frequently asked questions

It really is a very important aspect of our service that we meet you and get a really good idea of what it is you do and what you’re looking for out of your next role. It is highly unlikely that your CV will ever list everything you do in as much detail as a face to face meeting will, and we find that it’s better to ask the questions and get the full picture, rather than leaving it to chance.

Also, character fit is a big part of any move to a company, so it’s important that we find out a bit more what you’re like in order to gauge whether a certain company might be right for you. Finally, its interview experience – we can give you tips and advice about how to improve your interview technique in order to help you get that perfect job. Better that we can give you some constructive criticism than you miss out on your dream job because of a simple thing like ‘interview etiquette’.

That’s an easy one – No. It’s actually illegal for a recruitment agency to accept any payment from a candidate but we do accept chocolates!

The government bought in new legislation in 2003 to request that recruitment agencies make their best endeavours to check an applicant’s identity, qualifications and eligibility to work, so we ask to see your passport, highest qualification certificate and a pay slip to demonstrate your NI is in use. If you haven’t got your degree certificate to hand, its worthwhile finding it or getting a copy as you may be requested to produce this by your next employer.

If you’re in Design it is essential that you have a portfolio for both us and prospective interviewers to look at. You need to be able to put together between 10 – 20 pieces of your best work demonstrating a variety of your skills and expertise. To a certain degree this also applies to PR professionals, it’s so clients can see the brilliance of your writing skills and the coverage gained, and it also helps us get an even bigger picture of what you’ve covered in your career so far.

Once we have discussed your career to date we will carry out thorough search of our database and match you to appropriate roles. If necessary, and with your permission we can forward your CV there and then.

Remember, we are a consultancy service so we don’t just go on jobs we may already have, we will use our considerable experience to try and match you to organisations that we think would be a good match. For future roles, we usually send you a text as this can sometimes be easier for you to access than taking a phone call in a busy office.

We will have already briefed you about the role and the company before we sent your CV over, so at this stage it will be a reminder about what exactly the client is after and tips on what they like about applicants. It is up to you to do as much research as possible on the company over and above any information we are able to provide for you. We will send you a confirmation, indicating who you will be meeting, where and when and a copy of the job description where provided. We do ask that you call us promptly after the interview with your feedback so we know whether to keep a client interested or let them know it wasn’t for you.

Wherever possible we will try to give you as much feedback as we can as to why you either weren’t called for an interview or were unsuccessful after interview. Sometimes a client doesn’t give us feedback – they aren’t actually obliged to do so although clearly it is good practice.

We will have a really detailed biographical chat about your education and career history, finding out why you left certain roles and what you liked/didn’t like about them, and try to establish what will be the perfect role for you.

I’m afraid this is the ‘how long is a piece of string’ question!! There are so many variables involved that it is impossible to give a timescale – for example, it depends how long the client takes to go through the interview process, it depends how many roles actually appeal to you.

It is our policy to only ever forward an applicant’s details to a role when they have given their express permission for us to do so. We don’t believe in keeping client names a secret as how are you supposed to know whether it’s a company you want to work for, or that the location is going to be right for you? So whilst it does happen that client’s will brief multiple agencies, if you’ve said yes to be forwarded via ourselves, it is then best to say politely to the other consultant that you gave already been briefed. It doesn’t actually do you any favours to have your CV sent constantly by different recruitment agencies.