Path: chuka.playstation.co.uk!news From: sosman@terratron.com (Steven Osman) Newsgroups: scee.yaroze.freetalk.english Subject: Re: Work in the UK. Date: Fri, 25 Feb 2000 14:24:07 GMT Organization: PlayStation Net Yaroze (SCEE) Lines: 74 Message-ID: <38b68ee5.863566112@news.playstation.co.uk> References: <38B1D4E9.1D8C059B@fulcrum.com.au> <38b25941.2645299@www.netyaroze-europe.com> <38b3b79c.611831537@news.playstation.co.uk> <38b2c0b3.29131290@www.netyaroze-europe.com> <38B3D2CC.72BBFA6E@easynet.co.uk> <894iig$5er1@chuka.playstation.co.uk> NNTP-Posting-Host: 209.27.57.69 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Newsreader: Forte Agent 1.5/32.452 Don't get me wrong! I was definitely saying that you need to 1. Know your agent 2. Trust your agent 3. Pick only a couple of agents, or only one. DO NOT send your resume all over the place. If two agents share the same client (employer), you may find yourself in a sticky situation. I've had some decent experience with agents, in fact, a friend of mine who is an agent lined me up with 7 interviews a couple of years ago, 5 of which I was unqualified for -- on the premise that I could learn whatever they needed me to know within the first week on the job. Needless to say, I had 7 job offers to pick through. As for a bad experience? This one agency I worked with sent me to a Japanese bank. After accepting the job, I changed my mind at the last minute. I really didn't have the time to work for that company -- I wanted to go to school at the same time. The agent freaked out. She called me, and my answering machine picked up. She hung up, but since she was on a conference call with her boss, something screwed up and she didn't get properly disconnected. "I can't believe this a**hole's doing this to us" began her conversation with her boss. He was telling her not to sweat it too much, "tell him, you know, great company, great pay, they give good bonuses, some bulls**t like that". Honestly, if you don't trust your agent, be careful. I don't want to take a job only to find out that everything the agent was feeding me was bulls**t. Steven On Thu, 24 Feb 2000 14:50:09 -0000, "Al" wrote: >Hi > In defence of agencies, I just got my new job I start next week >through one. > >The thing is, loads of companies only hire through agency, I'm assuming >because that way some-one else filters out the time wasters for them :) > >The other thing is that nearly every company I wrote to with demo disc >and CV wrote back to me saying " Sorry we want ppl with experience", yet >the agencies I was with got me interviews :) > >I'm assuming that's cos the agency guy is saying " sure he has no >experience but he's the hardest working cleverest most talented quick >thinking person in the known universe ;) > >So back to the point, maybe I'm an exception, but after Uni I spent 3 >months sending CVs and demo discs, and had 3 interviews. After Christmas >I registered with 2 agencies and within 1 1/2 months had 4 interviews >and got a job with a games company. > >Saying that it's better for you if you get a job without an agency cos >it means you get more money :) > >One thing I'd say though is that different agencies treat different ppl >well and badly. A friend of mine nearly had a heart attacked when I told >him one I had registered with cos they messed him about, but they were >brilliant to me, they were even nice when I told them I got offered a >job which I had got the interview with via another agency :) > >Al > >p.s. I'll actually publicly announce the company next week once I've >started :) I'm quite excited now cos my contract arrived today :)