The importance of recruitment agencies

According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), as of August 2017 there were approximately 1.44 million people in the UK who were unemployed but actively seeking or available to work. This figure was 52,000 fewer than figures up to May 2017 and over 215,000 fewer than the year previous.

There were also 8.81 million people who were unemployed and not actively seeking or available for work. However, the UK is working hard to improve its employment rate across the country – so could recruitment agencies be partly responsible for this progressive improvement?

In 2016, the recruitment industry was valued at £35.1 billion, showing a 9% growth annually. With over 23,980 registered agencies across the UK, the industry employs over 100,000 individuals. With just under 10,000 of those agencies turning over more than £250,000 every year, recruitment has proven to be a strong contributor to the UK’s economy, now more than ever before – but how important are they for businesses looking to fill job vacancies?

DCS Multiserve, specialists in facilities management in Newcastle, investigates whether using agencies as part of your recruitment process is a worthwhile business investment.

The benefits of agencies

The average permanent recruitment consultant places around 21 individuals in jobs a year – and in 2014 alone, 600,000 people found new, permanent jobs through a recruitment agency! This proves useful to business when you consider that as of April 2016 there were six million job openings. These aren’t going to fill themselves, especially when around 80% of jobs are never actually advertised.

Time is precious in business, meaning the average CV is only looked at for five to seven seconds – recruitment agencies can do the searching for you. Agencies take their pick from a big pool and only offer the best candidate for the vacancy. A good Recruitment Agency will have a proven track record of finding the right employees for the job. When you meet with their narrowed down choices, you can feel more confident in your final hiring decision.

A smooth, positive hiring process is a great impression to give to new employees. According to Collinwoodsearch, 56% of candidates who felt they had a positive hiring process experience said they would seek employment with the company again in the future, 37% would tell others to apply there and 23% would be more likely to purchase products or services from that company. A recruitment agency can be a crucial part of ensuring the hiring process runs smoothly and relieves some of the stress!

The cost of recruitment

Most recruitment agencies will take a percentage of the hired employee’s salary if the vacancy is successfully filled. The amount they charge depends on the annual salary of the vacancy. For instance, according to hunt4staff, a starting point might be in the region of 9 or 10% of the yearly salary for junior roles, so for a £10k a year role, you may pay roughly £1,000.

It is also worth noting that agencies are likely to already have access to some of the top job boards, and have relationships with all the right people in recruitment. As an employer who just needs to advertise a one-off vacancy, publishing on a job board can prove an expensive one-off cost.

Whilst recruitment agencies don’t come cheap, they do a job and they do it properly, which saves you time. You must ask yourself, which is more valuable to you: time or money? Remember that without the right staff, your business could actually be losing money.

Online recruitment

Social media now has an intrinsic role in recruitment for both businesses looking to hire and recruitment agencies. 93% of companies have admitted to using social media to assist with their recruitment process. The platform can be used to advertise vacancies, and is likely to gain a significant amount of exposure.

Online recruitment can cost significantly less than recruitment agencies. You can use online recruiters who will push your vacancy across social media, client websites and online job boards for a fraction of the cost of offline recruiters.

Of course, you don’t need to outlay any costs if you market your vacancies using your own platforms. Social media and your own websites prove to be very useful platforms to reach potential employees. Whether its Facebook, Linked In, Twitter or even Instagram, social media is used by millions of users worldwide, and you are guaranteed some level of exposure. You can even encourage your current employees to share vacancy posts on their accounts too.

So, if you’re looking to fill a vacancy in your company, will you use a recruitment agency and be a part of their success story? You could yourself time, and find the perfect match for the vacant role – which could be worth the investment in the agencies services and resources. At the end of the day, they are the experts.