Have your ever used job agencies? Do many people use agencies where you live? I suppose that in our country many fly-in/fly out employees, for example people who work In the North, use job agencies. Job agencies also provide people with temporary jobs. But from what I saw Russian companies usually have their own personnel services. What are the advantages and disadvantages of using a job agency? Advantages: Job agents are experts in their field and can also offer helpful guidance. They can give you an objective feedback on your application and how to promote yourself They may have excellent contacts in organizations that could be very helpful in getting a job. Some organizations don’t publish their vacancies in open sources because they don’t want to have crowd of applicants in their offices. That’s why using of job agencies is the only way to get a decent job. Disadvantages: Candidates really don't know if the agencies will even send their resumes to employers. So sometimes it takes more time to take a job through the agency. It is becoming increasingly difficult to find genuine recruitment agencies. We mostly find agencies which are profit motivated or those which scam the needy. They sometimes charge a high fee from the candidates. Though they get paid from the employer, they ask the applicants to pay fees under the name of registration, deposit, etc. , thus doubling their profits. Have you or people you know ever used a job agency? Personally, I haven’t used job agencies. There are many other ways to find a job. I remember that my father used a job agency ones. But he was deceived. And I’ve heard many stories about people who had paid for the job agency services, went far from home and didn’t find any signs of the company they supposed to be working for. Therefore I reckon that people should use job agencies only if they going to find an exclusive job or they want to go abroad. On my opinion, talking about a usual job, it’s better to use another sources of information like friends, relatives, newspaper ads and the Internet. (I've taken some sentences from the internet. But still most of the answers were written by myself)