Witan Jardine Recruitment

♦ Witan Jardine ♦

Witan Jardine is a leading recruitment agency, established about 25 years ago. The agency won the "Recruiter of the year" award in 2003 and specialise in recruitment services for employers and employees alike.

Witan Jardine specialises in placing prospective employees with companies involved in the financial services, professional services, media and commerce sectors. Most of the ...
...marketing nature.

Witan Jardine places prospective employees mostly into temporary or contract positions, but it also has some senior appointments available. In addition, there are some opportunities to apply for international jobs in New Zealand or Australia.

Witan Jardine's website lists the latest jobs available, but also allows you to send your CV 'cold', without applying for a particular job. Even if you apply for ... more

♦ Witan Jardine ♦

Witan Jardine is a leading recruitment agency, established about 25 years ago. The agency won the "Recruiter of the year" award in 2003 and specialise in recruitment services for employers and employees alike.

Witan Jardine specialises in placing prospective employees with companies involved in the financial services, professional services, media and commerce sectors. Most of the jobs they offer are of an accountancy, administrative office, risk and compliance or sales and marketing nature.

Witan Jardine places prospective employees mostly into temporary or contract positions, but it also has some senior appointments available. In addition, there are some opportunities to apply for international jobs in New Zealand or Australia.

Witan Jardine's website lists the latest jobs available, but also allows you to send your CV 'cold', without applying for a particular job. Even if you apply for a particular position, they may seek to suggest other similar positions to you once they have reviewed your CV.

♦ The good ♦

*My first experience*

I applied for more than 50 jobs of all kinds. The job I applied for at Witan Jardine was of a risk and compliance nature, as this seemed to be a job that was suitable to my legal background.

While other agencies ignored my applications or did not call me back at all, I received a call from Witan Jardine within about 10 minutes of posting my CV. I am sure that this is not the norm, but it was a good start for me.

I was asked to come for an interview the very next day. The offices at Southampton Place are very posh. Prospective employees are sent into a meeting room where they are offered a water, tea or coffee.

The interview was quick and very friendly. I was asked basic questions about my CV and my experiences and about what type of job I was looking for. I was asked about my availability and my salary expectations. After the interview I met another recruitment consultant. I was told my CV would be put forward for the job I was interested in.

Two days later I received a call from the agency, from a lady I had not met before. She told me she had an administrative temp job available in a top city law firm. Since I was eager to get started, I told her to put me forward. Less than 20 minutes later, I had a job to start the very next day. The work itself was not very interesting - it was basically database administration and only paid £8.50 an hour (their basic temp rate). But it paid the bills.

One of the things that really was great about this agency was the staff. I had problems opening a bank account in the UK, because I had no firm address and had not been resident for a while. Unfortunately I was not allowed to pay my salary into my boyfriend's account, but Witan Jardine helped me sort out my bank account right away.

They wrote me a reference letter at first, but when I got to the bank they did not accept it because it neither confirmed my address nor my salary. Because the matter was so urgent, the bank called up the agency. One of the recruitment people there agreed to see me right away and wrote the letter on the spot. On another occasion one of the recruitment people came to see me directly at the offices to make sure I got my pay cheque in time.

I only was a temp with Witan Jardine for 6 weeks or so, because the company they placed me with then decided to take me over on a contract in a risk and compliance job. I can honestly say that but for Witan Jardine I would not have had this great opportunity.

*My second experience*

The next summer I was not really intending to work, but the place Witan Jardine had placed me with the year before was desperate to get some help for a few weeks. Since I would only be working there for a few weeks, the company could not hire me directly. They decided to talk to an agency to hire me instead and place me with them. The agency they chose was ... Witan Jardine!

My second experience with Witan Jardine was not as great, but this was mainly because my details had changed quite considerably (bank, address, telephone, etc.) They had tried to get a hold of me unsuccessfully to arrange my contract and it ended up that the company called me instead and told me to start without a contract having been signed.

Once I got to the company I had to contact the agency, my employer, to arrange the details. I spoke to a friendly recruitment person who sent me the necessary papers right away. However, even though I sent my new bank details and my time sheet on time, I was not paid at the end of my first week. I had to chase for this payment.

Despite the promise of calling me back right away, the recruitment person failed to call me at all. It was in the late afternoon that I had to chase them again. I was told my time sheet and bank details were never received. I knew that this was not correct, because I had sent my bank details by post and fax and I had a fax confirmation slip from faxing my time sheet. Luckily, at the end of the second week, I found both payments in my bank account.

♦ The bad ♦

At some stage I was considering looking for a new job in the risk and compliance area. As I had been overall impressed with Witan Jardine, I decided to give them a call just to see what the market was like in the area. At the stage I was not sure whether I was going to take the plunge - I was merely trying to determine my options.

The minute I called, they wanted to know why I was looking for a new job - and even though I explained that I was just looking at the options, they instantly jumped and told me they had this job for me, which was along the lines of the data entry work I had done for them when I first signed up, not risk and compliance work.

I said that I would think about and gave them permission to forward my CV. The result was that the client wanted to interview me immediately. The recruitment person left me a message saying that she would try and schedule an interview the following week. She said that she would call me to confirm a suitable day.

The following week I suddenly received a message from another recruitment person on my phone asking me whether I was ready for my interview that very day. This was the first I had heard of it. I called back and said I was not available for an interview that day - or in fact any day. I still received a number of messages attempting to reschedule the interview for another day. Eventually, I just started ignoring the messages and they subsided.

♦ The ugly ♦

A few months later, I needed reference letters from the agency. I contacted them and told them what I needed, indicating the months that I had been employed with them - but not the exact dates. I kind of assumed that they would check their files for the details.

I was pleasantly surprised when I received a reference letter in the mail only two or three days later - but I then realised that the dates were wrong. I left a message for the person who wrote the letter, but he never called me back. I sent a couple of emails about the wrong dates - no reaction.

Almost a month later, I still did not receive the reference letters. And I am still waiting today.

♦ The verdict♦

Despite my difficulties with Witan Jardine after having left their employment, I would recommend the agency if you to those who are really in an immediate need for a job. I found them highly efficient, very friendly and organised when it came to placing me into a job. Ideally, I would have liked this high standard to continue after I left their employment, however, I realise that agencies work for their commissions. As an ex-employee I am naturally a lot less important to them than a current employee or a potential commission earner. If I can impart one piece of advice - get your reference letters right at the end of your employment. That way you can spare yourself a few headaches!

♦ Contact details ♦

Witan Jardine
13 Southampton Place
London WC1A 2AL

Tel: 020 7404 4004
Fax: 020 7404 3324

website: www.witanjardine.co.uk
 

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