Another day, another snarky (and valid) tweet about how a shit recruitment agent (note I say agent, NOT consultant) has done something stupid and wasted someone’s time, or worse still.
I’m a big fan of positive action, and I _know_ there are some great people working in recruitment services. I agree the industry on the whole is mostly full of sloppy sales people who often have a poor understanding of our industry, and seems to attract folks with dubious morals at best. BUT, there really are some gems out there who get tarred with the same brush.
So, please – if you’ve had a good experience with someone working in the recruitment industry, I’d really appreciate it if you could mention their name and what company they’re currently working for below (with a url) and what you do – and we can build up our own mini database post that others can refer to. Even if you’re reading this ages after I’ve posted it, but have a recommendation to share – please do.
We can nurture and incubate the good’uns in the industry by celebrating those who recruit well and giving them more business; let the shit ones fester in their own mess.
I’m only interested in positive attributions here please, I want this to be a useful post for folks looking to recruit knowing where to go and for what specialism.
I may even turn this into a small industry awards and super group with it’s own manifesto.. But please, candidates and clients alike: help me highlight who you recommend.
EDIT – Due to the overwhelming comments for Barry, I am now closing comments on this post. It was meant to be a nice way of highlighting many different recruiters, but it’s turned into something quite different. Ho hum.
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Can’t say I’ve been recruited through them, but Barry et al at http://recworks.co.uk/ really seem to get community engagement etc.
I’d like to second RecWorks – I’ve worked with them to find Java developers, and they worked really hard to find people who are a good fit with the company culture, they didn’t just fire buzz-word-filled CVs to me.
+1 for Barry Cranford and his company Recworks. I first met Barry when he got me my previous job. Since then I’ve been in regular contact through the London Java Community.
Barry founded the London Java Community and it has grown to over 3,000 members and a seat on the Java Community Process. I help organise the LJC Book Club,
He is also working hard to grow the Graduate Developer Community. I’ve taken part in one of their Meet a Mentor events. http://graduatedevelopercommunity.wordpress.com/2012/02/18/gdc-meet-a-mentor/
+1 for RecWorks and Barry Cranford. I’ve always loved the way he realises the community of the LJC needs to come before any business desires he might have and he was great at steering towards interesting interviews and then talking through my career in a way that made sense for me rather than just looking to make money off me.
+1 for Barry Cranford & Recworks. I’ve worked with them both as someone looking for work and someone looking to recruit new staff and have been impressed both times. Whereas other agencies told me to stuff my CV with buzzwords, Recworks took the time to understand what I was looking for – I felt like they were working hard on my behalf. When I was in the position of receiving CVs from them they sent me a small number of useful CVs that matched what I was looking for rather than a pile of “buzzword compliant” rubbish.
+1 again for Barry, Sam, Laurence, Dom and the whole team at RecWorks (http://recworks.co.uk/), they are incredibly friendly and they make an amazing contribution to the community through the LJC (http://www.meetup.com/Londonjavacommunity/).
Really admire their strong ethics and fantastic commitment, would highly recommend them to anyone! 🙂
I’ve generally had good experiences with http://www.client-server.com/. They placed me in a great job ages ago (which I’ve now left, and I haven’t had reason to use a recruiter from that side since due to a variety of friend of a friend placements), and I’ve used them a few times from the other side and they consistently send quite high quality candidates. They’re a bit pushy, but they make up for that with pretty consistent competence.
I don’t have much experience with dealing with recruitment people (except hundreds of generic LinkedIn messages), but one particularly stood out as being interesting – Josh Longmore from The ReThink Group. http://www.linkedin.com/pub/joshua-longmore/20/6a6/1b2
Rather than being overly up-front & direct, he took the approach of trying to get a picture of me as a person and what I was interested in. Then, regardless of the fact that I wasn’t relevant for that particular job, nor was looking for a job, he wanted to meet for coffee to find out what I was up to anyway.
As a result, he now has lots of details about what I’m good at in terms of working, and I’d always be happy to seriously consider any opportunities he presents to me.
Mercator are really good guys.
I work as a front-end developer and was placed in a very good contractor role in London by Katrina at ecom (http://www.ecomrecruitment.com/). Friendly and got me placed very quickly.
Barry Cranford and his team at Recworks (http://www.recworks.co.uk). Their unique approach of tailored, community based, *ethical* recruiting is a breath of fresh air for the industry. Not only has their recruiting been top notch they’ve actually been instrumental in creating the vibrant Java community (http://www.meetup.com/Londonjavacommunity/) as well as selflessly helping graduates entering the industry (http://www.meetup.com/grad-dc/).
Another shout out for Recworks. They work *with* the companies and candidates and offer an experience unmatched in the recruitment sector. If you’re looking for Java devs or you’re a Java dev looking for a role, they are undoubtedly the best guys to go to
Recworks (the whole firm), Peter Hayward (Radley James), Abdul Muhit (Oxford Knight), Simon Evans (Burns Sheehan), Steve Condon (SNL Consulting). Dominic Connor for specialist quant recruitment. Vax Bahram (Durlston Partners) for hedge funds.
I can happily support David’s comments above; as someone who has hired a large number of developers through Barry (http://recworks.co.uk/), I would recommend him every time. His work in getting the LJC up and running demonstrates his commitment and interest in his field.
+1 for RecWorks
I am regularly recruiting people into my company in London and get spammed on a daily basis by recruiters, most of whom either apparently can’t read or understand plain English. I have also had my share of pain as a candidate having my time wasted by agents. Barry and his team have assisted me as both an employer and as a candidate and they have always done a good job for me.
I would also definitely recommend Barry and all the crew at RecWorks http://recworks.co.uk/ I haven’t been placed by them yet as I’ve been working on a long running existing contract, but these guys will be my first stop when I am looking for work. The community engagement by RecWorks is seriously awesome, and they have a massive impact within the LJC. These guys are pretty much like modern-day recruitment Buddhas – they listen (can’t stress the importance of this enough!), offer words of wisdom, and constantly give back to the community. How many recruiters can you honestly say do that?
Recworks are a breath of fresh air in an otherwise smelly business! Give them a call.
I’ve worked with Barry and Recworks in the past, they were great, they kept me up to date, provided constant feedback and best of all, they only sent my CV to positions I was comfortable with. Also I got placed quite quickly.
I would say Barry from http://www.recworks.co.uk/ – genuine and community minded! I have benefited from a lot of events organised by his team, to help people gain awareness and improve overall.
Reblogged this on Mani's fun & useful blogs and commented:
Lots of love for Barry@RecWorks & team!
Barry from RecWorks, really good and professional !!
Another +1 for the team at Recworks. I have been placed by Recworks and used them to source candidates and they truly are a breath of fresh air! No spamming or pressure tactics – just a genuine interest in matching the right people to the right companies.
I have had many previous experiences with recruiters before but no one beats Barry Cranford and RecWorks – his company! The way they approach recruiting is unique and fresh. Through RecWorks, I’ve secured my first internship while at university and secured a few interviews at companies that I wanted to work in afterwards. So their approach to recruiting has a personalised touch to it. In addition, Barry’s direct involvement with the London Java Community and Graduate Developer Community really separates him and his company from the rest of the crowd.
+1 for Recworks (http://www.recworks.co.uk/) I have known Barry for a couple of years now. He is a great guy and an amazing recruiter. Barry and team(@Recworks) have done a lot for the Java (& by extension JVM language) community over the last couple of years via the LJC meetup user group (one of the biggest Java UG in Europe). We need more recruiters like him.
+1 for Recworks, pretty much the only recruitment crowd in London who don’t suck. Barry has done great things for the Java community here
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Not all recruitment agencies are bad, but rather for the great one I personally recommend that concern with your colleague and friends to spot that recruitment agency they have experience with. But if you don’t have any then you can also find out it on recfluence.com (A review platform form real candidate) where job seeker leave their review for the recruitment agencies. Based upon the review you can judge which one you want to go with or which one is to leave.