A popular question within the recruiting world.  

It is important for candidates to understand why this is a critical part of the hiring process and why it’s an important part of the recruitment triangle in determining whether the agency is worth dealing with.  

It is our opinion that an agency recruiter must meet every applicant face to face, whether in person or via video call. The reason for this is a matter of qualification.

Every applicant should have the opportunity to self-qualify themselves for a role dependent on the information they receive from the agency recruiter and that includes the name of the company. They should be able to obtain information about the role, beyond what the job specification states and ask questions about the company and culture.

The agency recruiter should be able to answer all these questions in detail and offer further information regarding the team, the company culture and more. If an agency recruiter cannot provide this level of detail regarding the role and company, they are not a client focussed recruiter, but instead are delivering numerous CVs for this role, hoping that one of the applicants will be of interest.

Also, this is the point where an agency recruiter can properly qualify the applicant for the role. An agency recruiter cannot determine whether an applicant is the ideal fit for a role and client without having an in-depth conversation. Here the agency recruiter can get a real understanding of the applicants expectations of the role, the companies they aspire to work for and their aspirations for the future.

If an agency tells a candidate they have the perfect job for them and sends their CV over without any initial conversation, they are not interested in the candidate and just their bottom line figure. If a recruiter just goes by the CV, LinkedIn profile and a quick “chat” by email, or mine CVs off their “extensive pipeline of applicants” (i.e. database or job boards) recruiters are not qualifying applicants nor building their reputation or enhancing the company’s brand.

It should never be forgotten that recruitment is a people business.

It’s important to remember that companies who pay recruitment agencies should be getting value for money.  If a recruitment agency just sends over CVs within an hour of receiving the instruction, they are not receiving quality qualified applicants. In fact they are not providing any kind of service, all that is happening is the recruiter is increasing their KPIs.

So meet with your agency recruiter. If they do not request a meeting, ask if you need to meet them face to face. If the answer is no and they cannot tell you information about their client in a level of detail, they are likely not to have a good relationship with that client and you will be one of the many applicants sent for consideration.

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