For all those who have never worked with them, recruitment agencies are a great mystery. What do they really do? Are good? What are they to start with? Companies? NGO? Employers? government organizations? So many questions… So let’s clear the air a bit.

First of all, employment agencies are companies, basic and ordinary companies that have employees, pay taxes and make a profit (or at least try to because the niche is very difficult and competitive). In the market there are some global high rollers that are present in several countries (like Lugera & Makler, Adecco, Trenkwalder), some small agencies that specialize in a niche, are good at it and really make a profit (like SAP recruiting). and various others who try to survive (but most of the time don’t).

A recruitment agency mainly covers two basic activities: it helps candidates to find a job and it helps other companies to find good candidates for the vacancies they have. Therefore, they are a mediator in the market between the candidates who are looking for a job and the companies that are looking for candidates. Most agencies (I use “most” because everyone we’ve ever worked with has, but I can’t bet everyone in the world is in the same situation) mostly offer free services to candidates and only get paid by companies .

For a candidate, a recruitment agency offers the following services (basic services are free):

– Receive your resume and insert it into a database that helps to find candidates with a certain ability; for agencies that operate in the same market, the competition is huge because eventually they end up with a similar database, so winning over the client becomes more difficult; Furthermore, small inexperienced agencies cannot compete with large ones that already have a huge pool of candidates that they can search in minutes;

– Help candidates build a professional resume (sometimes paid service);

– Assess the candidate’s skills by applying tests (computer science, language, professional psychological tests) or during interviews;

– Offer suggestions for improvement (sometimes paid service) and offer to include them in training or coaching sessions (also mostly paid service);

– Sending the candidate’s resume to employers who have vacancies, according to the required skills (mostly free service);

– Offer feedback to the candidate in case of rejection or mediate in the salary offer process (mainly free service).

A company, a placement agency offers the following services:

– Search CVs in its database;

– Post ads on appropriate recruitment channels;

– Interview and evaluate the candidates;

– Propose the best candidates for the available positions;

– Replace candidates for free if the candidate leaves or is fired (through the candidate’s fault) within a given time limit (3-6 or even more months depending on the position);

How does the hiring process work?

1. The client of the recruitment agency opens a position and offers it to one or more recruitment agencies, according to internal requirements, policies or according to the contract signed between the two parties;

2. The client may be required to pay a fee upfront (used for posting ads or for initial time spent on interviews). The fee is not refundable. Depending on the initial agreement, this fee may be waived and a final success fee paid instead (only if the agency is successful in filling the position with the right candidate);

3. The agency posts ads, selects resumes, interviews candidates;

4. The agency offers a final list of the best candidates to the client;

5. The client interviews the final candidates and offers one or more;

6. If the position(s) is(are) covered, taxes are paid and processing is stopped; otherwise, the recruitment process starts over. If several agencies work on the same position, the first to fill it gets the money. The rest just waste time.

A recruitment agency works like any other company. It is a service provider. Your employees are recruiters (the people who do the recruiting and selection), salespeople (who find clients and sign contracts; sometimes in small agencies, salespeople are also recruiters), and support people (such as finance, building maintenance, drivers, any other internal charges necessary for a business to run efficiently).

I hope the role of a recruitment agency is now clear. If you have any further questions, feel free to comment on this post.

Best regards,

Geo