When a company needed help, a temp was sent out. There was no forwarding of resumes, no testing and no interviews. The candidate just showed up, was trained and did the job.
Things have changed. These days the number of employment agencies have grown like mushrooms. The big names are still there, but they have been joined by any number of small time, insignificant establishments. “Boutique” agencies as they call themselves.
How they stay in business is a mystery to me. They have staff, but they have no jobs. They advertise jobs on Workopolis and Monster, sometimes as many as seven different ads, but when a candidate calls they hear, “We have nothing at the moment”. Is it possible that these agencies get government funding if they can show they have a number of candidates on their books?
Not that only the small agencies resort to these kind of practices, the big ones are just as guilty. In Toronto, the two giants in legal staffing make a habit of it advertising ten to fifteen job at a time. After candidates have registered, they hear “Sorry but we have nothing at the moment”.
As a representative of Q……. ones said:
“Advertise a job for $35,000 a year and you get 10 candidates; advertise a job for $45,000 a year and you get 20 candidates; but advertise a job for $75,000 a year and you get flooded with candidates.”
So all these boutique agencies have to do is advertise well-paying jobs and they get people to register with them to maintain funding?
Doesn’t seem fair, does it? Every candidate who registers with these nobodies goes through the same process: filling out forms and being tested in various computer programs.
That’s not the worst of it though. Every single candidate goes to these agencies with hope, hope to find a job. They buy an outfit to impress, they apply makeup to look their best, they pay for transportation, and it’s all for nothing.
That’s what bothers me the most, the deceit. Fraudsters of all kinds get prosecuted and with any luck put out of business. But not employment agencies, not only are they allowed to keep doing what they’re doing, they get financial support and thus encouraged to multiply.