Agencies

Agencies Out of Control

I have been dealing with Agencies for many years, but since they were de-regulated in 1997 (in the UK), they have become totally intolerable (those overseas too). That is why the UK government had to introduce the  The Conduct of Employment Agencies Act 2003 (see link below). Some of the bad behaviour is as follows: 
  •     Lying and using false identity 
  •     Pretending to be company employees 
  •     No knowledge of the industry
  •     Storing your details when requested not to 
  •     No knowledge of what the job specification means
  •     Trying to get the candidate to do it for them
  •     Using "word match" software 
  •     Sending out hundreds of emails and then ignoring you   
  •     Calling themselves 'Consultant' when low level salesmen   
  •     Hiring people who know nothing about Engineering
  •     Arranging phone calls and then not keeping them
  •     Not keeping you informed about an application
  •     Once your CV is submitted ignoring your phone calls
  •     Providing back handers to companies and fraud
  •     Advertising jobs that do not exist to collect CV's 
  •     Pretending to have submitted your CV
  •     Not being open and transparent
  •     Rotten to the core with corruption and ignorance
 ad nausea.

I therefore insist on a Service Agreement, with penalties for miss-behaviour. 

Now that things are picking up, this page is getting hundreds of hits. Will you sign Mr Agency? Are you special or like all the other dross?
My Service Agreement is like a very fine  filter that rejects all the rubbish and allows through only the professional. Its a pity the government do not make them a legal requirement.

What would you do ?

Say you needed a new washing machine and went to the high street to buy a new one. You go into a shop. A salesman (woman) approaches. "yes sir can I help ?" 
"I need a new washing machine" you reply.
 
She takes you into the shop and shows you a microwave oven.
"What's this? I need a washing machine"

Next she shows you an ironing board and iron.
"Excuse me I need a washing machine, don't you understand English"
"Well this is do with washing isn't it?" she says.

She smiles sweetly "You see I'm not technical"

"You are a bloody incompetent fool" you reply and walk out of the shop.

Well what would you do ? This what its like dealing with agencies and HR people.

Of course agency personnel reading this would fail to comprehend the analogy, such is there stupidity.
The Recruitment Industry

The act of getting a job in technology used to be a fairly simple process - but it has now been transformed into an industry by psychologists and the technically  ignorant. HR departments in technology companies are staffed by technically incompetent people and have been sold a lot of nonsense (see psyco-babble) by psychology companies. 

These companies try and persuade they have a magic formula for selection - when in reality they are just trying to make a buck out of a false premise which produce false results. If you are interested, follow the link above and read my article. Feel free to download it and distribute. 


HR and MP's in action

A transport manager needs a driver.

HR need a specification and sends a form to him. He fills it in. The HR company then sends out the specs to agencies all over the country. They advertise and lots of drivers apply. They lie to the applicants and say they have sent in their CV. Next they contact three or four - they don't really understand what a "driver" is, but they have run some word match software and found a match. They call the three selected and ask them 1) what skills they have 2) Do they have "Green Ford Escort experience". The applicants have each driven many types of car, vans, trucks etc. "Sorry" the agency fool says. I see you have Escort experience but it says here you have to have 'green' skills.

Months go by. The transport manager is desperate for a driver. He calls HR. They tell him they just cant find anyone despite lots of advertising. He is interviewed next day on the BBC "today" program.

"Well" he says "I am really struggling trying to find a couple of drivers" - and twenty thousand radios hit the wall from unemployed drivers. 

Of course HR personnel reading this would fail to comprehend the analogy, such is there stupidity.

This is what we are up against, and MP's and Government Ministers are the same. They lie and cheat and go on about things they have zero knowledge with their fake, fraudulent MA degrees.  

They talk repeatedly about "skills". Its a mantra they have learned and repeat. In the case of Engineers and Scientists, what they fail to understand is that such people do not have "skills" - on the contrary, ability and capability. Of course since there is no legal definition of the word "Engineer" in the UK, they are vague about this too.

Not so in Germany, Engineer is legally defined, likewise Holland.