It’s been 5 years since I dealt with job agents but back then it was not
a particularly enjoyable experience. Both agencies I had contact with
were full of BS, they were spamming me with vague job descriptions
most of which ended up being irrelevant to me:
“Super stable company working with Hollywood IP! I’m sure that
‘Unreal Engine’ experience of yours will be put to good use!”
Chinese startup working on a Transformers game for Symbian,
aimed at local markets.
So it was a waste of time for everyone involved. Then it took some
doing to make them leave me alone and delete my profile from their
database.
Is this still the case today? I generally prefer to skip the middle man but
if they are indeed useful then I’d sign up once again.
Ask your friends for recommended recruiters. I wouldn’t approach an agency but I’ve worked with a few recruiters (and thus agencies) who have been phenomenal (and know well-respected friends who have done the same with other recruiters). Otherwise I wouldn’t bother seeking them out.
stick to the big ones - Interactive Selection, OPM, etc. I got my current job through them. Very satisfied. Keep in mind it’s a 2 way relationship - you too have to push them, keep them informed what you are doing job-search wise, you have to ask for updates. Otherwise they’ll think all is fine and keep “forgetting” you.
I am sad to hear that you have been spammed when you were contacting the recruitment companies. May be it’s you mistake that you mentioned the job description wrong. Or might be it is the fault from the agencies. I believe you should keep updating your profile and ask your friends about the best agencies. You should search companies that are good in providing service and gives you satisfaction.
Thank you guys for the input. In the sample of 10 people the consensus seems
to be that social networking is preferred and agencies should be one’s last resort.
yes the situation is same these days as i also contacted many consultancies for my job they just cheated and gave all the false advices and descriptions to me and finally i left them and serched job on my own and is now working these days as a content writer
Use recruiters as a fallback, or if you want to move into an area that you don’t have any contacts in – for example, I might do it if switching from games to VFX, or games to education tech, but never inside games.
To be fair though Steve you have a fair bit more connections and experience than most people. Especially if you have a small network, a good recruiter can be helpful (a bad recruiter, though, may move you a peg down simply because there are HR people who know and don’t like him/her).
