One job, multiple ads

[stara szkapa]

As we all know a job can be advertised by different agents, and even an agent might for some reasons issue different ads for the same job. This creates very high probability a candidate can be submitted for the same job multiple times. Although it is difficult to control, agents try not to submit me for jobs I have been already submitted by other agents. Why is that? Why would they care I don�t get resubmitted for a job multiple times?

[Chad McGowan]

If a recruiter knows that you have already been submitted, they know that they won't get paid for your submission, even if you are hired. I've also had recruiters tell me that some employers throw out any double submissions, but I have never seen any evidence of that.

[Mark Herschberg]

Originally posted by stara szkapa:
As we all know...even an agent might for some reasons issue different ads for the same job.

I've still yet to see any evidence of this. I might be tempted to believe it happens occasionally, but won't believe it's common until I see proof.

Originally posted by stara szkapa:
This creates very high probability a candidate can be submitted for the same job multiple times.

While there may be recruiters who submit your resume without checking with you, I find it highly unlikely. Every recruiter I've worked with as a candidate always asks permission before submitting my resume. They would be caught in a bad position if the offer a resume and then can't deliver the candidate.

Originally posted by stara szkapa:
Although it is difficult to control, agents try not to submit me for jobs I have been already submitted by other agents. Why is that?

It's actually trivial to control. The agent checks with you before submitting your resume. You then can inform them whether you have already been in touch with that company.

Originally posted by stara szkapa:
Although it is difficult to control, agents try not to submit me for jobs I have been already submitted by other agents. Why is that? Why would they care I don?t get resubmitted for a job multiple times?

As Chad noted, they won't get paid. It's not worth their time.

--Mark

[Jeroen Wenting]

quote:
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Originally posted by stara szkapa:
As we all know...even an agent might for some reasons issue different ads for the same job.
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I've still yet to see any evidence of this. I might be tempted to believe it happens occasionally, but won't believe it's common until I see proof.

It used to happen, maybe still does.
Some agents are unscrupulous and will post multiple ads for a single job with slightly different wording to make it look like their portfolio is larger than it really is.
There have even been cases of bogus ads being posted just to harvest CVs from prospects which then are used to boost the size of the agent's CV database in order to impress potential customers.

While there may be recruiters who submit your resume without checking with you, I find it highly unlikely. Every recruiter I've worked with as a candidate always asks permission before submitting my resume. They would be caught in a bad position if the offer a resume and then can't deliver the candidate.

I've had experience where that happened.
The recruiter checked with me but couldn't name the company (the client had told them specifically not to). Turned out I'd applied to the same job opening myself the same day.
That application got turned down, the one through the recruiter got me an interview (which was how I found out)...

It's actually trivial to control. The agent checks with you before submitting your resume. You then can inform them whether you have already been in touch with that company.

Not always, check above. Some companies don't want their name mentioned to candidates before they've seen the CVs themselves (and some recruiters submit CVs without names and contact info to prevent the client from going over their head and contacting the applicant directly).
There's a lot of chaff in the recruiting business, and some seriously rotten apples.

[Mark Herschberg]

Originally posted by Jeroen Wenting:

It used to happen, maybe still does.
Some agents are unscrupulous and will post multiple ads for a single job with slightly different wording to make it look like their portfolio is larger than it really is.
There have even been cases of bogus ads being posted just to harvest CVs from prospects which then are used to boost the size of the agent's CV database in order to impress potential customers.

This isn't proof. I'm not saying it's never been done, but the anecdotal evidence like this by no means demonstrates this as a widespread pattern.

Originally posted by Jeroen Wenting:

I've had experience where that happened.
The recruiter checked with me but couldn't name the company (the client had told them specifically not to).

Again, I believe this is the exception rather than the rule. Show me hard evidence, such as a studying showing what percentage of companies don't give out their name.

Originally posted by Jeroen Wenting:

There's a lot of chaff in the recruiting business, and some seriously rotten apples.

Yes, but if you have common sense and know better than to start discussing your salary with any bozo who can find your resume online you can avoid most of these problems.

--Mark

[Steven Broadbent]

I received an email today from a large IT recruitment web site saying 200 + new jobs posted today - cobblers!!
Many of the jobs have been reposted every couple of days for months - ie "Java Toppers - Netherlands" etc...there are scores of jobs being reposted and then being described as new. I am more than tempted to ask them to define the word "new".
It's annoying to be mislead into scanning "new" ads only to see they are stuff we've already seen!!!

[Jeroen Wenting]

Mark, I've experienced both scenarios myself.
I'm not saying they're widespread (I hope and think they aren't) but they do happen.
In one case I saw a job posted by a recruiter when a recruiter from another company had just told me the week before that the client in question had stopped hiring because of planned cuts...
I used to work for a consultancy firm employing freelancers and people on project basis for 5 years.
We used to get requests like this all the time. Submit your CVs and we'll look for projects, only to have the recruiter in question then contact our employees directly to get them to switch to them instead.
After a while you get to recognise the bad ones, they're the ones with screaming headlines on their ads and huge numbers of jobs listed with minimal details.
As to recruiters being barred from naming the company in question who is the client, it happens more often than you think.
Especially in a climate where cuts are the norm, it's possible they're looking to replace someone (or an entire department) with someone else and don't want it known internally until the new people are ready to start working.
While more common for HR and interim management functions I've seen it in IT jobs at least a dozen times in the last few years.
Usually the name of the company cannot be discussed until the CV of the applicant has been submitted. On more than one occasion when working as a consultant I didn't even know the name of the company who was to be the client until we arrived at their offices (this usually involved several cutouts with other consultancy firms all wanting to protect their sources).
One time the interviews and talks were arranged at a "neutral" location and I never learned who the other guys were at all as the contract didn't happen.
Another time the only way I knew who the company I was applying for was was because of the job specs listed. I happened to know who was the only user in the country in that specific field of one of the listed tools, to the great surprise and alarm of the recruiter when I asked him whether the job was at company X
When companies don't want their names disclosed it's usually internal politics in that company, and in rare cases recruiters not wanting to spread their portfolios (or alert people looking for jobs to openings which they can then apply for themselves, costing the recruiter income).
In my experience the percentage of these instances is 30-50%, but that might of course be regional and the time at which the name of the client is given varries as well (from the moment they call to ask whether to submit your CV to just before you walk into the office of the company itself).