Do NOT use a recruitment agency before you are 100% ready for the industry, that is to have a demo, full portfolio etc. no matter what they tell you. why? because they send your below-par CV off to every company as fast as they can (in order to beat the other agencies), which is then rejected as you don''t have a demo etc. then for the next 6 months whenever your CV/resume reappears, best demo in the world or not, they put your name into the computer and it comes up as REJECTED. And it goes no further. Well, except into the trash. Observe everything, remember more!

Honest recruitment agencies will tell you as soon as you walk in the door "If you don't have industry experiance there is nothing I can do for you". Why? Well there are a number of reasons, the first being money. If a company is intrested in you then they must pay the recruiter a "finders fee". Obviously it would be silly to pay a finders fee for someone with no experiance. Considering the company probably gets a few thousand resume's from people with no experiance, and these people aren't with recruiters.

As for the whole "Put your name in a computer and it comes out as rejected". That is a bit of paranoia. Individuals can learn and evolve. Although companies may keep your resume/demo or throw it away. They most likely do not keep a "rejected" bin of people. Why? Well because who's to say in that 6 months you didn't get some industry experiance.

If you've been rejected by companies then consider the following possabilities:

1. No jobs open at the time.
2. Your not qualified for any of the jobs.
3. Glaring errors on your resume.
4. A bad resume.
5. Your demo wasn't up to spec or crashed.

Obviously these are only a few things that can sway potential employeers. Another big one is not catering your resume for the specific company. HR Reps can usualy tell when your resume is generic, they may even have contacts at other companies and talk to them about your resume. And if two employeers get the exact same resume they start to wonder if your realy intrested in a job or if your just looking around to see what you can get.

Cover letters are also very important in the job search. A bad cover letter/resume will land your resume/cover letter/demo in the trash faster than anything.

Final words on the subject:

If your not having any success with what you've sent out then there is a problem. Try to contact the HR person your information was sent to and see if they can tell you why your submission was rejected. This way you can figure out what you need to change/focus in on. Your recruiters should be doing this for you, after all they do get a percentage if you get a job.

Tips:

1. Actualy buy Resume paper to print your resume out on.
2. Never send out a resume with out a cover letter.
3. Invest in some buisness cards. Your resume may end up in the trash, but a buisness card is smaller and may end up in a wallet.
4. Always send thank you letters. If you've been contacted send out a thank you letter immediatley. You have 1 - 3 days to get it out before it looses it's effectiveness.
5. Search the internet using www.metacrawler.com or www.google.com for resume sites. They often have some real good tips, as well as listings of words that you should use in your resume.
6. Cater your demo to what the company does. For instance if you send in a Isometric game demo into a company who's major focus is First Person Shooters your probably going to get rejected.

Edited by - evaclear on October 8, 2001 1:44:08 PM

Id just like to add some backup to what tom76 said. I dont know about companies keeping a list of rejected c.v.s but he is right in saying that some agencies do send your c.v. off to anyone and everyone.

When i went for the interview for the job i currently have the interviewer (now my boss) said that the agency i went through was a respected agency which is one reason i was invited for an interview. He also told me that he wont look at c.v.s sent to him by certain agencies because of the fact they dont try and match the person to the position but just send every c.v. they have to every position they know of.

so I agree with tom76 when he says dont use agencies until you are ready but also choose which agencies you go with carefully.

maybe in the US it''s different to the UK, but that''s what I''ve recently found out.

Now it''s a case of trying to shut the stable door after the horse has bolted...

Observe everything, remember more!