I HATE AGENCIES!!!

[MoogleViper]

Employment agencies that is. God they are so fucking annoying.

 

During the summer I've been working at Wilkinson's distribution centre, employed through an agency. I started in june, but they only gave me a few days of work. Also when you do get work, they send you a text the evening before, saying that you are required to come in at 6am the next morning. Then at the start of this month, I get a phone call (after not hearing from them for over a month), at 9.30am, saying that they want me to come in to work for 10. I say that I can't make it and agree to get in for 11. I go to work, am informed that I will have a full week of work. I get a text that evening saying I'm required to go to work at 8am the next day. I do this, but that evening I get no text. So early in the morning I ring the office, just to check that I'm supposed to come in, which I consider a reasonable thing to do, especially considering that agency workers have no employment rights, and I could turn up and they just essentially tell me to fuck off back home. But judging from the woman's attitude and response, when I said, "I just wanted to check that I've got work today", she must have heard, "I want to rip out your kidneys and piss into your mouth". That's the only reason I can think of for her shit attitude, she had a go at me saying that I should have known, and that if I read the text properly it says that I'm working all week (it didn't, it only mention the following day/tuesday).

 

Then on Thursday I get to work at 8am, and the supervisor tells me (and another agency worker) that we were supposed to start at 10, not 8. But the super efficient agency somehow forgot to tell us that. (The supervisors are nice though so didn't blame us.)

 

Now I've been working for the past two weeks. They inform you of whether you're working the following week on friday (by text). I finished work today at 2, and got home about 20 minutes later. I check my phone to find the message, sent at 13:47, saying that I'm working next week, and I should ring if there's any problems. As I'm at the ortho on tuesday, I ring to tell them of this. But the woman starts having a go at me, saying that I haven't given her enough notice of when I'm available, and that she's not a mind reader. I've not given enough notice? I rang about half an hour after I was informed that I was required for work.

 

Then I check my emails to find a payslip. On my previous payslip I was deducted tax (I'm a student and earn much less than the tax allowance). So on the tuesday of the first week I was working, I printed off, filled in, and handed them a P38 saying that I shouldn't be deducted tax. I've basically done their job, all they needed to do was sign the paper. But oh look, I've been deducted tax again. Stupid cunts.

 

tl:dr, employment agency are run by cunts.

 

 

Anyone else had bad experiences with agencies?

(Well that's tautological really, I should just ask if anyone's had experience with agencies.)

[Shorty]

An agency is a business like any other, they get most of their money by finding suitors for £40-100k salary executives, and are probably hideously understaffed themselves in the lower paid sectors which should be helping with our employment draught. It's a vicious cycle, with fat walleted CEOs dancing naked in the centre.

[MoogleViper]

I know that they're necessary, and I'm not complaining about the short notices and stuff. But there's no need for the staff to be absolute bitches.

[jayseven]

Recruitment is such a shallow, bullshittery and target-pimping industry.

 

Guy there called Jon Wang (lololo) is the sort of guy who rings you, and the conversation is generally;

 

Me: "Hi Jon, how's it going?"

Jon: "Hi James! It's Jon! You alright?"

"Fell over and landed in a blender. My nose feels like a fishing net"

"Good, goooooood. So hey, listen, this role's landed on my desk and I think it's perfect for you."

"I also have to look in three directions at once in order to cross the road now."

"Faaantastic. So the job is blahblahblah. What do you think? Good, huh?"

"I am you. I am you. I am tearing out of our skinshell as we speak."

 

.... basically he's a nob. One time he got me an interview and I said I wouldn't be able to start for a month, but he said naah go for it, tell them, it'll be fine. So get up for a 9am interview and tell them I can't start for a month and they thankandhandshakeBYE me.

 

My ex-housemate was in recruitment for a bit and I can genuinely see that it's a ballache of a job.

 

Also, my current job has a lot of agency-recruited dudes who... basically don't speak english, never turn up in the correct uniform, etc.

 

But yeah - moog are you calling the depot or the agency? Perhaps getting in touch with them the night before is a smarter move?

Edited September 16, 2011 by jayseven
fuckyou doublepost from nowhere.

[MoogleViper]

I can't get in touch the night before. They finish work about 2/3 in the afternoon.

 

They don't even have a hard job to do. This branch is based at Wilko's DC site. Most of the recruitment for them is done by the Mansfield branch. They don't have to find other jobs for people. It's just telling people whether to come in or not.

[EEVILMURRAY]

When I got a job through a recruitment agency all I had to do was give them a time slip each week. None of this bullshit texting, it sounds rather silly.

[LukeLee]

My experience with Agencies was more like EvilMurrays'. It was a time slip once a week. But they are always going to screw you over, leave you on the emergency tax code and probably fuck up your pay from time to time. I've had an angency mess up my wage, one didnt give a pay rise that they should of done, mess up my tax so much I ended up owing hundreds.

 

Keep applying for contracted work and remember you're not on contract, they need you as you need them, they need a reliable worker who wont screw up the relationship with the company. And the amount of money they get from you and often without much effort on their part.....

[Jimbob]

Had a bad time with agency work, so i refuse to deal with them no matter how desperate times get.

 

Basically putting, they arranged an interview for me at a local company a few months back. Gave me 30 minutes notice, of which i said that was impossible for me as i had to get home prepare some clothes and shower/shave etc. So they re-arranged it for 2 hours time, which was better. Too bad really, they forgot to change it with the employer, so i showed up 1 hour 30 late for an interview.

[nightwolf]

Ouch!

 

I've never come across an agency, I've always just searched and searched until something came a long, I'm quite glad I did it that way now..0.o

[Jimbob]

I've never come across an agency, I've always just searched and searched until something came a long, I'm quite glad I did it that way now..0.o

 

I only tend to look online and in the local j/c and around town for work. I avoid agencies for the life of me now.

[James]

Agencies were a god send when I was in Australia, the only problem I had with them was they would often call at 7:30 in the morning and I would have to go down to the internet cafe to look at the job description and then email the woman back to say I would take it, some of the work was only a few days but technically I could pay rent and eat for two days work so I wasn't that bothered.

 

They found me frequent work, so I never had any problems with them.

[nightwolf]

I only tend to look online and in the local j/c and around town for work. I avoid agencies for the life of me now.

 

I've never really even gone out of my way to avoid them, it's just naturally occurred that I find my jobs online.

[Fierce_LiNk]

I've had mixed experience with agencies. I went home during my first summer at Uni and tried to get a job in Newport. Printed off a ton of CVs and went to sign myself up to different agencies. I walked into the first one and they shook their head as soon as I walked in. Really was quite a comical experience. They didn't even say hello! Walked in, they shook their head, I asked if I could sign up and they just said they had nothing. Right...

 

It's quite unusual, there are about half a dozen recruitment agencies all within the same street at the arse end of town, yet they all said they had nothing. Before even looking at what sort of work I was looking for. In the end, I was able to carry on with some work at a company I was previously working for before I moved away.

 

That's a bad experience. However, I've had 3 good experiences since then. Two have been with Hays (one was Hays Education) and they were pretty brilliant. Hays was in Brighton, and managed to get me some call-centre work very, very quickly. Hays Education were also brilliant at getting me some supply teaching, despite me not having a car and many of the schools being tricky areas to reach. They were grateful that I was willing to go anywhere, even some tough-ish schools, and eventually they even found me the full time job I have now. I highly recommend both Hays and Hays Education.

 

Can't remember the other agency, but they managed to get me a call-centre job in Newport and I was even offered a permanent contract there, but had to leave to go back to Uni (it was summer work).

 

They can be pretty useless. A lot of the time, you hand your CV in and you never hear anything. But, when you do get something from one, with a little bit of luck, they can treat you well.

 

Reed.co.uk are fucking useless, by the way. Must have applied for nigh on 30 jobs with them and have never heard anything back. Ever. Avoid like the plague.

[Jimbob]

I've never really even gone out of my way to avoid them, it's just naturally occurred that I find my jobs online.

 

When i was out of work, the job centre signed me up to 3 agencies without me knowing about it. So, you could guess i was "surprised" when i recieved calls for interviews for jobs i never applied for. Turned most of them down, because of locations and the fact that i had no idea about the job or anything. No prep time, that is the worst thing to do.