Job search consulting and marketing firms

Anyone has every hired any such firms to aide in job search? I know there is this one firm Allen and Associates that offer such services. According to them, they advertize you as the job candidates to executives of various companies that fit your profile of desired company by sending them your resume and broadcast “marketing” sort of letter. They also offer resume coaching, interview, salary related services. According to them, most of the jobs that are advertized have too much competition so they go after job opportunities that are not advertized, and those make up 80% of the jobs.

But they charge you for their services (usually a grand or so). I’m wondering if it’s worth it. What do you guys think?

No it’s not worth it. Why in the world would companies not want to advertise their legitimate job openings? In fact, in may cases they are legally required to do so (e.g., government and university jobs.)

Now, are employment agencies that you can join up with that provide resumes of job-seekers to companies looking to fill a particular position. However, the potential employer is the one who pays in this case, not the job-seekers. In return, the employment agency sifts through the resumes and can also do some preliminary testing of computer skills, etc. In may cases these are temp agencies that also accept people looking for permanent or temp-to-perm positions. Some of them specialize in providing people with particular types of training and so it might make sense for an employer to use them.

I’ve been solicited by Allen and Associates in the past. I personally will not “retain” a search firm that requires ANY upfront fee. I have used search firms that get their payment when, and only when, you get a job - but I only use them if the fee is employer paid.

IIRC, I did a Better Business Bureau lookup on Allen and Associates when they called me and was a bit put off by what I found. A search of the on-line national BBB database may be worth your time.

Not worth it. These companies can not do much more than you can do on your own. Put yourself in the company’s place. Why would you give preferential treatment to a company such as this?

Are there jobs that are not advertised? Sure, there are (though I question the 80% figure). But most of these jobs go to

  1. Internal candidates
  2. Referrals, networked people
  3. Candidates from COMPANY PAID search firms

A company like Allen and Assoc has no real advantage with these jobs. Depending on your experience and industry, you should contact reputable search firms (meaning firms whose fees are paid by the hiring company). You should also make full use of your network, which is probably the most important thing. This means calling up just about everyone you know and asking them for advice, letting them know you are looking for work, asking them for people’s names, etc. You should also look at ads, such as Monster.com, Hotjob.com, and local papers, but don’t get too caught up in this. You can spend 12 hours a day answering ads, and your network is more important.

As far as resume advice, job search skills, and the like, you can often find services like this for free at community centers, churches, and support groups. Some of them are just as good as professional services.

Hope that helps, and good luck.

Brad

I checked into Bernard Haldane a few years ago. They wanted over $5000…I said no thanks and had a job on my own within a month.

Out here in San Diego, Chessmen is a big one as is Avery Bennett and a number of others.

When I was out of work, I was surprised to find they wanted several thousand dollars up front plus a monthly retainer to find me a job. This retarded logic was not lost on me and I quickly pointed out that:

A) I couldn’t believe they would expect me to part with money upfront when I had NO IDEA whether they were any good or not and were going to do anything I wouldn’t or couldn’t do myself.

B) The monthly retainer ensured that they had an incentive to take a LONGER TIME to get me job because they would collect more money the longer they took. In fact, the way to make the most money from me would be to NEVER get me a job and have me pay the monthly retainer forever.

I suggested a different strategy which was me paying them a fixed fee WHEN they got me a job…PERIOD. I was OK with that fee even being several thousand dollars. Their response was to basically throw me out telling me “Why don’t you come back and see us when you are SERIOUS about getting a new job because you clearly don’t understand the value of our service”. I guess I didn’t because I got the job I still have now 2 years later about 2 months after that…

In my experience these places are second only to used car dealers in their sliminess. They will prey on your already lowered self esteem and try to convince you that they have access to all kinds of hidden jobs through their massive networks of contacts that I never could get any proof existed.