Re: [GD-General] How I hate recruitment agencies within any industry especially games...

[Javier A. <ja...@py...>]

Take the time to put together a good resume and a demo or art reel (demo in
your case). Buy Edge magazine for a couple months since many UK houses ad
there. Do your homework and put together a list of companies that you would
want to work for, check their websites, find their addresses and contact
infos, mail company employees whose emails you find in public forums like
this one (ONLY as a last resort, always politely and concisely, and only
ONCE whether you get an answer or not). Then send copies of your resume and
demo/reel, along with personalized letters explaining what makes you
interested in working for each specific company.

Doing all this hard(er) work will pay off, and it'll be a good warmup since
once you land the job, you'll be working quite hard anyway. :)

As for recruitment companies, I don't know nor care. I guess they have their
place since people and companies use their services, it's up to each one to
decide if the time & hassle saved is worth the money paid. No need to call
them names, at least not before you have proven your own worth methinks.

Javier Arevalo
Pyro Studios


----- Original Message -----
From: "Anon Pie" <an...@ho...>


> At the moment I'm looking for a new programming job within the (UK) games
> industry (Well I'm beginning to wonder if I should do something else
> instead) and I'm part playing with the fun that is recruitment agents.  I
> really do hate them.  If they place me the lucky company will have to
shell
> out ~25% of the offered salary to the agency after I've been there three
> months.  This has the effect of driving down the salary I will be offered
> which sucks.
>
> So why use a recruitment agency?  The simple reason why I find myself
being
> thrown back into that trap when I move jobs is because there is no single
> one place where I can find a list of 'real' jobs currently available -
plus
> some companies do not have the time or resources to advertise properly.
Yeh
> you can see job listings on the internet but I can guarantee the majority
do
> not exist and have been placed as bait by agents.  This is an appalling
> situation.
>
> I have not yet seen or heard of one example where an agent has been
anywhere
> remotely worth the ~25% they charge.  I find it sickening.  All they have
> ever done is get in the way and lose me jobs by not responding quickly
> enough - or by reformating my CV - Ever turned up for an interview and
found
> that the company has an altered form of your CV with the wording
changed? -
> this is especially great when an agent assumes that his/her technical
> knowledge is far superior and rewords jargon so it no longer makes any
sense
> or infact creates new words that have no meaning...
>
> Every time I'm called in for an interview that turns out to be with an
agent
> I find it immensely frustrating - as if this guy sat in front of me is
> really is able to fathom my knowledge of C++, assembly language and 3d
> experience!  And as if he was there until 3am the other day doing 'just
one
> more room' in Dungeon Siege or fragging someones ass online.  They're
> vultures who provide nothing more than a rip-off introductory service and
> then proceed to pop up in an annoying manor afterwards.
>
> It's annoyed me so much I'm actually thinking of setting up my own games
> recruitment agency (eek!).  As far as I can see it a decent agency should
> provide:
>
> 1) A web service where companies can advertise directly for a standard
> decent advertising rate.  ie: candidates can go to one central place and
> find a list of jobs currently available and actually have decent details
on
> them and who they're for and how to contact the company involved
*directly*.
>
> 2) A premier service where employers can ask the agency to filter
candidates
> as they simply don't have the time and resources to see everyone.  But the
> filtering service would be provided by people like me who actually knew
what
> they were talking about and could properly evaluate a candidates
expertise.
>
> I'd be grateful to hear anybody elses opinions on this matter even if you
> think I've gone mad! .... which I probably did a while back ;)
>
> Now I have a strange urge to watch Jerry Maguire....
>
> PS: If I actually do this and I end up being like the rest of the agency
> fuckwits please someone shoot me and put me out of my misery!