Recruitment agencies ?

[einarp]

Has anyone used a recruitment agency? I'm recruiting Customer Service staff in W/SW (Chiswick - Richmond) and would like to try an agency.

Any suggestions?

[JoyDivision]

If they mess businesses like they mess employees about it might be an idea to avoid them. As a rule when looking for jobs I try and avoid them.

The fees the agencies charge don't seem justified when you can just stick an add in the local paper.

If this is a graduate level it will be a good idea to contact local universities career services so they can advertise it for you.

I just thought I would offer an opinion from the other side of the table. Good luck anyway although it does appear to be an employers market now.

[daveashton]

The big question is why?

If the person leaves after 3 months you have to pay the full fee.
They advertise the job on the same sites as you can.
They do not have HR skills. These people are sales people.

[Anonymous]

Wouldn't touch them.

I've been on both ends of the equation and can't imagine why anyone would want to spend volatile sums of money on something you could advertise for yourself for a fraction of the cost.

If you were recruiting for a senior position then it might be worth considering but in my humble opinion in most ordinary day to day jobs the critical factor for me is to find people I'm happy to work with.

You spend more time with your work colleagues than with your family!

[directmarketingadvice]

Einarp

It's worth checking out www.appointdirect.com.

Steve

[Joyous]

Hi Einarp

As with most things there are good agencies and bad ones. I used to use them quite a lot when employed. The aim being that they would do the job of filtering out the candidates that were worthwhile to save us having to do it.

Some agencies were really good and we would be really happy with the candidates they sent us. Others would make us wonder if they had even read the brief.

If cost is an issue you're better off with a carefully placed advert. The only disadvantage is the time you'll have to spend sifting out the undesirables.

Regards

Joy

[babybiz]

Hi I'm new on here hope you don';t mind me answering :) DH is a recuritment consultant and has worked for several companies, I agree with the other posts on here. If you are looking for someone senior then it might be worth paying for otherwise I wouldn't touch them with a bargepole unless you have a personal recommendation. They tend to vary from consultant to consultant and most are quite frankly in it for the money, competition is encouraged and it's all about "showing me the money" (sorry couldn't resist ;)).

They do have thier uses but only as a last resort unless you need someone very senior or very specialised.

Tashxx

[Kate McCarthy]

Hi all,

Having read your responses I feel even happier that I launched my Company, the competition is clearly awful!! - Not all recruitment companies are sales people just wanting to make quick money. We spend a lot of time building partnership relationships with our clients, which can be shown in the testimonials by many of my happy customers - both client and candidate. The good businesses out there will build relationships with you and although charge a fee for a successful candidate will spend time ensuring you save time! We provide 2 candidates for interview for each position and always one is taken - the time saved with sorting through candidates, responding to them all and the fact that we actively headhunt the right person for you ensures that the fee is well spent and is often cheaper than the overall cost of advertising.
We are specialists in recruitment - and I spend an awful lot training my teams on all aspects. We are not CV shifters or sales people!
Unfortunately my business specialises in retail management recruitment so I cannot assist with the initial post, however don't paint everyone with the same picture.

We save people time, money and we provide convienience - it costs businesses when they have vacancies as a result we can be a cheap, quick and quality alternative to advertising. I have often had situations whereby a client has advertised first, found no one suitable, wasted a lot of money and time and has been left very frustrated. They have then come to me and after experiencing our service then wish that they had come to me in the first place. Advertising can be a lottery, expensive with no guarantee of a result, at least with us you pay when you have a successful placement, with advertising you never know.

Good Luck with your recruitment,
Kate

REC Accredited - McCarthy Recruitment

[Russ]

Hi einarp

This might come as a surprise to you as we operate a career website that does not allow employment agencies to advertise on it, but I strongly feel that employment agencies can play an important role for a company seeking staff if they are good and are actually required by the company using them.

Buy this I mean that many companies are unaware of what options are open to them to recruit staff and many fall back on traditional methods such as the local press and employment agencies. Both of these options have pro’s and con’s attached but it is surprising that so few companies utilise the online options available to them. Recent surveys reveal that 80% of jobseekers, both passive and active will use the internet to look for a new career yet only approx 10% small and medium sized firms use internet job boards such as www.appointdirect.com

Of course if you are looking within specialist fields or for temporary/contract staff that will need to be paid by an employment agency online recruitment may not be for you but it is interesting to note that 97% of recruitment agencies will use internet job boards to advertise for staff for their clients and then screen and forward on suitable applications.

In a nut shell, if you need to use an agency because all else has failed or it is a specialist role or temporary vacancy, find a good one and I am sure you will receive (due to the competitive nature of the business) a good service the same as you would for any other profession such as accountant or IT supplier etc. I would recommend asking for references from any firm I spent considerable amounts of money with and a good agency should be only too pleased to supply them.

If on the other hand you want to try online recruitment you can call me on 01245 444050 and I will let you know if it is the right option for you.

Russ


P.S Thanks to Steve for pointing out this post to me and mentioning our company.