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.

Medical Recruitment in Ireland is undergoing somewhat of a shake up.  As the economic depression plants its roots firmly in Ireland recruiment agencies in other sectors are being squeezed.  The multitude of recruitment agencies that sprang up to support the construction industry for example are in deep strife.  The clever ones started preparing for the decline several years ago and are now becoming well established in the market in other countries.

Other Recruimtent agencies have not been so fortunate and we have already seen more than a handful of agencies fold.  the figures are startling.  25% of Recruitment Consultants employed in 2007 are no longer working as recruitment consultants.

For those recruitment agencies that are at risk of going bust as their markets dry up Medical Recruitment looks like an attractive market that may save their companies.  This is because medical recruitment has not been subject to the same level of decline as other sectors.  The bottom fell out of financial recruitment.  Pharmaceutical Sales remained strong.  There have been shocks over the past 12 months in Medical Recruitment.  Pharmacists and in particular Pharmacy technicians have had a rough ride.  Overall though, the medical industry has held firm when compared with nearly all other sectors.  IT is the only other sector that still performs well, but even in IT there have been setbacks.  Dell announcing the winding up of it’s manufacturing base in Ireland has already led to rumblings of bad news from Intel and more can be expected.  Software remains one of Ireland’s strongest exports though.

Because Medical Recruitment has escaped fairly lightly to date we are seeing a huge rise in the number of recruitment agencies that now offer Medical Recruitment.  I even saw a recruitment agency that previously specialised in Catering now offering Medical Recruitment Services - an interesting mix.

While nobody likes to see businesses fail, the sad truth is that we are going to see a lot more recruitment agencies vanish before the end of this depression.  During the ‘Celtic Tiger’ years recruitment agencies were blooming, with new agencies opening up regularly.  The economy can no longer support the number of Recruitment Agencies that we have in the country.

There is a plus side to all of this for both Client Companies and Job Seekers.  The focus of the remaining agencies will have to shift more towards providing better service if they want to stay in business.  Larger Recruitment agencies will be able to sustain themselves through varying periods of decline, but for smaller agencies it is quality of service that will be the defining factor in giving them a fighting chance of being one of the survivors.

This is particularly true of Medical Recruitment.  Experience in the medical field is vitally important.  All recruitment consultants need an in depth understanding of the industry they are recruiting in. Nowhere is this more important than in Medical Recruitment.  However without providing a good service to Client Companies and Job seeking candidates, knowledge of the industry is worthless.

We are about to enter a phase in which the very best Medical Recruitment agencies will rise to the top and those who do not make the grade will be relegated to the dole queues.