johndoh, fair enough, I don't agree with you but I can see your point and understand your reluctance.
My take on it, both as a recruiter and an employer, is that when I'm hiring I want the best people to work for me and generally those people aren't looking and are not aware of who's hiring as, well, why would they? To get those people I need to talk to people at work as that's the only number I have for them, I could e-mail them but then they're not looking so why would they reply to me? If they're not interested I thank them for their time, ask if they can recommend anyone else and bid them good day, easy, inoffensive and everyone's happy.
But hey, different perspectives, different views, none more right or wrong than the other.
I am a partner in a small business employing a further 6 people, currently having recruiters employed by a certain multi-national TV/Broadband/Phone supply company that has relocated to our region attempting to bleed us (and every other agency in the area) dry of employees.
Do the other partners know you spend so long posting on STW during work hours?*
*maybe you are on holiday
😉
Does it really matter how I arrange my working day?
if you can't see the irony in spending your working day on a mountain bike forum bitching about how your employees spend their working day speaking to recruitment consultants, then fair enough..
Wow - Everyone in industry X is scum, I know this from a small representative sample and anecdotal evidence.
I appreciate your concern for your business but it is just that, business, and that's how business works. If your people can go elsewhere and have a reason to I'm afraid they will.
bitching about how your employees spend their working day speaking to recruitment consultants
But....
That is not the point. The point is that I don't want consultants ringing me up asking to speak to my employees just so they can try to poach them. I wouldn't be annoyed at an employee for wasting time talking to one should they get through to them, I would (rightfully) be annoyed at the consultant for using what I consider to be really underhand tactics in the first place.
In fact we are really very fair with them regarding use of phones, internet etc. We also allow them to have doctors apts, options apts, driving lessons etc etc etc on company time and they work a 4.5 day week, having every Friday afternoon to work on their own stuff.
It's the recruiters I cannot abide.
Blimey....the poor bloke starts a thread to let off some legitimate steam and he gets a flame thrower pointed at him! I too hate Recruitment Consultants, as when I had the misfortune of looking for a job in the 80's I responded to some of their advertised jobs, which I later discovered were simply bait to get people through the door.
However....
[i]And I wouldn't employ the use of a recruiter if they cold-called people – I simply do not agree with that approach.[/i]
Regardless of what business you're in, its sometimes difficult to sell your business if you don't cold call. You don't have to be an arse about it.
I can see the OPs point, on a similar note I don't care if people in my team occasionally browse non-work-related websites (I'd be a hypocrite if I did :p ) but I'd probably have words if it was a job search site, that's just taking the piss IMO. I don't care about personal phone calls at work either but again I'd consider it taking the piss if I heard someone negotiating t&c's of a new job whilst at work. And I'm just a lowly manager in a global company, not a partner in a small business like the OP, he has much more invested in keeping his team together.
That said I don't hate recruitment agencies either, yes their behaviour can be annoying and I've not had the best experience with them when trying to fill positions but they have their uses and there are some good ones out there.
its sometimes difficult to sell your business if you don't cold call.
The point being they are calling wanting to speak to my staff during a working day. If they are any good, surely they can work out how to contact them without brazenly doing it in my face?
they are calling wanting to speak to my staff during a working day
Do recruiters not work Monday to Friday 9-530? When do you think they should call, evenings and weekends? Do they know where people are going to be, and how to contact them, outside of business hours?
I don't care how they do it, they shouldn't use my business time for their own gain.
You seem to have made it abundantly clear you're not going to be a client of theirs so why would they care about pissing you off?
In my experience on both sides of the fence, and as a candidate, people tend to get the recruitment consultants they deserve. Assume they're all scum, act like that and the good ones won't go near you.
Please can someone give my details to a recruitment agency? Same job, I just want one meeeeelion quid salary.
😉
And jondoh - I agree, it is a step beyond reasonable to call then at work.
I get recruiters calling me on my work landline and it really hacks me off. Not sure why, but it's probably got a lot to do with the lying they do to get put through to me.
I also get recruiters pretending to be people they're not. I had a girl from the "HSE" asking for the email addresses of all the engineers in my office so she could send through an update on legislation. I politely declined and asked her to send it through to me and I would distribute it. She said that she needed the emails for her records but I still wouldn't give her the addresses. When pressed she couldn't te me what it was about or even the title of the update. More than a month later and she is still yet to email me......
Johndoh, there is a very easy way to stop the calls, engage the agency as a client. Tell them you want to use them to hire you someone and make it a condition of the assignment that they leave your staff alone. This method only works if you do hire though, if you don't they'll be back with more vigour!
And a big shout to the guy who had a bad experience with a recruiter in the 80's and still hate them to this day, that is a serious grudge right there.
Just got to thinking – the next time I need some staff, I will just ring up the recruitment consultants and ask them to put me through directly to people on their books...
😆
It has to be worth a giggle. Record the call for us....
