Recruitment bad practice?

Is it bad practice for agencies to send out uninvited CV’s to employers?

It is well known that some recruiters send out unsolicited emails to employers attaching CV’s of “prospective candidates” trying the approach of throw enough proverbial….

Is it right for candidates?  Will it give candidates the edge?  Is it an infringement on their privacy?  If they are employed at the moment is this a potential threat to their current role?

What do employers think of this?  Do they read them, do they think it’s ethical?

So many questions!

We decided as an agency to weigh up the pro’s and con’s of the practise of CV kerb crawling.  Our competitors are doing it, other “successful” agencies are doing it should we break our code of ethics and do it too???

We embarked on an exercise to gauge the perspective of Company Directors on receiving unsolicited CV’s, it makes interesting reading… it’s not just the candidate who may be cautious of this practise.

This is the feedback we have gathered from employers who receive emails from uninvited recruiters on a daily basis introducing them to CV’s.

“Why do agencies think I will take time out of my day to read yet another CV of a jobseeker who may or may not be qualified, or who may or may not be what I’m looking for, if I even have a vacant role at all?  Cheapens the agency and the jobseeker”.

“Yes, it can be useful, I’ve been introduced to candidates this way, unfortunately I’ve found “hot” candidates who are being excessively marketed are also more likely to move on, quite often by the agency who made the introduction”

“This is ideal if I’m looking for a quick recruit, I tend to use it for lower level roles whereby I’m just looking for bums on seats”

“We receive about 4 or 5 CV’s a week, no agreement in place so we tend to bin them”

“I prefer to use a recruitment consultancy who properly qualifies the candidate and ensures a candidate is a fit for our company, yes I won’t deny that we have considered candidates whom have been sent through to us, it isn’t my preferred recruitment route though, I prefer a partnership approach with a consultancy who we can trust and who recruit using professional ethics”.

Having taken feedback from employers it appeared that it wasn’t a favoured practise and furthermore consideration was given to the ethical side of recruiting in this way.

According to the REC’s best Recruitment industry practise the candidate should be made aware of the hirer and give consent prior to forwarding CV details.  Are agencies making candidates aware of this in their terms and conditions?

Do agencies make candidates aware that they are partaking in the practise of sending out their CV without their prior consent or knowledge?

We strongly believe that the cons definitely outweigh the pros in sending out CV’s to employers without candidate permission.  After all surely recruiting is a two way process – the candidate should have a choice with regards to where their information is being sent and they should also be properly advised about the company, the role and that their information is being viewed with privacy considerations.

We have over the past 16 years decided on a policy of NOT forwarding a CV to a client without thoroughly discussing the role with the candidate, ensuring there are synergies between the client and the candidate with regards to role expectations and ensuring the candidate is aware where their information is being sent. 

Our conclusion is that sending out unsolicited CV’s is bad practise, we at Glen Callum Associates prefer to continue with what we consider to be the ethical way and NOT waste employers time, NOT put jobseekers under any risk and NOT try to use this method to shortcut our quality recruitment service. 

If you are a candidate looking for a career move and you want a professional and ethical recruiter who will only forward your CV to employers with your permission then contact Glen Callum Associates friendly and helpful recruitment team.

Glen Callum Associates are an established automotive and industrial recruitment specialist dealing with a range of job roles with major manufacturers and distributors.  To contact Glen Callum Associates or to forward your CV for registration then email jobs@glencallum.co.uk or call 01384 485274 or view our website at www.glencallum.co.uk