Letting rip against recruiters
Our article about nefarious recruitment practices provoked a tirade of responses. Didn't get a chance to read it last time? Here it is again, with another chance to have your say.
With hiring buoyant and candidates scarce, recruiters might be expected to be incomparably charming in their efforts to woo finance professionals. Not necessarily, it seems.
An email exchange between a Tim Seymour of recruiter Seymour Chase and James Kennedy of recruitment firm Robert Half reveals the less salubrious side of the recruitment industry.
Seymour, a recruiter of recruiters, attempted to solicit Kennedy for a role with a 'niche recruitment firm'. But rather than cajoling his target by telephone, Seymour's first approach took the form of a mass email - which was visibly sent to around 40 other candidates.
And when Kennedy objected to Seymour's technique? Instead of apologising, Seymour emailed back to say, "Couldn't care less mate. You tw*t."
Rudeness isn't the only foible of insalubrious recruitment firms. Others include despatching CVs without their owners' permission, never responding to job applications, and advertising jobs that don't actually exist.
How common are these faults? You tell us. Kennedy maintains they're not common at all: "I get called by recruiters a lot and this is the first time I've encountered this kind of thing."
The recruitment industry is unregulated. As a result, unprofessional conduct is punishable only by market forces - the hope being that candidates and clients alike will give nefarious firms a wide berth. This may already be happening in Seymour's case: a call to his Birmingham number reveals he's out of the office - perhaps permanently.
Have you ever had a bad experience with a recruitment firm? Add your comment and let us know.
