Agency Sites are miserable!

[hairymouse]

Has anyone had any luck uploading their CV to the actual agency sites? Until now, I've always been happy to just apply via jobserve and trust my CV actually gets somewhere, but lately I've been thinking that actually applying on the agency site for the roles that really interest me might be helpful to get noticed. Also, it looks like Indeed.co.uk scrapes jobs from those sites and sends you there to apply.

The only problem is that those sites are horrible! Most of them don't even seem to function enough to allow you to register and upload a CV.

Any experiences or thoughts?

[WTFH]

I’d almost never apply by uploading my CV (JobServe, agency site, other)

I’d normally pick up the phone, talk to a person, get that person’s email address and send them my CV by email. Then follow it up with a call a day or two later.

[hairymouse]

I’d almost never apply by uploading my CV (JobServe, agency site, other)

I’d normally pick up the phone, talk to a person, get that person’s email address and send them my CV by email. Then follow it up with a call a day or two later.

You mean that agents are happy to talk with you about a role without knowing you or having seen your CV?

I'm guessing that you are in a highly paid niche. I'm thinking that agents get scores of roles for the data warehousing stuff I do, and they would rather spend the day talking to people THEY choose. In my experience, whenever I call an agent when they are not actively pimping me out, they are never available. I've heard they pair up to screen calls for each other and simply repeat your name out loud so the agent sitting across from them can give the thumbs up or down.

Have you used that approach recently?

[simes]

I’d almost never apply by uploading my CV (JobServe, agency site, other)

I’d normally pick up the phone, talk to a person, get that person’s email address and send them my CV by email. Then follow it up with a call a day or two later.

But that method relies entirely on being open only for those roles that are advertised. And I have no doubt that works for you.

I think what hairy is trying to cover with the uploading approach is to be available for those roles that are Not advertised, and relies more on an agent doing an in-house search prior to there being any advertising or need thereof.

As to the initial question, I upload to all the usual portals; Jobserve, Jobsite, CW, Reed etc, and only upload to the sites through whom I have worked in the past. To be fair, I haven't had problem enough with them to warrant my being upset.

[CheeseSlice]

Has anyone had any luck uploading their CV to the actual agency sites?

Tried but not had any luck. I did this once or twice because I saw an agency that deals with the kinds of contract I like.
The agency site I tried this with threw an error when I tried to use the upload function, the other sites I never heard anything back from. Reed is the only 'agency' I can think of worth doing this with as they are both a collection of agencies and a CV library from what I gather.

[CheeseSlice]

I’d almost never apply by uploading my CV (JobServe, agency site, other)

Thats nice for you. However if I did this, I'd be sat on the street holding a cup begging for spare change.
At least 70% of my contracts are unadvertised and I'd simply never been found if I didn't upload my CV to some job boards. Linkedin has changed things a little, but not enough IMHO.

[hairymouse]

I make myself available for those unadvertised roles by uploading a new version of my CV every few days. AFAIK, whenever you put up a CV it gets sent around to all the agencies. I'm thinking that agents are most interested in whatever CV came through latest.

No evidence lately that this approach works.

[simes]

I make myself available for those unadvertised roles by uploading a new version of my CV every few days. AFAIK, whenever you put up a CV it gets sent around to all the agencies. I'm thinking that agents are most interested in whatever CV came through latest.

No evidence lately that this approach works.

I think that is the right approach. Am not sure how the agents 'see' this but it keeps you at the top of the pile. At the very least, a newly uploaded CV tells someone you're available. And one that was last touched in 2005 suggests otherwise.

Normally, (which is not in this current market), whenever I re-upload, I would get a flood of calls suggesting that this approach does work. That said, a couple of months ago when I was last moving contracts, I uploaded and the silence was deafening.

To this end, I have moved a couple of times in the last three months but only due to contacts past.

Keep plugging.

[SimonMac]

I’d almost never apply by uploading my CV (JobServe, agency site, other)

I’d normally pick up the phone, talk to a person, get that person’s email address and send them my CV by email. Then follow it up with a call a day or two later.

This(ish)

Find a role you're keen on through what ever platform you choose, find the agent on LinkedIn and approach them directly on there with the contact details usually shown, send your CV by email and then follow up with a phone call.

[WTFH]

Thats nice for you. However if I did this, I'd be sat on the street holding a cup begging for spare change.
At least 70% of my contracts are unadvertised and I'd simply never been found if I didn't upload my CV to some job boards. Linkedin has changed things a little, but not enough IMHO.

Most of my roles are unadvertised, but I haven’t got the roles because I randomly uploaded my CV on a job site or agent site.
It’s because I’ve spoken to agents and then sent in my CV.

Then what happens is I keep in touch with the key agents. They know my availability and will suggest roles to me when they come up. If you’ve just blindly uploaded a CV, how does the agent know whether you are available or not?