[seagull]

Ok so I know this topic has been discussed many times. But has anyone actually had success with a recruiting agency?
I have 2.5 years of public experience and 6 months of private. I left public 6 months ago wanting to see what private was all about. Even though I haven’t been here for long, I know I’m ready to move on. I don’t like the industry I work in and quite honestly, I missed being treated like a professional. So I haven’t quite given up on private. I will be job hunting soon and I would be open to either a public or private position. I’m considering using a hiring agency but not sure if it’s even worth it. Even though I’m not happy at my current job, I do have a job so it’s not like I’m in a rush for a new job.
Has anyone had success with a hiring agency or would I be wasting my time? If so, is it best to stick to one like RH or Accountemps?

[watermelon]

just from my personal experience, I think this depends on the locations. when I was working at NY in banking, there were agencies contacting me and my coworkers almost everyday, and they helped a few of my coworkers landed jobs in other banks in even different functions. I think you just need to be clear about what you want to do and don't with the agency. They will send you job descriptions or sometimes push you for an interview because they think the role fits you, the important thing is to keep your own pace. Only apply for the ones you are interested. But when I moved to CA, i feel like it's completely different. haha Internal referral works way better here. But it's just my personal experience. I really hope you could find a role you enjoy doing!!

[El]

I never had any success with RH but I am in a region with a lot of corporate offices for real estate developers and I did not have any experience in that field so I was a tough sell to their clients. But I mean, accounting is accounting right? They were active though, calling me every week or so about “leads”, just never worked out. I found a job on my own (internal referral like @watermelon suggests) about 2 months after I reached out to RH.

[MaLoTu]

RH is the worst. They probably have some good recruiters but they definitely have horrible, totally unprofessional ones as well.

If you are going to use a recruiter make sure you diversify. You don’t owe any one recruiter anything.

You will likely be more successful on your own, tbh. Company’s are happy to not have to pay a referral fee. Depending on your market you should have a good shot at a new role.

[Yahmon]

I would stay away from recruiting firms unless you're someone with no experience trying to get your foot in the door. Most recruiting firms especially RH are horrible. I've tried them in two different states and the results were the same. They are totally unprofessional and pretty much treat you like a commodity. They will lie to get you to interview with companies that totally goes against your requirements. Think about what companies you would like to work for and research them.

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[OTK1995]

My best jobs I obtained through recruiting agencies and they were small, local companies. I think I may have just been lucky but don't knock them. I now work at a subsidiary for a Fortune 10 company because of the recruiter I used.

I am not a fan of RH at all, I refuse to use them. I use another large firm to hire at my company now but I almost stopped using them because the previous staffing manager was a terrible communicator. The new division leader is awesome. I actually still have the firm who recruited me on speed dial and prefer to use them since they are local but they have not had the greatest candidate pool as of late, unfortunately.

[Author]

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