The specialized agency may concentrate on engineers, or sales, or possibly clerical employees. It appears that more and more agencies are taking this approach because it is to their market advantage; that is, they can become known as the specialists in a particular area. The Kelly Services Co. (formerly known as Kelly Girls), for example, has been very successful for years by primarily placing female clerical personnel in specific types of jobs.
As a former owner of my own employment agency, I can personally attest to the advantage for the employee. First, specialized agencies tend to represent the higher-paying jobs. That is because employers with special needs (usually willing to pay more money to get what they want) turn to them first. Second, the placement personnel are often experts in a given area and they know where the jobs are. And third, many specialized agencies will actually train you to help make you more qualified.
The other side of the coin is that specialized agencies will not try to place you if you do not have the particular skill they are interested in. In fact, they may not even take your application. It is then that you will have to turn to the general agency.
General agencies are very willing to talk to just about anyone, no matter what their background happens to be. That is because the jobs they place are so varied that they never know when they are going to need a person with practically any type of skill or experience. However, since they really are not experts in any field, they frequently don't know if the candidate is really qualified, even if they try to test them. The net effect is that they frequently file your application away and then never call you.
On top of all this, these general agencies wind up with the lower paying jobs to place. Because their track record is often spotty, employers tend to shy away from them.
Another consideration for the job candidate is whether or not he or she has to pay the placement fee him or herself. Some agencies demand payment from the first week's paycheck. Others want a fee before they actually place you. Still others obtain their fee from the employer. No matter what the case is, be sure that you understand the financial situation before you get too involved.
In my experience, the most legitimate agencies charge the employer the fee rather than the job seeker. There are a number of reasons for this. For one thing, the agency should not receive anything until they actually get you a job. That, after all, is the reason that you used them in the first place. For another, if the job is important enough to the employer, he or she will gladly pay the relatively small fee to get the right person. If the employer isn't willing to invest the fee money, he or she is saying a lot about the position in question and how he or she intends to treat the person hired.
One last thing should be said about agencies. Most of them will do everything they can to place you in a job. It is in their own best interest. But that can also be a problem. Sometimes they are so eager to place you that they may send you to jobs that you are not really qualified for.
Once, I was sent to an interview as a structural engineer. I had background in this area and, from what I was told by the agency, I was more than qualified. When I got there, I was totally stunned and thoroughly embarrassed. My discomfort began almost immediately.
What she showed me was a summary of my application and resume. It had been altered severely. I apologized for the misrepresentation and left. Since that unsettling experience, I have seen this sort of thing happen again and again. Under qualified applicants from agencies have turned up in my office repeatedly over the years and the situation seems to be getting worse.
Certainly, not every agency will deliberately falsify information about job candidates in order to place them. Still, it is a real problem and the reader should beware of the possibility.
In summary, employment agencies can be useful. But they have their limitations and should be used, in general, as a last resort.
Professional Headhunters
Unlike the run-of-the-mill employment agency, the typical professional headhunter company, or executive search firm, is extremely careful in guaranteeing the qualifications of its candidates.
The reason for this care is simple: they charge the employer enormous sums of money for their services and they can't afford to make mistakes. Their reputations would suffer and they would go out of business.
Because of this problem, most executive search firms are extremely selective in choosing the candidates that they decide to represent. In fact, registering with, or even finding one of these companies, can be very difficult.ID some major cities they are listed in the yellow pages of the telephone directory. In most instances, however, you will find that they will contact you if they are interested in you. They will get your name from associates, professional mailing lists, or from competitors who know you and want you to work for them.
The Wall Street Journal is one of the few places that has regular listings from executive search firms. Apparently, these agencies believe that sufficient numbers of top rate executives read the paper so they are willing to expose themselves to public scrutiny.
If you have the good fortune to involve yourself with a head-hunter agency, the probability of successful placement is very high. Consider yourself lucky.
