Applying through a job agency

I've found several jobs I'd like to apply for through indeed.com (via penguin recruitment), however none of them actually give the name of the company, instead referring to them as 'their client'.

I've always been told to personalise your cover letter with the company name/ why you'd like to work for the company however as they haven't provided any details I cant really. What I'm slightly concerned about is that, compared to somebody whos maybe found the job advertised on the company website, I'll look like somebody spamming a generic cover letter/cv around.

Is there anything really that I can do about this, other than hope that they can see that I've applied through the recruitment agency? I can't feasibly track down every company in the area and check all their websites for vacancies!

Reply 1

threeportdrift

Careers Forum Helper

Original post by rosiesaurus

................!

No, that's the fundamental weakness about using agencies. You have to make a generic application and the employer reads a bunch of generic applications. You are right in thinking your application isn;t likely to be as strong as someone who has gone direct to the company.

That's why it is more effective (just takes more effort) to apply directly to companies. You reduce the size of the applicant pool and you increase the tailoring you can do to your application.

You can feasibly track down most companies in your area for the type of work you want to do. It just takes a couple of evenings research and some book-marking and organisation of your bookmarks. Then it's an easy job on one evening a week to go through the bookmarks, note down opportunities and spend the rest of the week making good, well tailored applications.

Agencies will do everything they can to stop you trying to find out which company, because they want to claim a fee for placing the candidate. If the wording of the advert has anything relatively unique in it, you can sometimes Google and find the original, but mostly the wording is so generic on purpose.