best wishes, Selina

By johnadams

Hi Selina & Martin, As an ex-recruiter and a career coach supporting the recruitment industry(www.RecruitersCoach.co.uk) I appreciate both positions. Personally I believe it is very much dependent on the Recruiter that you are dealing with as to the level of support you will receive. I have been privelaged to meet both camps! I will also say that it can be shortsighted of a recruiter not to try and be helpful. For example when I was transitioning from agency side recruitment to onsite and then eventually in-house it was not easy. However the recruiter who took the time to speak with me and provide their personal advice and wisdom regarding this niche sector and how tactically to make the move was rewarded. Given the level of support they provided and the rapport that was built up between us during the numerous conversations, I was only too happy to contact and engage that same recruiter when I was in a position to review my PSL agencies. Given the high level of competition amongst agencies in the current market and the need to differentiate, perhaps this is an opportunity? Having useful resources in the form of information and links to assist career changers would help build agency brand awareness and increased candidate loyalty. It would also be useful information for recruiters to have at hand when faced with dealing with such career change candidates as it would reduce the risk of them feeling like they were being given the cold shoulder. From a personal perspective if I am dealing with a potential coaching client that is not in a position to engage with a career coach at that time then I will always refer then to careershifers.org and a few other select sites. From the candidate perspective it pays to be prepared for the tough task of convincing a recruiter to submit you as a 'wild card' for a position that on the face of it does not look like an obvious placement. Remember in the current market your career change can easily be seen as an act of desperation to take any position available. To counter this it will be important to be able to provide evidence that you really do wish to make the change. This can be done by a number of methods from undertaking research to increase your knowledge about the role or sector you are looking to move into to providing evidence that you have undertaken similar paid or unpaid work in that arena to build up your experience. Ultimately I would admit that making direct approaches to companies within the target sector will most likely result in greater success. However I would also advise against forgeting agencies because you may, as I did, find that recruiter who will go beyond the call of duty to support you in making that all important career move. Perhaps there is also an opportunity for careershifters.org to provide a list of 'career shifter friendly' recruiters such as Martin! Kind Regards, John Adams careerz & The Recruiter's Coach www.careerz.co.uk www.RecruitersCoach.co.uk Tel: 01628 826977 Mob: 07881 623119 Email: ja@careerz.co.uk

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