Do Job Agencies Work – No
Years ago when I was looking for 9 to 5 type office jobs, I had applied to a few job agencies. These job agencies had boasted through media ads that they were the “best” at finding people employment. So, I emailed them my resumes, went to meet the recruiters in person, filled out the applications in the office waiting area, and endured the interview processes. I went through all of that at more than one job agency only to receive dead end data entry job offers and one job offer as a receptionist at a roofing company. Needless to say, I turned those jobs down due to the pay (not worth it AT ALL) and wondered what was next. So many people I knew had experienced the success of finding a job through a job agency, but that was not to be my fate. I have always gotten any job I have had through applying directly to the company or through acquiring my own clients. I have come to realize over the years that it was a blessing that I didn’t get a job through an agency.
If you are looking for employment, job agencies can certainly find you a job but there is no guarantee that they will. No matter how good my resume looked, I have always gotten a job through direct application and have never once gotten a job through a job agency. I applied for previous jobs in person or through the company’s website. It was nice knowing that I earned my hourly pay rate by myself and that I was not forced to share some of my earnings with a job agency. Some of my former co-workers had gotten jobs from agencies in the past, and they shared with me the discomfort they felt knowing that they were not getting paid what they should have been getting paid because the job agency was getting a significant portion from their paychecks. Working is not always enjoyable, and knowing that a job agency is profiting from your hard work every hour that you do your job must not be a nice feeling.
I once did some freelance public relations work for a woman who owned her own job recruitment firm and got to see first-hand how ineffective job agencies can be. This woman was very disorganized and had more people applying for jobs than she job offers for. I referred people to her who I knew were looking for jobs and she never called any of them back! This lady was so consumed by her personal life and overwhelmed by the amount of job seekers who had applied to her that she did a very poor job as a recruiter. If people who apply to job agencies knew that their resumes were barely even glanced at and that their efforts to make contact with job recruiters would not be returned with a phone call of acknowledgement, fewer people would probably put their trust in job agencies.
Anyone who uses a job agency to find a job must accept that they will have two different bosses; the employment agency and the actual employer who hires them. Having two bosses can be stressful, not to mention the resentment that comes when you work so hard and have to surrender a large chunk of your paycheck to the job agency. Job agencies do offer some helpful perks such as giving advice to job candidates on how to improve their resumes and cover letters and how to advance themselves at their jobs. However, it is best to get a job through your own efforts so that you don’t have to give some of your salary to the agency. You can apply for jobs through a company’s website, by using the telephone to call a company, faxing your resume or by dropping off your resume in person at a company. Even if you do happen to get a job through an agency, try to talk to your employer and ask him or her to hire you directly after your contract with the job agency is finished. If you do get directly hired from the employer after the agency contract is up, it is a testament to your hard work and dedication; things that the job agency cannot and should not take credit for.
