So, you are in the job market.  Where do you start?  You could use a recruitment agency.

Let’s face it though.  Recruitment agencies have not got the best of reputations.  Here are 5 reasons not to use a recruitment agency.

Do not use a Recruitment Agency if….

1. You have years of experience in writing CV’s or are willing to pay someone to work on your CV for you. - A recruitment agency will not only give you advice on your CV, but will make it specific for the job you are applying for.
2. You don’t like interview feedback beyond the very basics. - A recruitment consultant can ask for more detailed feedback from an interview than you can.  This can give you a head start at a second interview or tell you where you went wrong for next time you get called for an interview.
3. You don’t need any career advice. - Recruitment agencies are full of career advice.  They can tell you how to upskill and what areas you need to work on to make yourself more attractive to a prospective employer.  If you do not need any career advice, then a recruitment agency may not be for you.
4. You know the jobs market very well and have good contacts in all the companies you may wish to apply to. - Recruitment consultants livelihood depends on building good connections like this.  If yours are as good then you may be able to do without a recruitment agency.
5. You are not intending to change your job.

The list may be a little flippant, but the reality is that if you use a reputable recruitment agency they can help you find your next job. More than that they can give you valuable advice on what your career options are.  Importantly they will do this without charging you for it.

You do need to pick your recruitment agency well though.  Read through this advice on dealing with recruitment agencies before you start the job seeking process.  That is a suggestion but it probably should be a requirement for anybody who is entering the jobs market.

Positive or negative, what is your disposition today? Do you feel that everything is going your way or against you? In your career you will find that your attitude has a tremendous impact on how people respond to you and how you get through the working day. When we are in a positive frame of mind we find that there are not enough hours in the day.

So what determines your attitude? Many things but in terms of work it can be how we percieve it and ourselves. Is your work and what you do a career or a Job?

Chris Rock referred to his fame as a comedian as a career and not a job.  Like most people he had had many jobs previously; many of which he hated. He very quickly learned the difference between a career and a Job. The difference being that there were not enough hours in the day for him in his career as a comedian but in his previous jobs one of which was a kitchen hand working in the kitchen of a restaurent cleaning shrimp- every minute hung like eternity.

Perhaps the lesson then to be derived from this is, in order to be happy as professionals we need to look after our careers, to seek the good in what we do and to always remember to take time to look at the lighter side of what we do each day. To neglect this we risk our careers becoming just another job.

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