Why do I bother????

Question

Why do I bother emailing my CV to recruitment agencies with covering letters, to apply for jobs, only to be ignored and never even recieve an acknowledgement?

I have to wonder why I'm wasting my time here ..... I'm a good candidate, I have experience in the field that I'm applying for, I have a well written CV and covering letter.

So what's missing?

Maybe I should just become dole scrounger as they seem to have more luck than me right now!

Can I just point out, contacting agencies is not the only thing I am doing! I spend hours every night on job web sites. I have put my CV up on numerous sites such as monster, I go out and buy the local paper every week for the job section, I hunt on the websites of major employers such as NHS etc. I'm not stupid you know and my job hunting certainly isn't half arsed!!!

Also, the CV has had 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th opinions. Every piece of advice I've had about it, I have followed. In the last 3 months, my CV has had 6 rewrites!!!!!
I've registered with every agency I can think of and I even take time off work at my own expence to register with other agencies who contact me from seeing my CV on these sites. Alas, once I'm registered, I follow up with calls and emails and end up nowhere!

Answer 1

Having been responsible for recruitment in my area of a large multi national , till I recently retired , I would agree that what you are doing in terms of CV plus the covering letter would be exactly what I would be looking for
Maybe your CV lacks a bit of detail , or even the opposite contains too much ??
Get a 2nd opinion of the CV and letter and keep trying . You don't sound like the type of person who wants to become a scrounger and I think you would be really unhappy being in that position
One other comment I would make is that the very least you should expect is a letter from the companies telling you that you have been unsuccessful . I always responded to applicants , even those that came in just asking if there was a job . I worked on the principle that if someone made the effort to write in to us then we should at the very least reply to them !!
I wish you luck , maybe it will change come 2008. !!

Answer 2

Agencies are, in general, completely useless, especially if you have a specific skill set.

All they do is put your details into a database and forget about it until a search of that database returns your details. If you don't match the search exactly enough then you'll not get selected.

My details are with probably a dozen agencies and I get on average an email a day with a potential vacancy. 99% of these I am either not qualified for, over qualified for or the job is hundreds of miles away from where I live.

Do some research into the companies that recruit staff with your skill set and send your CV directly to them, rather than via an agency. Sure, they may not have any open vacancies right now, but most will keep your details on file if they like the look of your CV since recruiting you directly doesn't cost them anything. Recruiting you via an agency could cost them 10% of your salary as an 'Introduction fee'.

Answer 3

I have the same problem with recruitment agencies,they say sign up to them and they will look for a job to suit you, but i never get a reply, best thing to do is to go down to your local recruitment office or ring them, your more likely to get a responce that way, maybe look over your CV and cover letters, see if theres anything your doing wrong, have a unique format on CV, not microsoft office which employers see 1000's of, make yours stand out!! I know how you feel though,iv been looking for a job for over 6mths now and no luck yet! check newspapers,job websites,job centres.. good luck!!

Answer 4

Stop being so negative or you'll be losing already! Keep your hopes up, it's a tricky business...

Don't bother emailing recruitment agencies. They have so many people to deal with - you should actually go into one or call them up for an appointment.

I've got almost all of my previous jobs through agencies and had hardly any luck emailing people.
Sounds strange and email/Internet is meant to be the way forward but I think where this sort of thing is concerned you need to go in person.

(Either that or you have a HUGE mistake some where on your CV but from your spelling and grammar it doesn't seem likely!)

Answer 5

DON'T send it to agencies. They receive millions of the things and will just churn you out with other people in a factory process. Don't get lost in the crush. You are an individual and need individual treatment so do it yourself. Look in newspapers and telephone directories for the type of firms you'd like to work for then send them your cv with suitable, separate covering letters - not a standard 'one size fits all' letter. Even if they aren't actually advertising for staff, you'll be surprised at the number of answers you'll get. Your letter will show that you're interested in the firm and they'll at least read it and reply to you. Hopefully they'll be interested in you and invite you in to look at you as a future employee. Take the initiative yourself. Don't leave it up to an agency - and don't be negative. That'll just give you a minus before you start. Be positive.

Answer 6

Agencies, in my experience, don't work like that. You have to go into their office with a copy of your CV and sit down and have a chat about what kind of work you want to do. If you have skills such as book keeping or secretarial, they may want you to do a few tests. They will then re-write your CV to send to potential companies. They will then contact you to go on interviews. Agencies won't put someone forward without meeting them.

Answer 7

Success is a numbers game. The more you try the more likely you will succeed eventually. Try different ways, there is loads of advice out there. Try about.com/careers they have loads of good advice and may point out something that you are doing wrong, or something you need to do in addition.
Don't give up and become a dole scrounger or I will have to chop your fingers off to prevent further scrounging.

Answer 8

No because it is a lead into get your attention. What follow might bother me. Yours is clever. Don't let the little things bother you. Wait for bigger stuff that you can control.

Answer 9

Is that all you're doing?

Go to the job centre, look on the Internet at specific company's you want to work for, call employers direct and ask if they are recruiting, you have to put the same effort in to finding a job as you do once you are actually in a job.
Go to the job centre, do all you can.

Answer 10

Maybe your CV isn't as well presented as you think. Get a second opinion.