Recruiters = Estate Agents

An observation - In times of recession, recruiters seem to have a inverse relationship to Estate Agents but end up being the same..

In good times, Estate Agents treat everyone with a certain amount of contempt, to buyers they are god and to sellers they suck up and this changes when then markets crash and their commissions are gone.  The Recruiter on the other hand treats his/her clients with contempt in times of recession as they seem to act as the gatekeeper to that fabled job.  

Are they all scum?

The recruitment Game - Ploy No 2

They call out of the blue.. tell you they have seen your CV on a website, they have a great role but of course they can't tell you the client's name BUT they do need to know if you are interviewing.  Well yes.. I am.  Then they ask who with.. I was already a little wary and they would insist, so I would tell the bank's name.. and they would say "ahhh" .. intimating it may be that very bank. 

Then they want to know names of the people you saw.. this is a common trick to try and find out what live roles exist out there. 

Yes, one barrow boy Oik was so thick that he called back the next day to try and find out the spelling of my interviewer.  I hung up.

The Recruitment Game - Ploy No 1

Recuiter posts a job, waits for CVs and applications to roll in (some people cn spend at least an hour preparing their CV and writing their covering letters), then he or she calls the chosen few and tells them the following:

•  that job advertised is filled
  
• but they have another one they could send your cv to
• or that they want to keep you cv on their database

.. for what??? 

Yes you guessed it - the job never existed.  They were trawling for CVs to use in future as fillers.

Recruiters beware - you shall be named and shamed.