Recruitment Consultant

I had the pleasure to deal with many UK recruiters and overall they were mostly professional, helpful and did a great job. However there was one company, Ball and Hoolahan, that doesn't reach the standard at all. They are never willing to help, their answers are unmannerly abrupt and you can easily get a feeling that you are bothering them. Their job specifications are vaguely written in one paragraph - so I wonder how can you attract the right candidates with such an unstructured, poorly described job spec? Overall, I feel that the only thing they truly care about is their sales target, not people or clients.

I have had the misfortune of dealing with Ball & Hoolahan for the past five years, and in all that time I have never received any kind of support or follow-through for any application. And when you call their office for support, their arrogant contemptuous staff don’t know chicken poop from chicken salad. They post hundreds or roles most of which appear ill-conceived and written in a standard of English one would expect to see in a primary school news bulletin.

On numerous occasions I have written to Roy Hollahan in person (is he alive?) and never in so much received a single word of acknowledgement by return. No matter what experience you may possess, or how highly qualified you may be, one thing is as for certain: as the sun rises in the east so it follows regardless of the role you apply for as posted by Ball & Hoolahan, you can be assured of absolutely NOTHING by return. Indeed it is likely you will achieve a greater level of satisfaction through an in-depth discussion regarding quantum physics with any random amoeba residing in your average garden pond, than attempting to interact with anybody at B&H. In conclusion, B&H are definitely better lost than found.

Ball and Hoolahan recruit in the Marketing industry. I have had several brief experiences with them whilst searching for a new Senior Marketing role, during which their consultants came across as arrogant, self-serving, pompous and unintelligent.

Their communication is very poor. Priscilla is one of their consultants. I had a brief conversation with her during which she asked me to send her my CV as a prelude to a face to face meeting.

Whilst her tone and performance on the phone was acceptable, her follow up has been awful. I received no confirmation regarding the CV I sent, nor did she respond when I suggested we met at HER offices the following week. This is the second time Ball and Hoolahan have managed me in this way.

If you want arrogant, average recruitment consultants with poor communication, choose Ball and Hoolahan. Otherwise, choose better. In contrast I have been impressed by Michael Page, Tarsh Lazare and Quest.

I got a job through EmploymentCrossing within a month of joining. They have a large database of clients and jobs which even don't get advertised over the web. They have a good customer service as I received all the updates through phone calls and emails. As they don't charge even a single penny to the employers, most of the employers prefer EmploymentCrossing for posting their jobs and this is one of the biggest reason why EmploymentCrossing has more jobs than any other paid job portal. Their team of research analyst enables them to find out every job.

As I am a satisfied customer of EmploymentCrossing.com I can proudly say that "EmploymentCrossing Works". I think it is a worth joining service because they enable you to apply for your dream jobs. I would like to appeal all of you to do not misguide anyone by posting fake and wrong comments about EmploymentCrossing and let the people enjoy their services.

I did recruitment for six years and never have regretted this part of my career. I learnt the role from scratch and conquered many ups and downs. This career path is only suited to those who have plenty of resilience and can bounce back again after disappointments. You need to have excellent people and listening skills to communicate well with both your clients and candidates (who, after all, are your bread and butter!). You also need to be extremely self-motivated to be able to go out there and win new business, which is a difficult part of the job. There are not many people out there who warm to sales calls from recruitment consultants! The key to a good career in recruitment is researching your employer well. I was fortunate enough to join a forward-thinking company who provided excellent support and training as well as lots of fun along the way - this last point being important as there are many long hours to be worked. I was able to take a sabbatical to simply recharge my batteries, which allowed me to come back a few months later feeling re-energised. A great career if you can find a really decent employer. There really is no need to be a graduate to do this job either as at the end of the day it is a sales job. Expect the unexpected.

I lasted for about 2 months as a recruitment consultant. I worked in the construction industry trying to get jobs for brickies, labourers and the like. It was a shocking job, I worked 10hrs a day constantly on the phone to people who didn't want to speak to me. It seems like when you look for graduate jobs recruitment is everywhere. Trust me people, there are better jobs out there, save yourself the time and don't even bother doing it in the first place. Everyone in my office was constantly talking about leaving and most of them now have. You can get fast promotions because everyone leaves so quick so you soon become one of the most experienced people, but it's not worth it.