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BD Recruitment Ltd of Manchester I will never use your services!

OK, this one is part whinge and part point about marketing. There is a company called BD recruitment who claim to do creative, technical and marketing recruitment and placement. They cold called me ages ago and the guy was OK so I let him know that he could call me back in a few months though I’m pretty happy with the people we use. So a few weeks later I was called again and sent unsolicited CVs. I do not like receiving unsolicited CVs. I do not like receiving anything that may imply that I am bound by Ts and Cs that I have not signed. Maybe I will meet one of these people via my retained recruitment guy, I certainly am not going to be having an argument about who introduced them and who I owe a fee to, so don’t send me unsolicited CVs. Bear in mind that I’ve given this guy the opportunity to call me at some stage, he has an in. Anyway, I keep getting calls and unsolicited CVs so I let him know I am not going to do business with him. I’m moved so far as to ring up BD Recruitment to speak to his manager. Which I didn’t do. Maybe I should have but I spoke to the gatekeeper and made my position politely really VERY clear. Job done I thought, they will leave me alone having realised the error of their ways. Wrong. today I received another 4 CVs I don’t want.

Well, BD Recruitment, I tried to tell you privately that I think the quality of your approach is appalling, now I am telling you very publicly not to bother us again. We will not do business with you and if anyone asks my opinion, I think it’s quite clear what I will be saying.

If anyone is interested in a recruitment company that understands my requirements, try the Graduate Recruitment Company. Give me a call and I will give you contact details for Ben. He doesn’t bother me. He knows that if I have a position vacant, he gets a call from me. Doesn’t hassle me with pointless sales calls.

There is a lesson in understanding your customers requirements that BD Recruitment urgently need to learn, especially when you are dealing with an online marketing company whose blog ranks reasonably well in search.

Simon Wharton
January 29, 2008
Posted by to Blog

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  • http://www.pushon.co.uk Jim Neath

    You should really spell check your posts, Simon.

  • http://www.virtuaffinity.com Simon Wharton

    Sometimes being irate overtakes my ability to hit the check spelling button

  • http://www.virtuaffinity.com Simon Wharton

    Well, there’s a result. Lots of Google hopping but right now, this posting is ranking page 1, number 5 for the term “BD Recruitment”. For a company that professes to recruit for the Search Marketing industry, they aren’t paying much attention to their online PR. Do they have a clue about their sector?

  • http://www.virtuaffinity.com Simon Wharton

    Lots of oscillation on the Google SERPS for this post. Yesterday it was nowhere, today it is number 3 for the term BD recruitment. Still don’t think they’ve noticed.

  • http://www.pixelghetto.com/ Simon

    I’ve had experience with BD Recruitment before and they aren’t very good at all.

    I’ve had agents lie to me about the status of a role, just to get me to attend an interview. Even so much as had an agent tell me I will be offered the job if I go to an interview. Only to attend, do well in the interview and never hear from the job agent or company again.

    I would never ever get involved with BD Recruitment, no matter how desparate I needed a job.

  • http://www.virtuaffinity.com Simon Wharton

    Simon
    I find that the culture of a company generally pervades all aspects. It seems they’re not very good at either end of the equation. By the way, I’m really liking the Dimmu Borgir site. You are a Goth and I claim my five pounds!!

  • Julia

    I’ve had an experience with them, too. They first called me on Jan 7th, when I was on holiday. It was Monday. I asked them to call me Wednesday when I’d come back. They did call me on Wednesday… but a whole month later! The guy asked me to email him my CV and disappeared. His colleague rang a week later and said: “My colleague spoke to you yesterday”. He told me about this “brand new company” with lots of opportunities to grow, to seize which I’d have to relocate. Not that I mind, but I wasn’t really planning on doing it, and anyway, can I see a job spec? He promises to email it to me. I’m still waiting.

    So, defo no business with them.

  • http://www.virtuaffinity.com Simon Wharton

    And still they keep spamming us with unsolicited CVs.
    “Hi,

    Please find the CV for an outstanding Technical Support Engineer. She is immediately available for interview. Ideally she is looking for around £24,000

    If her CV is of any interest to you or you are looking for candidates with similar skill sets don’t hesitate to give me a call.

    If you require any further information take a look at out website ”

    So what technical support do you imagine we do? I see that BD recruitment really work hard for their fees by prequalifying the candidates for prospective employers.

    Hmm, any SEOs or web jockeys fancy dropping a link to this post with the anchor text of “BD recruitment Ltd” so I can out rank then for their own business name?

  • Womzo

    BD are bean-eating morons.

  • http://www.pushon.co.uk Simon Again

    And they still haven’t done anything about this post, though ranking has fallen. Ah well

  • Katrina Gallagher

    What a bunch of jokers, after repeatedly requesting them to stop calling and emailing, I received another call today from a lady who asked to be directed to our PPC department.

    I wonder if this today’s polite request for them to stop calling will do any good.

  • Martin Fischer

    Shame really that you’ve not had the same excellent service I’ve had from BD Recruitment. I found them a really helpful bunch who keep doing what they’re meant to do and that’s finding me the right people to fulfil my job roles.

  • http://www.virtuaffinity.com Simon Wharton

    My experience has been that they throw random CVs at me bearing no relation to what we do. Why would I wantto pay them 20% commission to do that?

  • http://www.mrdaz.com/bd-recruitment-send-email-ccing-every-seo-in-the-north-west/ BD Recruitment

    This is pretty bad for their online PR, they’re getting quite a hammering, from me as well ;)

    Hi guys by the way, loving the blog! How’s Sam and Mark?

  • http://www.pushon.co.uk Sam Rutley

    Hi Darren,

    We’re good thanks, how are you? saw BD Recruitment at the Interactive Marketing Show at Gmex the other day!

  • http://www.virtuaffinity.com Simon Wharton

    Daz

    That is just so funny but so typical of BD recruitment as well. They appear to be quite aware of my thoughts on them as well. Which is ace because they have finally buggered off!

  • AlanP

    I went to 2 jobs after using them. One in Reading and one in London. In BOTH cases, they told me one salary and the company another, in both cases trying to force meetings on false promises – not thinking of the people involved AT ALL.

    Basically, i spent lots of my own money on transport (£200+) going to interviews where I was 20k apart from the company I was going to see in terms of salary. In one case, it was more than my potential boss was earning – making him very unhappy IN the interview!

    Keep well away from those people – its not only the companies that they mess about – its the interviewees too.

    Also, they know damn well what they were doing because they refused to speak to me when i let them know of my anger.

    The companies that i dealt with also told me at the time that they would never use them again.

    Although not their doing, i was offered both jobs despite the salary differences, but thats not the point – it caused embarrassment on both parts which is not good in interview situations.

  • http://www.virtuaffinity.com Simon Wharton

    Would you believe that BD recruitment rang yet again last week. Our ranking for the brand name of BD recruitment as a search term is up to number 4 right now. Wonder if we can get number 1 eventually?

  • http://www.vanillastorm.com Jenny Hudson

    Glad you made this point Simon. I’m sick and tired of receiving unsolicited CVs and phone calls from recruitment companies. ‘Strictly no Agencies’ means just that.

    And even if I was looking for a recruitment company, I would never use one with such aggressive sales tactics.

  • http://www.artisanmc.co.uk RobArtisan

    Simon,

    I think this shows that anyone who wants to has a voice and it can be a powerful voice.

    What they do not appreciate is that say 10 years ago they could act like this and it might slowly filter through. Now message and reputation can be affected in minutes

    Rob

  • Pingback: Simon battles | Artisan Marketing Communications

  • http://www.orchardsuits.co.uk Mike Carter

    A few pointers for all about recruitment regulations, these are set in stone by BERR (new name for DTi), they are actually responsible for policing recruitment agencies.

    1. A Specced CV does not constitute an introduction. ie. If they spec you a CV they can in no way request a fee from you should you employ that person by any means other then going back to them and asking them for an interview to be arranged.

    2. If you receive the same CV from two Recruitment Companies your are totally free to choose which one you wish to use, if any. It makes no difference what so ever who sent the CV first. It’s a free market choice for the consumer.

    3. In order to send a candidate to your company, a recruitment company must first tell the candidate, exactly who the CV is going to. ie. Company Name. If not is is directly contravening the BERR Regs

    4. Any agencies terms must comply with the BERR terms or they are not enforceable in a court of law.

    5. You can report an agency to BERR, the link is here. http://www.berr.gov.uk/administration/contact/index.html

    6. Many agencies will then take on the REC best practice code of conduct, this is available at the REC’s site. If your agency is an REC member, and they not following the code of conduct, complain to the REC and they will be thrown out.

    Correctly utilised and supplied recruitment is an excellent service, no cost unless you find a perfect match, genuine advice, help and assistance to candidates if they want it.

    We do send CV’s to clients on candidates request if we feel the candidate has a genuine benefit to the employer. If not we don’t. Many of the candidates we meet would not be suitable and do not get utilised.

    I wouldn’t like to claim perfection, mistakes happen in any company but it is our intention to offer valuable, time saving help, for which we charge.

    Mike Carter, MD Orchard
    http://www.linkedin.com/in/mikecarterorchardsuits

  • David Baum

    Simon

    I think you’re obsession about the ranking of this page in Google, misses the point about what recruitment agencies actually do for people who have lost their job or are in a poor job and want to move on.

    As far as I’m concerned BD Recruitment have done a brilliant job for me over the past few years, finding me better and better positions as my career has progressed.

    I have been happy to pass friends details, which haven’t been so fortunate during this economic downturn, to BD Recruitment, hoping they’ll do the same sterling job for them as they have for me.

  • David Baum

    Simon

    It seems my last post in praise of BD recruitment wasn’t published, I think some would call that a little biased.

  • Satisfied customer

    Contrary to some of the comments posted on here, my experience of BD has been an entirely different one. I used BD to help me with my last role and I thought they were great. The person who I dealt with was professional, courteous to my situation (with me being very concerned my employer would find out I was looking) and efficient. I had feedback on all positions I was put forward to, consulted on all roles before being put forward – do you not realise that us candidates are sent to you, speculatively or not, because we maybe interested in you as a company and the consultant is doing their job in helping us????
    I think those of you who have reported negative dealings with BD should consider that it may have been one person who slipped through the net of exceptional standards that the rest of the team live up to.

  • http://www.virtuaffinity.com Simon Wharton

    David
    We run a moderated blog which means that posts wait until approved. As we’re working, not all posts get approved immediately. Consequently your follow up post was a trifle hasty.
    “Satisfied Customer” I fully realise how recruitment agencies work. Unfortunately BD Recruitment haven’t actually dealt with professionally at all. To reiterate the points, they repeatedly mailed us with CVs without permission to do so or any identifying any requirement. They were repreatedly asked to stop contacting us as their approach was shoddy.Why would I pay 15% to 25% to an agency who had randomly sent CVs to us? As to sending CVs to us as requested by a candidate, any candidate who can’t mail us directly is not someone I want working for us. And our unwanted contacts were with various people so it’s not just one bad egg.

    I need to raise the isssue that it is rather odd to get a rush (relatively speaking) of positive comment on a blog post in such a short period of time. One might come to the conclusion that the posts were arranged, perhaps by a PR. I couldn’t say for certain so I have taken the positive approach and published all.
    I should also mention that Chris Crawford, the MD of BD Recruitment has contacted me via email wanting to chat. I have declined as I really, really do not want to talk to BD recruitment in any way, shape or form. I have wasted too much of my life on them. However, I have offered Chris the right of reply on this blog.

    What would I like him to say? Something along the lines of “I take your point and we will make efforts to improve our processes” would be sensible. I will settle for “I will ensure we never bother you again”

  • http://www.readywhenur.com Fiona Hills

    Can’t someone do this for BT customer services! BD Rec bad service not a patch on the frustration caused by them – random I know!!!

  • Matthew Parry

    Hi all, as a seasoned recruiter, 9 years in total 7 in Uk and 2 in Dubai I am growing hugely frustrated with bad recruiters giving us a bad name. As an ex Director of one of the UK’s largest Marketing Recruitment companies I am fully aware of good and bad practices in the industry. If used properly a good recrutier will understand your business, provide good PR in the market and fully understand your needs. Yes more avenues are available to clients to hire directly now but good recruiters can still be invaluable to a business.
    I do however feel a slight bit of sympathy for BD Recruitment here. The market is tough, the economy hard, what they are trying to do is business development. Ok too much, and not communicating with each other which is a cardinal sin in this game. However guys remember when times are tough no matter what industry we are in remember we are an agency just like you guys we need to fight to survive and increase our client numbers.
    All in all I think I am trying to say give us a break guys we are not that bad – well not all of us!!!

  • Phil

    I recently applied for a job through BD recruitment, and didn’t get to speak to the particular member of staff handling the role (Stephanie) once. I phoned on 6 different days in the 2 weeks following the application, and got a range of reasons as to why she couldnt speak to me (annual leave, off ill, in a meeting, on a call, not in today, bla bla bla).

    So after two weeks, I still hadnt even received a call regarding my application, even though I was easily qualified for the job. Furthermore, because I hadnt received a call back, I knew nothing more about the job than the rather generic job description, so I had no idea of what the company was, or where in Birmingha they were based.

    BD Recruiment treated me disgracefully, which has driven me to post on this blog.

    To prove my suspicions, I phoned up using a different name, this time saying I’d seen a job advertised on the internet and would like some more information – I did this to see if they were basically just sharking for CVs. I told them that the contact on the Job Description was Stephanie, and that I simply wanted to know a bit more about the job. Guess what? I got a call back, from Stephanie, within one hour urging me to send my CV through, yet refusing to tell me more about the job!

    BD Recruitment are one of those agencies that should be shut down, they’re immoral and rude.

  • nik

    This thread gets a roflcopter from me.

  • http://www.virtuaffinity.com Simon Wharton

    Unbelievably, BD Recruitment are still spamming SEO agencies and theyve just spammed our VirtuAffinity brand despite being asked not just a few days ago.
    An agency that cares so little about its’ reputation and work practices is, to my mind, very unlikely to care much about its’ clients. Think on that before you consider using BD Recruitment

  • http://www.unmemorabletitle.co.uk/ Andy

    I can’t say I’m surprised. I’ve had multiple calls from them saying they’ve “seen my CV online” (from a point when my job wasn’t entirely secure…) and want to talk about opportunities.

    I gave them five minutes of my time, realised that they we just weren’t reading from the same song sheet. Since then, I get regular contact asking if I’d like to leave my secure and well paid employment for part-time contract work on a lower salary.

    I wouldn’t touch them with a barge pole.

  • http://rob-smith.info Rob Smith

    I think this is a general theme through a lot of recruitment agencies. Constant calling with the hope that one person will eventually either cave in or actually has an opening. A better approach would centre much more around getting to know and building a relationship with companies through other means and so when I do have a need, they are front of mind. As it is the mass approach just makes a lot of agencies feel hassled and that’s all.

    I’ve lost count of the number of times I have told recruiters to call the office, not my mobile in the first instance. I have also lost count of the number of times that if they do call the office and the message is that I am in a meeting, they call my mobile straight away anyway. Hassle, hassle, hassle all the time.

    Leave me alone!

  • http://www.virtuaffinity.com Simon Wharton
  • http://www.virtuaffinity.com Simon Wharton

    Here’s a thought. Build meaningful relationships with clients. Understand their business. Supply appropriate CVs from people with the correct cultural fit. Be honest. Respect the client (or potential client)

  • http://www.virtuaffinity.com Simon Wharton

    I’ve received a very thorough and detailed response from Chris Crawford from BD Recruitment. It was a detailed apology and a commitment to take actions over the problems I’ve had. A ballsy step and the right thing to do. One must give credit where it’s due. I hope they follow through on their commitments

  • http://www.pleer.co.uk/ Alex Moss

    Yes, but are they just telling you what you want to hear? Stephanie got me an interview for a position that wasn’t for me, but told me to go anyway. Although the interviewer was sympathetic, there was still an awkwardness as to why I was there, so has to pitch myself from another angle.

    In hindsight I’ve now moved onto another company, without the help from BD, however since that interview back in September I’ve had more than 3 calls from them asking whether I’m looking for work to which I’ve asked them to stop ringing me 3 times. I had to email Stephanie personally to ask not to be contacted after the second time but this didn’t work.

    Let’s see if I get another call or email. At least they dont withhold their number so I know not to answer. If I am looking for work, I will look for work!

  • Angie

    I have had a bad experience with BD recruitment as well – they belittled my CV and current employer and it turned out they deceived me about the company I was in an interviewing process with.

    The agent I was working with was arrogant, rude, deceptive, manipulative, pushy, obsessive and an all round displeasure to associate with.

  • http://www.virtuaffinity.com Simon Wharton

    Angie
    Curious as to how recent that experience was? Would love to know whether the leopard changes its’ spots.

  • Mike Joseph

    So good to see a post on the web about this company. I have had dealings with BD Recruitment on all sides of the process through different organisations.
    I was thinking of going through each of the experiences that I have had with them but will summarise it this way.

    Unprofessional, underhand and fundamentally shifty. They tick all of the boxes of why recruitment consultants out there get a bad name.

    A word to the wise if you are a supplier to this company – make sure you have a good debt collector in place.

  • Skye

    I have had a very bad experience with this lot too, esp with Stephanie.

    Dodging my calls multiple times AFTER I went for interviews, pretending not to be there when I could hear the guy who answered the phone talking to her, not being able to tell me I didn’t get the job. As soon as she knows someone doesn’t get the job, she doesn’t care as she can’t make money off them anymore and moves on. I think it’s very rude and not how to retain your client base. Have heard from others as well that she says she will ring or mail and then never does.

    Extremely unprofessional lot and I will not be dealing with them again.

  • Skeptic

    Speaking as a candidate, you would not believe the amount of times I’ve had to do all the chasing and whip-cracking just to get a response to a cover letter, never mind an actual interview. On that basis, BD are sadly no exception. I’ll happily add Purple (never followed up with client feedback after an actual interview) and Oscar Associates (ignored numerous emails and calls, staff coming and going all the time) to the list.

    Obviously, I don’t want to tarnish the reputations of those agencies with ‘good’ practices, however I’d hate to think my CV is getting thrown around to every Tom, Dick or Harry on the off-chance that someone ‘may’ be interested in giving me a job. Surely this devalues the candidate and annoys the client?

    • http://www.pushon.co.uk Simon Wharton

      I dont understand why recruitment consultancies insist on behaving diferently to any other business in theor sales process. And Im not necessarily talking about BD Recruitment here. They have adhered to what was agreed after our last contact. But in general, they believe that its necessary to be unscrupulous in trying to get to the decision maker and feel its OK to be shoddy in the way that they manage client and candidate relationships. Other business sectors have similar issues in opening up new business but in general will attempt that using “old fashioned ” techniques such as well thought out marketing; establishing a good reputation; doing a good job. Huge generalistions, I know, but you get the idea

  • http://blog.pushon.co.uk/blog/bd-recruitment-ltd-of-manchester-i-will-never-use-your-services/ gEoff

    I’ve had a terrible experience with BD Recruitment. The guy in question? Paul Lewis. He lied about salary, bonus and benefits. They mentioned a bonus that would happen after 3 months service in the job, which never came. He said his client would match the salary I’d been offered elsewhere, which was a lie.

    While this has made me distrust the recruitment industry and their dodgy tactics, it means I will be very cautious in future and ensure everything is in writing. Unfortunately trust and honesty is essential in recruitment and not an excuse to get one over the person you are placing.

    I am in the search engine optimisation industry and have warned all my colleagues from using these cowboys. They will run out of people to place at this rate.

    While some of the people recruiting may have had a positive experience (getting higly qualified people in for a knock down salary through dishonesty) just ask the people they’ve placed and see if their experience is the same. I seriously doubt it!

    Top article chaps!

  • Professionally Raped

    Ditto everything gEoff stated. I was lied to about salary and bonus too. Start salary on commencement of employment was 24% less than initially stated in first telephone contact.
    I was told I would receive payments from a guarenteed 20% of salary bonus scheme – that would commence after first month. In fact, I would have to wait over 6 months until this is paid (if at all). The 20% receipt of bonus for the job is not guarenteed either.
    All this I established 1 day prior to my actual start date in new job, leaving me no time to back out and find alternative employment (frustrating when I had turned down roles offering more money). This leaves a severe sour taste in the mouth and puts the employee in a really negative frame of mind when starting the new job. Extremely poor form!

  • http://none Former Employee of BD Recruitment

    I used to work for BD Recruitment, the worst employer I have ever had. Staff were regularly subjected to fits of frustration and rage by the then highly unethical and I believe genuinely misguided – Chris Crawford. I remember one occasion, in the midst of the then daily dressing down of staff, we were all told that “to this date none of you have achieved anything in your lives!”. The blatant down trodden and demotivated ethos of the 3 to 4 staff within the company was propped up by one consultant who was always enthusiastic and optimistic, and good at his job. It is important to state however, that by good at his job, I mean good at doing what Chris tells him to do. He was, and maybe still is, BD Recruitment and would flourish in the industry under the correct training within the right company.

    At times clients and candidates were put on load speaker so that the office could laugh at anything from their repetitive colloquialisms to their speech impediments. We were very rarely allowed to advertise clients jobs and each day began with a monster/jobsite search, followed by a blitz of the CV’s we had found to pretty much everyone on our mailing list in an attempt to gain ownership of the candidates through our T’s and C’s. More often than not the candidate had not even been spoken to, in my year with BD Recruitment I never interviewed one candidate in person, nor to my knowledge did any of my co-workers.

    My training consisted of (as well as many other tricks):

    LEADS – (this is a term used by most recruitment agencies) Never tell BD Recruitment where you are going for interview, this is called a “lead” and they will try anything to get the info out of you. If you do tell them they will send over competing CV’s the second they are off the phone with you, diluting your chance of achieving the job and increasing their chance of earning commission.

    THE CLOSE – Always clarify salary at interview with your employer, the figure you have been given has the potential to be significantly different from that which your interviewer has been given. BD Recruitment will often tell you ‘this is simply not done’ in order to stop you doing so. They will address the discrepancy once an offer has been made, selling you ‘the potential of progression’ or whatever other ammunition they have gathered through previous conversations with you in order to bring down the acceptance salary. The usual trick is to remind you of the minimum you said you would accept for your perfect job, then implying that is what was offered. This is followed up with a ‘Wahey!’ I got you 1K more. You end up felling thrilled when it is still well under what you were told you could achieve before interview.

    THE SELL – A key part of the close, this is done after receiving an offer from the client and before telling the candidate that the job has been offered to them. The candidate is told that BD Recruitment has another (fictional) candidate (who is currently on more money than the candidate that has been offered) who the client is very interested in, and they are willing to accept a lower salary as they realise how great the opportunity is. This gets your salary expectations down and sets you up for the close, this is nearly always done.

    There is much, much more to write but I don’t know if anyone would be bothered reading any more.

    I would like to add that this is not a rant of a sacked employee, due to the advice of my friends and family I quit BD Recruitment and went on the be not amazingly, but quite successful (earning 4X my BD Recruitment salary) within another recruitment company before leaving the industry for good. Once I left I had attempted to keep in contact with a couple of my former workmates but they told me that Chris had asked them not to speak with me.

  • lee

    Ive applied for around 12 to 15 jobs through BD and got bugger all response, not a single interview! I sent an email nicely complaining and got what I now realise after reading this blog a fobbed off response. Ive had more luck with speculative emails than with these guys. Im begining to wonder now if by using them Ive messed up my chances of getting interviews with companies such as yourselves.

    Stay well clear!

  • http://www.shanedj.com Shane

    Still love this post. Haven’t had a missed call for a while… are they still going?

  • Fonz

    Recruitment as a day-to-day job is at least 50% Business Development. Would any of you expect your sales staff to not make calls and develop business for your respective companies? Of course you wouldn’t because your companies would not stay in business very long!

    I’m full of sympathy for Simon because I don’t think that sending speculative CV’s is a good way to develop relationships. In ANY form of business, you have to establish and nurture relationships by talking to and meeting people – emailing is very impersonal regarding of what anyone says. By speaking to clients, you gain a full understanding of your clients business and then provide an all-round better service. The process of hiring a candidate is essentially about matching personalities (as well skills), and relationship building so why should the same principles be not applied to the client-recruiter relationship as well?

    However, as a Recruiter I have to say that I find Digital / New Media / Marketing Agencies some of the most difficult people to deal with. I’m surprised that such intelligent people can make the same sweeping generalisations about Recruitment Consultants – that we’re ‘lazy’, ‘pushy’, ‘greedy’, ‘self-centred’, ‘pimps’, ‘un-intelligent’…. I’d expect such narrow minded-ness from Daily Mail readers but not people who are often pioneers at pushing the boundaries of creativity. I don’t look at Software and Web Developers / Designers and think ‘geek’ or ‘they must be socially in-ept’ and yet a lot of the time I speak to anyone who works in the afore mentioned companies, I immediately get the same reaction whether people have bothered to properly get to know me or not -this can be applied to my Biz Dev’ calls or meeting people who work in the Creative Industries in a social situation.

    As with any industry, there are always people that let the industry down, but some of us are smart people (even to degree level!!), are good at our jobs, genuinely good at meeting our clients expectations and want to build long-term relationships.

    Carry on trashing BD – it makes my life easier but I urge everyone just to be a little more open-minded the next time a recruiter calls you in just the same way that the good consultants are open-minded about you guys!

    • http://www.pushon.co.uk Simon Wharton

      Fonz,
      Though I have no experience of you as a recruiter, I fear you are blind to some of the issues that causes that industry to be loathed. From my own perspective, the vast majority of my interactions with the recruitment industry leave a sour taste in the mouth. Spammy approaches, lies, poor research, aggression, lack of etiquette, inappropriate approaches and so much more, including lazy, greedy and self-centred. That’s my experience, not supposition. I don’t need your sympathy at all; what I would like is for “you”, being the recruitment industry, to put your house in order. That is your job, not mine. Perhaps when we see some genuine and meaningful activity from “you” we’ll consider being a little more open minded.

  • Mike

    It seems the curese of BD Recruitment is spreading, we’ve just been plagued by calls from Katie Beswick who used to work for BD but now is employed by a company called Energize Recruitment.

    Apart from being overly pushy on the phone this lady was stupid enough to then send emails to our corporate email account.

    Just a tip to Energize, if you’re looking to be successful in this area don’t model your business on BD recruitment’s practices.

    • http://www.pushon.co.uk Simon Wharton

      Funny you should mention Energize Recruitment
      And if you check the SERPs

  • Fonz

    Energize are very much in the mould of the S3 Group of agencies (S3 Group operate Computer Futures, Huxleys and Progressive) who are all renowed for their aggressive sales tactics and low staff retention – a bit like BD.

    Simon – I’m far from blind to the issues with the recruitment industry. It’s companies like the afore-mentioned that make our jobs so much harder than it needs to be. As with any industry there are always bad apples. It’s goes back to the old adage – you have a good experience you tell 2-3 people; you have a bad experience you tell 9-10+ people………or start a blog ;)

  • W G

    I was preparing for a interview tomorrow at BD Recruitment which is how I found this. As a trainee recruitment consultant due to more research I don’t think il be going.

    Cheers.

  • Jump

    WG: You made the right decision in not going.

    Everything that the ‘Former Employee…’ stated is correct, and I could add a few more horror stories regarding Chris Crawford, if I had the time.

    The next time a BD employee contacts you, feel pity, if anything. They were taken on as a trainee by Crawford, and trained to be everything that’s given recruitment its awful reputation. They work in awful conditions, and are treated as muck on Crawford’s shoe. His sole motivation technique is his ever ominous sales board combined with his twice daily dressing down of his employee’s results. To put it bluntly, his employees are scared of him – and will do everything in their power to see the little notches next to their name on the sales board increase – lies, spam and manipulation.

    Stay well clear.

  • JB

    I worked at BD recruitment and agree with the comments about Chris Crawford.

    I walked after a few weeks because I couldn’t cope with the crap work conditions and the terrible unprofessionalism that is taught in that office. I am astounded that his company still exists.

    He should have pursued his original career as a PE teacher. Ironic huh?

    Slating aside, I now work in advertising and love my work. My girlfiend works in receruitment and is an absolute professional. She regularly received flowers and gifts from her happy clients and candidates and after I told her about their practices she was horrified and told me to get out of there ASAP.

    I personally would never use them to recruit for my company.

  • JB

    Also, the jobs listed on their website (for potential people applying for jobs) are made up daily to increase traffic to their website and submission of CV’s. I was more than slightly appaled when I discovered that people were spending time on made up applcations!

  • Anon

    Just completed a temporary placement by BD Recruitment, they paid my final month by cheque, which they bounced. Now I can’t pay my rent and they are ‘unavailable’ at the moment to discuss. Beware!!!!!!!!!

  • Fonz

    Anon – whoever you may be! Remember that there will be a contractual agreement in place between you and BD – they have to pay you! Seek legal advise and perhaps if BD are a member of the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC), you can report their indiscretions to them.

  • Peter

    Rather unsurprisingly, BD are not a member of the REC. Anon, have you had any more luck in retrieving your earnings?

  • anon

    I completly disagree. I worked with chris for BD for a long time.

    We never had bad working conditions and never taught these so called spamming techniques.

    I only left because I moved out of the area and I was gutted to leave the team.

    We worked long hard hours but were well rewarded if our work was good. We were taught to get to know clients and candidates so as to make the best placements.

    I never had anyone complain to me and I cant recomend them highly enough

  • Straight talker

    Ok, you so called professionals!! Maybe if you were actually busy at your own jobs and were concentrating on them, you’d have better things to do that slag people and companies off on blogs!!
    I’m sure you’re all aware, its the people that make up a company and you are calling..oh what maybe 3 of them who are probably no longer even there!!As for Chris, none of you know him personally, you’ve just found out his name and assumed that the bad service you’ve had from some of his staff have come from him and have therefore made up your own conclusions about him and decided that the mature approach was to moan on a blog!
    And ‘anon’ I actually know who you are and you did get paid so stop complaining all of you and get some work done!!

    • http://www.pushon.co.uk Simon Wharton

      Hello Natalie
      As with everyone, we extend the right to reply, even to BD recruitment. Rather than belittle the people who have taken the time to search for information about BD Recruitment and then make comment, maybe consider why they have felt motivated to do so. It takes effort. Why would they bother unless they were really very unhappy with BD recruitment? It’s really very rare that people get this angry. My advice to you, take it or leave it, is to listen to what is being said and then honestly take a view of the company and, if you feel it appropriate, make change to address the problems.
      Another point I would make is that you have just belittled a lot of your target audience, people you hope to sell to. Quite clearly they talk on places like this and amongst themselves. What impression do you want to make in front of them?

  • Straight talker

    “As with everyone, we extend the right to reply, even to BD recruitment” – I think if one is to operate a blog which serves greater purpose than to satiate the appetite of ‘scorned’ former employees and ego-dented candidates, the right-to-reply as the target of largely unwarranted negative ‘feedback’ requires no declaration.

    “Rather than belittle the people who have taken the time to search for information about BD Recruitment and then make comment, maybe consider why they have felt motivated to do so.” – Nobody has been belittled. People searching for information are largely unfamiliar with the company and as a consequence of this charming rhetoric unwittingly find their impressions tarnished by blog comments containing either untrue or heavily exaggerated experiences with individuals who no longer work for the company.

    “It takes effort. Why would they bother unless they were really very unhappy with BD recruitment? It’s really very rare that people get this angry.” – Now Sir, do behave. It appears that one of the greatest functions of the Internet has eluded you, has it not? If I had a penny for every angry consumer comment left in the blogosphere, well, I’d be richer than Bill Gates and the Beatles combined. It’s also widely accepted that when it comes to customer service that for every dissatisfied consumer there are hundreds of satisfied individuals. Lets face it, throwing together a theatrical rant, serves as a salubrious tonic for needless rage borne quite preposterously of human error – something most people would simply forget about.

    “My advice to you, take it or leave it, is to listen to what is being said and then honestly take a view of the company and, if you feel it appropriate, make change to address the problems.” – As outlined in the initial response, none of the individuals mentioned, bar Chris, continue to work for the organisation. A renewed approach has been taken and the issues raised – some two years ago – have long since been resolved. As with any business, customer experience is an ongoing education, there will always be room for improvement and at BD we are striving to maintain our good name and reputation.

    “Another point I would make is that you have just belittled a lot of your target audience, people you hope to sell to. Quite clearly they talk on places like this and amongst themselves. What impression do you want to make in front of them?” – The matter of belittling has been dealt with in this response in some respect already, but to address this particular point, I would like to stipulate that these people are not our ‘target audience’. Our target audience are individuals who are capable of independent and objective thought. People who form their opinions based solely on the word of angry mob bloggers are probably not the desirable, free-thinking types we wish to form adult working relationships with.

    This blog lacks perspective, objectivity and above all, truth. At best a histrionic comedy; at worst an ill-conceived slanderous attack. This is all I have to say on the matter.

    • http://www.pushon.co.uk Simon Wharton

      Natalie
      After having exchanged emails with Chris some time ago, I’d let the subject lie. It appears that you, as an employee of BD Recruitment, would like to start it up again. OK

      Cheers

      Simon

  • http://www.twitter.com/discuit discuit

    First I have seen of this post, but i’d like to point out that I was completely set up a few years back by BD recruitment.

    I was told I was being headhunted by one if not the biggest Digital agencies in Manchester, And they did not require a CV as they knew of me, (I thought it was strange at the time). I then turned up for the interview, and the Agency had a CV, (with the dates altered) that was 7 years old on his desk.

    They made me feel a right Dickhead.

    Stephanie is now doing something in Fashion recruitment, as she spammed me the other day from linked in.

  • http://alex-moss.co.uk Alex Moss

    The fact that this page appears as the first non-BD site when searching for “BD Recruitment” perhaps BD should be more polite instead of telling people who they recruit to do some more work.

    Simon – as someone who runs an SEO agency and organises SEO conferences and events – maybe BD should take your advice. After all, they make their money from doing business (or trying to) with people like you.

    The fact that Steph, the main face of BD, left the company to become a recruiter for beauty and fashion speaks volumes of her knowledge of SEO and connection to the industry.

    I haven’t had a call from BD for some time now, but that’s only because I had to make a solid effort to remove myself from their database.

  • http://stardotstar.com Gareth

    “Ok, you so called professionals!!”

    “Maybe if you were actually busy at your own jobs and were concentrating on them, you’d have better things to do that slag people and companies off on blogs!!”

    “And ‘anon’ I actually know who you are and you did get paid so stop complaining all of you and get some work done!!”

    hmm Straight talker… as an observer, i’d say that’s belittling…

    But, you’re right, we’re not your target audience – we *never* use recruitment agencies having been stung badly by one who claimed they had a working relationship with us over someone we quite clearly met independently. We also find that our own networks can find interested parties faster, cheaper and more effectively than solicited or unsolicited CVs.

  • http://www.rhyswynne.co.uk Rhys

    A couple of stories from my office (again, just stating it as fact), all within the last 6 months:-

    - I got “headhunted” by a member of staff there, who buttered me up as one of “Manchester’s top SEO’s” (at the time, I was living in North Wales, weeks away from starting a new job).
    - My boss got headhunted for a top SEO position.
    - Another employee left a job to join us, and she got headhunted the week after for the job she left.

    Personally, beside one phone call, I haven’t had any other phone call from them (famous last words), but as somebody who consider myself capable of independent and objective thought, I think they’ve done more harm than good with Natalie’s comments above.

    Too many people I trust & respect have had their fingers burnt by BD. I’d never use them. Forgive me for being arrogent, but it’s their loss.

  • http://stardotstar.com Gareth

    And funnily enough, the company we got tricked by weren’t members of Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC) either…

  • http://www.garethhoyle.co.uk Gareth

    I had a call off BD Recruitment last month asking how my work situation was

    Having run my own agency for the last 5+ years I think they need to update their db

    What a bunch of losers!!

    • http://www.pushon.co.uk Simon Wharton

      So, there you have it. A number of people in online marketing/development agencies who are positions to make recruitment decisions in and around Manchester expressing an opinion about BD Recruitment. Then there’s the conversation on Twitter as well. Who will these people speak in the pub later on? It’s not just what is said here, it’s what is read and what is said when someone is asked their opinion about a potential supplier.
      Sometimes, in social media management, it’s best to just leave it alone.

  • adam

    Recommendation on LinkedIn

    “iCrossing has been using Adam to help recruit our SEOs since late 2010 and he has successfully helped us resource a couple excellent candidates.

    Adam is great to work with, he has excellent knowledge of the SEO sector and puts this to good use in sourcing a very high calibre of candidates

    Through his work, and that of the other consultants at BD Recruitment, they are now one of our must go to agencies when we are needing assistance with our recruitment” June 29, 2011

    Top qualities: Great Results, Expert, High Integrity

    1st Nick Edwards,

  • C.Lomax

    Recommendation on LinkedIn

    “I can honestly say that Claire is a recruiting consultant with a difference. She knows what’s important when your looking for a new position and makes sure that she delivers those qualities to her candidates. She always keeps in touch with you and gives you honest, encouraging feedback so that you know any areas that you need to focus on for the future.
    I trust her because she has integrity and her results speak for themselves, she’s extremely knowlegeable about the industry and moves within the top digital agencies and client brands. I would have no hesitation recommending Claire either to candidates looking for new positions or for businesses looking to fill vacancies.”

  • Simon Wharton

    Interesting defensive strategy which I assume is by BD Recruitment. Claire Lomax we know and I suspect Adam Kennedy is the Adam mentioned who posted first. If I was being picky, I guess I would have linked to the recommendations on Linked In to prove authenticity and added some commentary around the recommendation to add context. But all in all, a reasonable response

  • Dan

    “I’ve been really impressed with BD Recruitment. They totally ‘get’ technical recruitment and the online industry and take the time to ensure they understand your requirements in detail. They take the pain out of the recruitment process by targeting and short listing the right candidates rather than scatter gunning irrelevant CVs at you. We’ve used them on a number of occasions and their turnaround time is great. All in all, BD provide an excellent service.”

    Online Services Manager – KCOM Group PLC

  • Anonymous

    Dear BD Recruitment, I’m assuming it is Claire Lomax, or whoever is handling your defensive strategy, we have a policy of right to reply here. However, I’m not entirely comfortable with your posting of testimonials without supporting commentary. A post which went something along the lines of “Actually some people think we’re OK, in fact xxxxx said….” would be fine. Just posting a testimonial by itself is a little spammy. Would the clients who provided the testimonials even be aware that they had been used here and how would they respond to me contacting them to verify that they were comfortable with their names/brands being used in this context?

    Cheers

    Simon

  • unhappy

    Very bad experience with BD Recruitment. My CV was belittled, I was pressed to provide contact details for senior employees at my workplace. Rude, obnoxious and aggressive….so happy I found this post!!!

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