A good number of us have dealt with employment agencies here in Switzerland an abroad. Some of us have had good experiences, some of us have had bad experiences. Perhaps someone has suggestions on how to deal with these agencies. Let's use this thread to discuss agencies.

Hard to come up with many stories about good agencies, as they tend to be the agencies that things happen so smoothly with that you forget the agency exists. Though good Christmas parties with lots of free booze always rank high.

Bad agencies?
Well there are a selection of common sins including arriving for a job interview to find out the job is completely different to that described by the agency and being grilled about things I know nothing about, chaotic accounting systems resulting in invoices being lost, not paid or paid incorrectly or the good old tactic of trying to bully me into taking a job that I don't want.

But still my all time favourite one was about half way through an interview where they where asking all sorts of strange questions which made no sense. I then caught a glimpse of the CV they where using for the interview and it did not look familiar. I asked to have a look at it. Not only had the agency reformatted my resume to fit their format and go on their letterhead. But they had changed to content of it including glaring typo's and major technical inaccuracies. Luckily I had an original copy of my resume with me which I handed over. But I still wonder to this day how I got the interview in the first place with such a mess of a resume.

I know someone who was looking for a job (IT person, VERY experienced and highly qualified) and went though the recruitment/employment agencies. He said they always tried to steer him towards other jobs they had listings for rather than the position he'd applied for (sometimes I think those ads are come-on's, like some apartment ads I've seen that sound too good to be true). The emphasis also seemed to be on finding the absolutely *perfect fit* for their client. Apparently, having all the client's requirements, save for one or two seemingly minor ones, was cause enough for disqualification to be sent to interview with them. The whole process sounded pretty rigid. Some of the recruiters even wanted exclusivity (e.g., to pursue leads ONLY through them and not through other agencies) which is BS, because there's no guarantee of anything. I was also told that many of the interviewers' questions seemed a bit leading, even amateurish, and disappointing, not what one would expect at an interview. Of course, that may not apply to everyone or every interviewer.

In the end, he achieved better results going directly to the companies themselves. The recruiters were useless as far as he was concerned. But, again, that may not be the case for everybody.

Some are b4stards, some are greedy.

My rule of thumb for Switzerland:
- Avoids any agency with 3 or 4 letters
- Ask other contractors eg how long to get paid

Who has good reputation:
Stamford, Xenar

Honest about margins (high, low, whatever: you know where you stand):
Swisslinx, Harvey Nash

For my last contract I had a choice of 3:
- one was on holiday (my preferred, I found out later though)
- one (let's call them TLA) said "that's as high as we can go"
- the 3rd offered more than number 2 and told me their margin. High, but I know where I stood.

has happened to me too with a traditional headhunter based out of UK ... telephone interview where the recruiting head was puzzled as to why I was on the call ... soon came to grips with the fact that my CV had been generically sanitised by a researcher.

PDF's only is the rule from now on.

One of the 4 letter agencies seems to re-format CVs. Badly.

I thought the candidates were a bunch of illiterate ****wits at first...

I think one of those four letter agencies put me in for a job that required Oracle as part of my experience. The response was I'd be good if I had Oracle experience and that I should mention it on my vita.

My CV mentions seven years of Oracle DBA experience, a number of Oracle classes I've taken and a panel session at Oracle's HQ that I was a member of.

Sorry, it appears it was a six-letter agency, here was my response:

What really "grinds my gears" is agencies who somehow think they are your employer. Whenever there is a financial discussion they try bullying tactics "ok, fine, we'll terminate your contract". As if the contractor cares if the agency terminate the contract, there are plenty to choose from.

Phoning me on my desk phone is another annoyance, I don't imagine anybody would want to discuss contract details in an open plan office.

I just hate the waiting and not knowing what or if anything is happening.

You contact the agency and ask them to make an application. They either start asking you questions about your relative experience or just say ok. You have no true knowledge that they actually made the application in the end. Then you hear nothing, you keep phoning or emailing and get no response.
When they start asking you experience questions you get the feeling they are trying to put you off as they already have someone lined up for the position. You then feel like your application is not going to be made.

I always try email first with an agency based on the fact that 99% of the time the person you need to speak to is on the phone and the receptionist refuses to take any messages and asks you to try later.

Sometimes positions are not advertised directly by the company, so making a cold application is sometimes the only way.

I recently had application in at a very well known Swiss company for three different positions, two via agencies and one directly through the company web site. I was qualified for all of them. Which application do you think got
me an interview? Yep, the direct one the other two applications went nowhere. Ok I did not get the job I was interviewed for. Then again I'm an IT professional systems engineer not a developer and the in the second interview the hiring manager starts asking me about my C sharp programming skills. Nothing in the job description I got on that being a requirement. Still I have since used that experience and stated learning C sharp just in case I get asked it again one day.

That all said I have a job interview later this week which is through and agency.

Well having worked with an employment agency, i can say i dont really understand what most swiss agencies do?

most treat people like a paper file, and are very expensive.

i would only use one if i was desperate or wanted a mediocre secretary job. that said a lot of companies use agencies to place ads and find fast employment. also because they are too afraid if they did it themselves that they would be blamed if the employee turned out bad, not to mention all the thousands of CVs their office would get.

So agencies are for companies not for employees! Best is go through friends and contacts.

Agents are a bunch of p*mps. Putting you forward for skills that you have no experience in or calling you about jobs in Baden (yes, I live in Zug ). I freelanced for 5 years in the UK and got scr*wed big time when my agency when into liquidation. Client was forced to pay my invoices and I was last in line to receive any remaining money. Customs and excise and inland revenue got paid first, then employees, then me. I didn't see a single penny. I was also forbidden contractually for working directly for the client.

My other half worked for years here for one of those agencies with a 4 letter name. I don't trust what they do with the holiday provision money. When this accumulated too much we got a tad nervous that we could lose it all.

For a short time I worked in Zug and did the commute from Baden....it was long Fortunately I found something closer to home but sometimes if you are desperate you take what is on offer. Better to look for something else while you are employed rather than looking while you are unemployed.

Just used one, once, though not in Switzerland. Sent in my CV, and the agent told me to apply to a load of big (obvious) pharma companies, and then to let her know should I hear anything. I guess she wanted to intervene at some point to claim a portion of my salary.

Hi Forum,
I've worked with a few agencies here and can say Swisslinx is hands down one of the few agencies that I have found to be absolutely beyond reproach on any front.
I've found them to be very professional, responsive, and straight talking. I've met and worked with several of their agents and they are all of the same high caliber. And to boot they are massively connected and have good relationships with all the major players here.
Big thumbs up.

In general , regardless of the agency your're dealing with, Believe in your worth , and dont be afraid to negotiate.
As someone advised earlier on in this thread ask around to get a sense of prevailing rates and 'tolerable' percentage cuts.(if there is such a thing as a tolerable cut

3day.