[victoria24]

when we go on our recce trip in feb, i will be lining up some meets with potential employers. how important/motivated are recruiters in NZ? is it worth taking time out of my trip to see them or would you just stick to direct employers? anyone had any experience with recruiters good or bad? any recommendations for good ones to see while i'm there? btw, i work in mortgages/banking/financial planning/credit & risk:nice1

[gil]

Recruitment agencies, or more likely, recruitment agents, are viewed in a similar way to estate agents according to most people's experiences on here, victoria24, which means none too good generally. However, there are always good individuals in any field.
It might be worth looking at the Herald Online's jobs through Jan-Feb as there is always a big spread for this period, sometimes up to 20-odd pages. This will give you an idea of who the big recruiters are. I suspect it might be smaller this year with the way the economy is going, though. Anyway, here's the link: http://jobs.nzherald.co.nz/
Also, the economic climate may well weed out some of the less effective recruiters, similarly as has happened in the estate agency world.

I will PM you with a specific contact.

All the best,

Gil

[Ana&Steve]

Hmm...our experience was with IT so it might differ. We noticed that few IT positions were advertised without a recruiter. We slowly found companies to directly approach after visiting their websites but few were hiring. For IT anyway I feel bypassing recruiters is throwing away a big resource.
The three we had the best rapport with were Hudson, recruit IT, and absolute IT, the last 2 probably not helpful to you.
Good Hunting:nice1

[gil]

Just to clarify, I agree with Ana&Steve. Most organisations here outsource recruitment, which means they do not have the resource (capacity or capability) to deal with recruitment internally. So you ignore recruitment agencies at your peril.
The very largest businesses/organisations (e.g. the likes of Fonterra, Fletcher Building, Air NZ) have an internal "recruitment agency" or department, although I know that some have scythed them back to cut costs in the economic downturn.
Certain sectors recruit at certain levels exclusively online, e.g. retail. Most businesses also work their contacts at recruitment agencies when they are looking for someone, and at senior levels, they almost always use exec search.
More broadly, it is certainly worth looking at websites of the organisations you are interested in as well as fromt he agency/SEEK website perspective.

Gil

[elleann]

When I started job hunting (in the medical field as an RN) I *thought* that employers would prefer NOT to use recruiters as it would save paying commissions, so I submitted a lot of applications directly to various facilities, mostly in response to advertised positions. Out of all of them, I had one fairly quick response which set up an interview to be held three weeks later. All of the facilities eventually replied, but they took a very long time to do so. During this long waiting period, I started getting panicky and registered with a well-known and reputable medical recruitment co in NZ as well as with a local one in South Africa. Both of them got me job interviews/offers within a few days - by the end of the week, I had a job that not only suited me well location-wise and salary-wise, but which was a step up from the kind of position I had initially envisaged finding. :bluebanana

So in hindsight, I would recommend anyone looking for a medical job to definitely use a medical recruiter. And btw, since then they have been nothing but helpful, supportive and very encouraging! (Geneva Health, if anyone is interested!;) )

[Angelonthemove]

MY OH is back on the job market and recently been told by Govt dept that they only short list those who have come direct for interviews, then if no one is any good they look at CV supplied by recruitment agencies.

I look for jobs and then do a search and try and find the original company that advertised. OH has been put forward for jobs that some agencies have said he is not qualified for and yet others said he is.

Most agencies do not understand your CV. It's worth writing your own Executive Summary to help it explain it and make it your first page and some agencies do not look at attached letters only the CV is stored. They work on search words for jobs. So look at job titles in NZ versus the ones in your Country maybe different.

[M-Squared]

AbsoluteIT were the most helpful to me in Wellington, and got me an interview with Certus. :nice1

One of the golden rules is that a lot of agencies will want to represent you to a certain company, but you need to ask them first (they should ask you before they put your CV forward) is if they are one of the employer's preferred suppliers. They'll also want to know if any other recruitment agency is putting you forward to that particular employer as you only need to be represented once, otherwise it's confusing for everyone (and if they hire you, who do they pay the fee to?).

In the end (as you know) I got hired directly by my employer after stumbling across a match for my skills on their recruitment website. I was also chastised for not just putting my CV forward to them "anyway" as they like to keep a pool of CVs, just in case. :)

[kerrijeansmith]

So is that what everyone is talking about when they say "recce?" Recruitment? Seriously, I'm clueless.

Kerri

[gil]

So is that what everyone is talking about when they say "recce?" Recruitment? Seriously, I'm clueless.

Kerri

A "recce" is a "reconnaisance" trip, which is when you go to scout out the lie of the land before a big move. I think it's derived from military usage.

Gil

[kerrijeansmith]

Thanks. Is there a guide to these terms somewhere? ;) Lecce is what, then? I think I've seen that around too.

[IanW99]

Thanks. Is there a guide to these terms somewhere? ;) Lecce is what, then? I think I've seen that around too.

You can search the forum for "abbreviations" to find various threads for most terms.

Not heard of Lecce, maybe you are thinking of Leccy?

Leccy is short for Electricity e.g. Leccy Bill, Leccy Meter etc.

Ian

[bobo]

Thanks. Is there a guide to these terms somewhere? ;) Lecce is what, then? I think I've seen that around too.

Electrician, Sparky as in Leccy Lee.

[kerrijeansmith]

Weird. Okay, thanks guys!

[JandM]

Here http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=19635&highlight=abbreviations is a thread that covered some forum oddities, with links to yet more.:nice1

[WebMeister]

I'm glad the that previous posters found a good match and an IT recruiter to work with. My experience has been less than stellar. Here are a couple lessons I learned:

1. Duplicate job listings on Seek. The level of duplicate job listings by the same recruitment company, and other would be suitors, can be substantial. I found one yesterday which had 15 listings for one job. In this case, I'd try to figure out who the company or government agency is, and check their website for the listing. Most had it posted, but did not place it with seek.

2.Cut out the middleman and ensure that your CV and covering letter goes directly to the employer or HR dept. A recruiter may have another candidate (or more) and may tell you they have passed on your details, but did not. And if there are more than two agencies trying to fill the role, it's a safe bet none of the recruiters have good ties with the employer (preferred supplier), and are scavenging for any role they can tease out. Their margins may be 25%/hour for contract work (up from the $5-10 range 2-3 years ago); and their commission for fixed roles is pretty juicy for minimal effort. Your savings may result in a higher salary for you. They really contribute little to the process, and can't be relied upon to represent you actively or even fairly.

[JandM]

Thanks for your thoughts, and welcome to the forum. :)