EMPLOYERS DO NOT USE ROBERT HALF! THEY ARE UNPROFESSIONAL!!

I have over 8 years legal experience and I called RH 3 times and emailed my resume and never heard from them! I have been hired by a large firm that even stated that they had heard that RH is a "unprofessional" agency.

Jaden said: I have over 8 years legal experience and I called RH 3 times and emailed my resume and never heard from them! I have been hired by a large firm that even stated that they had heard that RH is a "unprofessional" agency.

All these placement services are unprofessional. The people working at these placement services are buffoons. My girlfriend has as much experience as you and has yet to find a job in 10 months. These people are a joke.

I am a recruiter, and want to present the flip side to all you folks. think that a lot of the folks posting to this forum are having a tough time finding legal work, which is unfortunate. I also think some of you are blaming all of your troubles on recruiters and HR folks at law firms, which is ridiculous. Let me simplify things for you. (1)Recruiters have to provide their clients with what their clients ask for. That is the way business is done-fill a customer's need, make money selling. It's pretty simple. Recruiters like Robert Half, Gibson Arnold and Special Counsel earn business by finding their clients legal professionals with SPECIFIC SKILLSETS which their CLIENTS have requested. A lot of firms and companies know exactly what they want to see on a resume, and if they don't see it, they aren't interested. 9 times out of 10, recruiters don't get to sell candidates based on their great personality or potential or ability to learn quickly. Every candidate says they have those, and clients aren't interested in "I can learn quickly". That's not the job market these days - most firms are staffed so lean that there's no one there to teach a new person, who just has to go in and hit the ground running. (2) It is REALLY TOUGH to get started in a career in the legal field, especially in cities where there's a glut of more qualified and educated and EXPERIENCED people than you. Experience counts for a lot, and it's a catch-22 which is unfortunate. If you have an MBA and JD and no experience, most employers are less interested in you than they are in someone with a JD and 3 years of experience. That isn't a recruiter's fault.(3) Recruiters are not miracle workers. We can't make sow's ears into silk purses. For all you whining about how bad and discriminatory recruiters are, why don't you turn that microscope around? If you are such a catch, why are you still out of work? Unemployment's lower than ever. You aren't as great as you think- work on attitude and humility.

[How about addressing the issue of headhunters who deceive, mislead, and renege on promises?

I can certainly speak to my own actions. I don't do any of the above. I believe there are some poor recruiters out there without integrity or high standards who do. I can't speak to their actions, except to say that they bring down the tone for every recruiter. I have a lot of candidates for whom I have found jobs and haven't (yet, but keep on trying. I worked with one really nice paralegal for over a year before finding her a position. I have lots of folks refer other legal professionals to me because they are happy about the work I do with them. But, as you know, you can't please all the people all of the time. I also have a lot of very happy clients and repeat business. I work really hard for it, too.

Anonymous in Charlotte, North Carolina said: All these placement services are unprofessional. The people working at these placement services are buffoons. My girlfriend has as much experience as you and has yet to find a job in 10 months. These people are a joke.

Beware Special Counsel who may not respect your confidentiality and may rat you out to your current employer.

Displaced Legal Professional in Arvada, Colorado said: Recruiter in Denver, Colorado: "[M]ost firms are staffed so lean that there's no one there to teach a new person, who just has to go in and hit the ground running. (2) It is REALLY TOUGH to get started in a career in the legal field, especially in cities where there's a glut of more qualified and educated and EXPERIENCED people than you. Experience counts for a lot, and it's a catch-22 which is unfortunate."

I agree with all of your points except for your last one. If experience counts for so much, why do Denver lawfirms seemingly want comparatively little experience? I see ads asking for three to five years of experience. I have more than eleven and am not called. For that reason, it's not hard to conclude that experience apparently means far less than what you represent.

As you may be aware, there are few paralegal openings in Denver and a great many qualified people competing for them. As you are also aware, one size does not fit all. One's speciality(ies) and interests further narrow the choices.

"For all you whining about how bad and discriminatory recruiters are, why don't you turn that microscope around? If you are such a catch, why are you still out of work? Unemployment's lower than ever. You aren't as great as you think...."

Perhaps not. No matter how good one may think one is, there will always be someone who is better. See my comments, above, about few paralegal openings and the competition for them. Based on my experience, I agree with you one hundred percent that firms are not interested in people who are weak in areas they could strengthen but are strong and/or have potential in other areas.

How about addressing the issue of headhunters who deceive, mislead, and renege on promises?

Experience can count against you in that you expect to be PAID for that experience. Denver law firms don't want to pay for your experience, they'd rather just fire you.

I recently met with a recruiter at RHL. I am a Certified Paralegal with an A.A.S. degree and more than 15 years of extensive litigation/trial experience. During my meeting, the RHL recruiter stated that: (1) I should get my paralegal "certificate"; (2) return to school to get my B.A.A.S. degree; (3) I didn't have much of a chance getting hired at a big firm without these things; and that (4) a firm will hire someone with a 4 year degree (with no experience) before they will hire me.

In response to any thread regarding recruiters.........

I have over 15 years experience in Accounting, Procurement and Logistics. All jobs I have attained consisted of high end, hands on Managerial positions. My most recent employer sold the business a few months ago and so now I am left to seek employment elsewhere. I signed with a few recruiters in different geographical areas to see what they could do for me before working on this job search myself. The first recruiter I worked with sent me on an interview, two days later the company offered me the job and was awaiting my response. I called the recruiter right away and told them that I accepted the position. The recruiter informed the company 3 days later that I had accepted and I lost the job due to the late response. They felt that by not hearing from me right away that I did not want the position enough. Bottom line.....the recruiting firm delayed my response and lost the opportunity for me! How does that happen?!

Throughout a series of trials and tribulations with recruiters, I wanted to turn the tables on this search and actually put my background to good use by becoming a recruiter myself. This way I can help others like me find suitable careers and understand the backgrounds and needs of both candidate and potential employer. I responded to a job posting for an executive recruiter and received a response right away. The woman set up a time to call me today at 1:00pm to discuss. I waited all day for a call and received nothing. I called her and got her voice mail. I even wrote her a follow up email asking her if she wanted to reschedule and again received no response. Bottom line here.....they were interested in me, set up a time to call me and I never heard from them. This is my story.......recruiters are UNBELIEVABLE and UNRELIABLE!

Replying to RH recruiter, I work as a senior corporate paralegal and have been for > 12 yrs. I never was treated well by Robert Half, the complaints, dear recruiter, are about RH's rude and unprofessional, holier than thou attitude, evidenced to me by all the recruiters I "worked" with, while I was gainly employed, I might add, seeking possible new positions. I never asked RH to "sell" me; simply alert me of comparable positions. A person has to continuously be on top of RH even after going on an interview for them. Guess what, no status on the posiiton you interviewed for - nothing, no simple call back to give you a heads up, good, bad or indifferent. I obtain all my paralegal positions myself, directly with the firm or company, without RH "help", in fact working with RH was singularly unhelpful, because my resume was sent out without my consent and when I applied to a possible new position on my own, guess what, RH had already sent my resume, thus, effectively putting me out of the running. And then they deny doing so..
DO not use RH. In my opinion they are the worst, worst, worst.... Check out all other posts on this site about RH. They all can't be wrong.

Robert Half,in my opinion, is a joke. I have worked with other much smaller recruitment firms, and they were ten times better and more professional than that boastful RH. I have no faith in them, and I am sorry I ever wasted my time with them.

Anonymous in Charlotte, North Carolina said: All these placement services are unprofessional. The people working at these placement services are buffoons. My girlfriend has as much experience as you and has yet to find a job in 10 months. These people are a joke.

No offense, but if your girlfriend hasn't found a job in 10 MONTHS, it's her, not the recruiter. Either her background, education, or interview skills are not up to par. Recruiters aren't miracle workers, they're just matchmakers.

Displaced Legal Professional in Golden, Colorado said: Anonymous in Charlotte, NC: "All these placement services are unprofessional. The people working at these placement services are buffoons. My girlfriend has as much experience as you and has yet to find a job in 10 months. These people are a joke."

YEAH!!! Buffoons. That's good. Not only are they buffoons, they are vultures. Read my comments, above.

I have more than eleven years of experience. I have had no luck finding legal work since I lost my job a year ago. Despite what you hear in paralegal school, finding legal work is hard. There are few jobs. It takes time. IMHO, it is as tough, if not tougher, as landing a high-level executive position. The Robert Half-Asses and their headhunter brethren exacerbate the problem with their bogus job ads, bogus promises and bogus behavior.

Obviously you don't have the right background for the jobs you're applying for. Perhaps you should pick up a busser position at the local restaurant.

Displaced Legal Professional in Denver, Colorado said: julie allison in San Diego, California: "Obviously you don't have the right background for the jobs you're applying for. Perhaps you should pick up a busser position at the local restaurant."

Bad suggestion, Julie. I'm overqualified.

In any event, Julie, whatever you think. Your intelligent comment certainly proves you're smarter than me, or anyone on this thread.

You are certainly a ray a sunshine on a dismal day. And, for sure, you are Half-Assed. :-p

My comment obviously wasn't designed to show that I'm of higher intelligence than you, but to point out that you can't blame the recruiter if your skill set is not what employers are seeking. If you're struggling to find a new job, then chances are you're reaching beyond your limits, and you should explore other options. As a recruiter, you have to consider the needs of the client employer, particularly when they're paying the fee. To candidates, it's a free service to you and only meant to serve as an extra resource. You should aim your frustration at the job market for not being robust enough to loosen employers' requirements, not the recruiter for doing no better than you have done on your own at convincing the employer that you are worthy of being hired.

I agree with Julie. Her professionalism is reflected in her writing and her choice of words.

There are unworthy individuals in all professions. Your bad experience with one or two recruiters should not be used to blame other recruiters who are genuine and dedicated to their work.

No, I'm not a recruiter. I've dealt with many recruiters during my career as well. There are many recruiters that I refuse to deal with because I don't like the way they come across. You and your wife obviously have had bad recruiter experiences.

I won't argue with you about your experiences because I'm sure they happened. There are thousands of people out there that have had bad experiences with recruiters. Unfortunately, the recruiters who are doing the types of things as you described have given the profession a bad name.

My main point is that there are still good recruiters out there who are ethical.

I've been having trouble with RHL, too, and it's not a type of trouble that's easily blamed on my under-qualification.

I attended the highest ranked law school in the area (for what that's worth), interviewed with several firms, received several offers and accepted one. I worked as a clerk for two years, then as an attorney after graduating in the top half of my class. I volunteered regularly during school and while practicing.

I've decided recently that I don't like legal practice and am going back to school part-time to aid a career transition. That's obviously tough with a full-time practice gig, so I'm interested in temp work through RHL or someone similar. On the same day, I filled out on-line paperwork with RHL and another agency run by Spherion. I interviewed with the Spherion people later that week and have been in touch with them about opportunities for when my current job ends. For a time, I was slated in on a project that paid well and was close to home, but the client canceled the project. The other options weren't as attractive, so I thought I'd see if RHL had anything available.

I can't get in touch with them. First I tried the 1-800 number for temps. I sat on hold for 45-60 minutes (while the answering machine told me the wait would be 3-5) for two days in a row. I tried to find an e-mail address on the temp registration site. I couldn't find anything but a suggestion that RHL will contact the candidate. There is no listed number in Dex for the local office, just an address. I finally found the number of a recruiter (I found a full-time job on the site that fits my qualifications and would work with school) and contacted her. No call back. I e-mailed her with another copy of my CV. No response. You might think that I deserve a conversation about my temping options or a reply to my specific inquiry about a job for which the website solicits CVs.

It's not about recruiters in general, but RHL seems either callous or ineffective.

Unfortunately, because we receive so many resumes, we often only have time to contact those we know we can help. I personally have over 400 resumes in my in-box and not enough hours in the day. Please understand that you not the only person trying to contact someone on the team, so we must prioritize. Sorry that you had a bad experience, but, again, please understand that there are only so many hours in the day, and we still have to make calls to clients to find jobs for people like you as well.

I too have had a terrible experience with RHL. I have a lot of experience with agencies and have never encountered such callousness and blatant exploitation as I had with a recruiter of RHL. I contacted this recruiter after seeing a position advertised on Workopolis. We had initially planned to meet over 6 weeks ago, but he never returned my call or email to confirm and I went on vacation. During my vacation, I checked into my work email remotely and found and email from him asking if we were still on for the next morning at 9am. I was annoyed by this because he never returned any of my correspondence to confirm so I left for my vacation under the impression that he wasn't interested. I wrote this recruiter off and decided I would not deal with him or his agency while job searching.

I returned from my vacation and did not hear from this recruiter for over 3 weeks. Finally, I received a call at work (where I specifically told him I was not free to speak) and he asked me to come in. I agreed to an interview, albeit over the phone only, because of the last time he left me hanging. He then proceeded to ask me questions relating to my desire to find alternate employment and I told him I was not free to speak, but that I would call him the following Monday. I emailed him the next day to confirm the time of our phone interview. I did not receive a response confirming the time until that Monday morning. Again, I was annoyed but figured it would not hurt to see if he was just overly busy.

So, we had our phone interview that lasted about 90 minutes. What first clued me into the fact that this person was unprofessional was that he failed to read my CV and told me that I did not have significant clerking experience. I told him that he was mistaken and that was, as clearly demonstrated in my CV, one of my stronger areas of expertise. "Oh" he said, I didn't get to that part yet. I don't understand, my CV is two pages long. How slow does he read? Continued..

About an hour into the interview, he asked whether I knew of anyone who would be interested in any positions similar to what I am looking for in the downtown core. I told him no, but I know some who would be interested in something more uptown. He then told me that all of RHL's job offers are conditional upon references from TWO people I currently report to. I absolutely refused to accept this condition. I find it highly inappropriate that a candidate be put in this kind of position. I have plenty of references and reference letters from previous supervisors. I have never been asked such as strange request (and I have been in the industry with plenty of work experience and experience with recruitment agencies since 1994). This demand was unacceptable to me.

Secondly, prior to us ending the interview, he said that once he received a list of my current supervisors to contact (to which I reiterated nothing would be forthcoming as I would not put myself in such a precarious predicament) and, this is the clincher, once he received the names of the people I know who would be interested in employment opportunities in the city, he "would be able to begin looking for a position for me as none currently are offered and the market is pretty dead". That last comment solidified to me that there was no job prospect since RHL was advertising 4 positions with the exact title and description as what I do currently on Workopolis, and further, why did he need my contacts prior to job hunting for me? I thanked him for his time, and told him that I would not be requiring RHL's services afterall. I told him it was highly inappropriate for me to exploit my network of current and former colleagues in exchange for a recruitment office searching for an position for me. Further, I would not give him or anyone their names without having experience in working with that particular recruiter or recruitment firm. He wasted my time for nothing more than a fishing expedition.

See here for my post. I'm a current RHI employee:
www.indeed.com/forum/cmp/Robert-Half/05390c183c137e1f707e44

As far as my experience in Colorado, the worst that I have experienced was with Ginny Ford, Robert Half, and Gibson Arnold's recruiter (Matt Cohen). All three were unprofessional, full of excuses, and never returned a phone call. Honestly, I don't know why they are in and how they could stay in business. They're pathetic.

As a hiring manager, I will never again use Robert Half, nor will I use their other division named OfficeTeam. They are all dishonest.

I have been lied to time and time again by Robert Half recruiters! That's why I don't bother with Robert Half Technology. I gave them chances to redeem themselves. They are incapable of doing that. You can't get fruit from a thrones and thistles.

I had a recruiter call me in for a job that did not exist. Half way through the interview she was trying to make me become a recruiter!! She came out flat and told me how much she could make if she filled the position!! Can you believe that? That happened in Paramus! When I told her I am not a recruiter and am not interested in becoming a recruiter she got a snippy attitude and quickly ended the "interview." THIS REALLY HAPPENED TO ME BY A ROBERT HALF TECHNOLOGY RECRUITER!!!!!