Recruitment Agencies - Waste of Space ?

When I joined the ranks of the "great unwashed", one of the first "tips" I got was to sign on to a number of recruitment agencies - and thanks to the beauty of virtual job-hunting you can upload CVs etc to apparently "increase your profile" and "put yourself in front of hundreds of recruiters" - sceptical was I ...

I've tried several different CV "styles" - dependent on who I talked to, each version was "very good" - I was told that the trick is to tweak it each time you apply, dependent on thejob itself - cover letters were another topic where conflicting advice appeared - "don't make it too long" - "don't make it too short" etc etc.

... oh, and don't forget to set up the "job alerts", so the agencies can e-mail info about the opportunities that fit your "keywords"...

Now - this morning - I received one such alert - a developer job - "looks familiar" I said - as many of them do. Checking back through my "job diary" (that thing you have to show down at the Dole to show that you're actually doing SOMETHING), I noticed that I first applied for this job on 29th January. The same 'job' "re-appeared" on the 19th February - so I re-applied using different CV/Cover Letter option. And now it's back ... who are the fussy ones, the agencies or the actual prospective employer ? If the post STILL hasn't been filled 2 months down the line, isn't it time somebody in the whole chain of communication started to lower their sights a bit - or for that point, does the job really exist ?? You really start to wonder at times - these recruitment agencies are apparently taking a serious "rake off" for every post they fill - but these people seem to be in the position of "Playing God" in the whole recruitment process - and preventing people who "can do" from actually "doing" - or even getting in front of an employer to prove it ...

Depressing isn't it ?
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