Is it me, or have employment agencies really changed?

Last time I looked for a new job, it was simple, I went down to the local employment agency, had a chat, told them my experience, and they came up with a job and I started the next day. 5 years on that agency "doesn't do IT" and the ones that do have you filling out on-line forms and you never interact with anyone. How are they supposed to be doing their job, if all they are doing is looking through on-line CVs and putting a selection through?

My CV might not be very good, I may have overlooked many skills that I do have, as I can't fit everything into 2 pages, and a recruitment consultant should interview me and unearth all this info and get a much better picture of me.

Add to that, that I don't comprehend many of the adverts that agencies place, with all the bull**** buzz phrases, as they try to make every mundane task on a job description sound fantastical.

I'm getting old ;-)

Hi there,

I know what you mean but as a recruitment consultant I get over 100 CV's a day! In the IT industry it is acceptable to have your CV at around 3 pages if you have quite a bit of experience. I would reccomend maybe trying a different layout to your CV, have you considered bulletpointing to save space and make it easier to read?

These days you have to be v proactive as a candidate and actively look for jobs online and apply to them, during the application process you should get a name of the consultant dealing with the position. Should you not hear you can contact the agency asking to speak to that person directly.

If you need any more tips send me a little note. Good luck, it's a mine field out there.

Stick at it and hopefully one of the companies you work for through the agency will see that your a good, reliable, honest, hard worker.
Good Luck.

things change! agencies have no casual work either.

I know the feeling exactly. I was so bright eyed and excited about the sound of a job that I couldn't sleep with excitement, so I emailed them my CV, got a call from them straight away to say "I like the sound of you. I'll email you a typing test". Did the test, haven't heard a dickie bird.

insist ( i suppose professionally) on an interview and if you cannot get one change your recruitment consultant to one that will be prepared to interview you

if it's Retail you are interested in then try RHR, I want to get back in to retail and even though i have been out of that field for three years they are still keen to interview me

Good Luck