Recruitment Companies

If you're in the market for a job, you may decide to sign up with a recruitment agency (I did!) and have them represent you. Some people sign up with multiple recruiters in the hope that it will improve their odds. However, it may actually reduce your chances, especially with really great jobs. Here's why, and which agencies I'd recommend. If you've had any experiences with recruitment companies yourself, I'd love to hear them - add a comment to this post. 

• Many recruitment companies (especially the big, well known ones) hire backpackers with little or no recruitment experience. These are the people who are representing and 'selling' you - scary! 
• Some companies pay their people on a commission basis, depending on the number of phone calls they make to employers and HR people each day. As an HR person, this gets REALLY annoying and we tend to go into avoidance mode.
• When I see the same resume come in from multiple recruiters, I think the candidate must be of low quality, otherwise they would have already been snapped up.
• Recruiters charge an average of 17.5% finders fee on top of the salary they negotiate for you. This is great, because it means they're motivated to get the best deal for you. However, many good employers with internal recruitment teams don't want to pay thousands of dollars in fees, so they only take applications directly or from recruiters they're friendly with.

On the upside, there are some really talented people in the recruitment industry that have great relationships with employers - but how do you find them? My #1 Tip is to choose a small, niche company that focuses on one area or industry. These are often started by talented people who have worked within these industries and know them inside out. They don't rely on volume of resumes coming in cold, they build their networks of candidates and employers by approaching them. These smaller firms not only do a better job of looking after their candidates (you), but they are able to make much better matches between them and the companies, meaning that hopefully you find a job that is challenging, rewarding and you want to stay for a long time. This provides repeat business for them; their success is built on their reputation.

Here is a short list of recommended companies that I hope to add to with your input:

CONSTRUCTION & PROPERTY INDUSTRY Focus Recruitment, Melb based, connected Aust-wide

HUMAN RESOURCES INDUSTRY The Next Step, Australia-wide

IT & COMMUNICATIONS INDUSTRY BDS Recruitment, Australia-wide