The comments regarding the species known as "Recruitment Consultants" are simply the tip of the iceberg. Given that the sector is unregulated --please--no "Code of Conduct" or "Best Practice" etc in mitigation because this would simply be yet another fallacy--anybody can become one and start an agency. It speaks volumes for the general indifference of the HR sector-or maybe not-that organisations are only too willing to subcontract out the recruitment process to a strata of society that occupies a level slightly lower than vermin. My own experience with these parasites is that most have NO idea about Aviation in any form--they simply look for keywords on the CV / Job Spec. I have dealt with 3 about whom I could say they were professional and business like and with whom I could do business again. The rest, considerably more than 3, were simply inane as were the staff. E.G. " you are a terribly good fit for the role--OH ! --it says here you have a Degree--but you were ONLY an Airman in the RAF--sorry--teensy, weensy weaky poohs on the prodgy wodgy management skills I feel--speak again--soops" Translate that into English !--another, "Theeneor conthultunt ( girlie about 20 at a guess) who tells me that it is "very important to have qualifications and expereince in Aviation--and do you have ANY NVQ's at all?" As the answer is no--she informs me she cannot put me forward for the role ! Then there was the one who sent me for a position that was not even my area--and it was all my fault!--the one who said she had never heard of a Licence and I was the 10th person to contact her--and why did we all persist in doing so when the Licence did not exist!--the one who told me to relocate to Lincs--as it was a rural area--cheap-and I could commute to Coventry every day with no problem !--Many of the job adverts they produce display an atrocious level of illiteracy and thus no credibility. I wonder just how much damage these morons do to peoples opportunities and why "managers" persist in using agencies other than to abrogate their own responsibilities. I also wonder if the new, or proposed, age discrimination bill will include agencies who already seem to practice the concept of age discrimination as a matter of policy. Any self centric recruitment "consultant" care to comment--other than to tell us all how wonderful he / she is ??