Hello I will be attempting to change jobs after the April exams and wanted to know which agencies people would recommend as good to go with. I last changed used one a few years ago and wasn't too impressed with their performance, so thought it would be valuable to hear from people who have moved recently. Also have people been successful in finding a position by approaching a company directly? Thanks
Recruiters are useless Hi I am also looking for a job and my experience has been very negative about recruiters. I have had 3 actuarial jobs to date and they have all been through direct applications by me. I will never use a recruiter again (at least to get a job) - they are useless. During my current search they have got me no interviews and haven't even been sending me job descriptions even though I have chased. Through my own applications on companies websites I have managed to get some good interviews even at Goldman Sachs which shows my CV is more than adequate (I am qualified with several years experience). The best way to get a new role is networking, find someone that works there and get them to recommend you for a role. I have used this approach to get some interviews successfully. Good luck with the job hunt.
Hi Arsenal1 Thanks for your reply. I have heard the same thing from a couple of other people so it is good to know that you have been able to succeed going it alone. I am a bit unsure as to how to get to know people already working at the companies I am interested in, but I will start my search without using agencies. Good luck with your interviews.
They're a bit like estate agents. They make out they represent you to the client but in fact they work for the client. Increasingly they are looking for the cheapest in order to please client and enhance their own commissions. Be careful.
Their interests are certainly aligned with the employer, not you. That much is true. However, since they earn a flat % of salary, they are certainly not motivated to bid down wages. Speaking from experience, commission payments do not rank highly from an employers point of view when choosing an agency.
Are you on Linked In? Its a great way to connect with people you know/have worked with. You may find they now work at a company where you are interested in a job. You can send them a message through Linked In and ask them to directly send your CV to the hiring manager - it may not always work but you have a higher chance of getting an interview like this than applying online. I did this a couple of weeks ago and got an interview - when I applied for a similar role at the same company a month ago online I heard nothing!
In my professional circle (both in US and in India) - I've never heard of anyone getting an interview through linkedin, leave alone a job. I view it as a platform filled with job seekers and no job providers. The only ones who take your resume there are the same consultants who stalk online job sites.
Completely agree Completely agree - I only use it to keep in touch with colleagues/friends and to get their contact details so they can put my CV in front of the real decision makers. This is something many recruiters unfortunately are unable to achieve.
There are many not-so-good recruiters out there, but I would have not got my first job in actuarial without one as I was moving from another area of finance. She was able to get my CV in front of managers while previously I was applying online and HR were binning my CV. I definitely would not have got my current job without a recruiter and this job has been the best of my career. This particular guy was not pushy at all, found me exactly what I wanted, updated me regularly etc. This recruiter contacted me through LinkedIn and I didn't meet him in person until after I got the job! Having said that, I got my actuary friend a job in my company and another person joined due to being friends with another actuary so going through contacts definitely works too! I find the worst recruiters are ones not actuarially specific - for example sending me job specs for life roles when I am in GI or not understanding when I say I want a Pricing role vs I want a Reserving role. The two I dealt with were very knowledgeable on what all the differences in actuary jobs are.
Hello Thanks everyone for your responses. It has been really valuable to get your views on changing job. I have succeeded in getting an offer, which was a recruiter but have also got to the final round of another by applying through a friend, so I have gone for both approaches.
I think recruiters are a valuable strategy in trying to find out who's hiring, but I wouldn't pin all my hopes of getting good interviews on them. Use them as part of your employment search, but not all of it. Make sure you are going to networking events, checking company careers websites, and speaking to old colleagues who have moved on. Attack it from lots of angles! I've also often found that actually phoning the HR department is sometimes better than applying for a job online. Phone up saying you're looking for more information about the role, get the person's name and an email address and send your application to that person specifically if you can, it will definitely get picked up that way.
Maybe I am just lucky but I got some very good recuiters that I used. Yes some of them are rubbish, especially the newbies in the recruitment companies. They just get your details for nothing, a waste of time. However if you get to know them a bit better, some of them can really help you. I normally get a few recruiters going at the same time and keep them up to date with what's happening when I am looking. i.e. Recruiter A has got me an interview, have you got anything in the pipeline for me? This will normally get them in gear, knowing that you are the "hot property".
OK, I've been made to eat my words. Someone actually contacted me via linkedin for a good profile! This in spite of listing my skills as "nail biting", "trolling", "spamming", "forecasting by tarot cards" etc. Not that I'm looking to move though.
If you are searching jobs and did not get much better opportunities, you can consult professional CV or resume writers so that they can rewrite your CV and send it to related company HRs. This is a very efficient way of getting job. All the best!
