 By Graham Trickey, Editor, Prospects. Many people want to change jobs, but do little about it beyond glancing at newspaper vacancies. If you already have a job it can be hard finding time for serious job hunting. But a step you can take is to register with a recruitment agency or consultancy so they can take over at least a small part of the burden. Agencies are viewed with suspicion by some job hunters, and there are reasons for this. On the other hand, they do get people into jobs, and many of those jobs could not be found in any other way. By following a few guidelines, you may be able to get agencies to work in your interests. The most painless assistance in job hunting is offered by online agencies. The disadvantage of this approach is that your CV will be one of many presented to a recruiter. The odds can be reduced by registering with an offline agency that specialises in your career area and will take the trouble to meet you. Before you choose a particular agency you need to find out something about it – what are its major clients, what jobs does it handle and how many, is it a member of the industry organisation Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and will it contact you before passing your details to an employer? Some agencies may not mind if you register with several of them but if this is going to weaken their interest in you, any advantage is cancelled out. Beyond finding out more about a particular agency, the main purpose of the first meeting with your consultant is to establish contact and make sure that the agency understands what work interests you and what you have to offer. Meeting the consultant should make it a shade more likely that you will be remembered when suitable work turns up. Fundamentally consultants and agencies work for and are paid by recruiters. They are only interested in you to the extent that you can help them to please their paymasters. So in your first meeting you need to impress them with your employability in much the same way as if you were going directly to an interview with a prospective employer. If all goes well, in a fairly short time the agency should contact you discreetly to say you are being put on a short list for interview with one of its clients. This is when job hunting by agency becomes very similar to doing it solo, although you can ask the agency for maximum information about the job and for any tips. Agencies are reluctant to reveal the identity of recruiters in case job hunters try applying directly, but once you have agreed to attend an interview the recruiter must be revealed and you should take the opportunity to research the company. After the interview you may need to chase up your consultant to find out the result and receive any feedback. If the agency does not come up with any interviews, you will need to keep phoning them and after not too long register somewhere else. The typical problem with agencies is that job hunters disappear without trace into their files. Alternatively lists of irrelevant jobs may be mailed out to you, or worse you may be sent to an inappropriate interview just to make up the numbers. But if the agency is a good one, you could be on your way to a better job. Further information Recruitment and Employment Confederation - http://www.rec.uk.com
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