What do you really know about recruitment agencies?
There tends to be a ‘bad name’ around agencies, but this can often be down to a misunderstanding of what an agency is and what an agency does.
Here is the real truth about recruitment agencies…
1. We are not funded by the government
Agencies receive zero funding, we are privately owned businesses that make money through our own profit. So the saying ‘they only want you to register with them to get their money from the Government’ isn’t true at all. We don’t get a penny from the Government and if we never placed a candidate into work we wouldn’t make any money at all.
2. We don't work like a job centre
People often seem to think we work like a job centre but that isn’t true. Unlike a job centre, an agency doesn’t have to place you into work, we place the most suitable candidate(s) into a role we’re hiring for, exactly like how other companies do who hire directly. We always need to find the best person for the job.
3. We don't take money out of your wages or charge you to find work
Recruitment agencies are a completely free service to job seekers, and it is illegal for us to charge you to find work through us.
There is often a misconception that we take money out of your wages, because of the fee that we charge the client.
When it comes to our fee, this is how it works:
- The client decides how much per hour they want to pay the candidate (we don’t set the pay rates)
- + Add on the Employers National Insurance contribution provision
- + Add on candidate holiday pay provision
- + Add on candidate sick pay provision
- + Add on candidate pension provision
- + Add on our margin that we charge the client for our services (this is the only part we make a profit from)
= that equals what we charge the client – so your pay is not affected by our charge to the client
4. We don't just recruit for low-skilled or temporary positions
Recruitment agencies are generally seen as the place to go if you need temporary work, but temporary work is currently the type of placement we least recruit for! Most of the companies we work with recruit on a 12 to 26 week temporary to permanent placement or a straight permanent contract.
- Only 15% of our current roles are temporary (March 2023)
- In 2022, 650 of our candidates gained permanent contracts after their first 12-26 weeks
We recruit for various positions for different levels of skills and experience.
Just like with temporary roles, only 13% of our current roles (March 2023) require no experience, the rest are positions requiring varying levels of skills and experience.
Did you know at Essential we have our own department who deal with permanent and high skilled roles only?
Essential Professional match skilled candidates will higher skilled and paid roles. If you’re a skilled professional looking for your next career challenge, please click below to see how Essential Professional can help you…
5. "All agencies are the same"
Not all agencies are the same. Different agencies specialise in different types of recruitment, they offer different types of services and some do genuinely care more than others.
You just need to find the right agency for you, and it may take a few experiences with different agencies first.
Here’s how we know that not all agencies are the same:
6. "Agencies only care about their reputation"
Comments are made that agencies only care about their reputation rather than helping a candidate find work.
Well yes, we do care about our reputation – doesn’t most companies? Our reputation is the one thing that’s going to keep our clients working with us, if we keep sending unreliable workers to our clients, they are going to lose their trust in us and it will affect our relationship, and we could lose business as a consequence.
We do help people to find work, but if someone is repeatedly walking off site or not showing up to their shift, then there is only so many chances we can give them before we have to stop offering them work.
Agencies work exactly the same as any other business. If you worked directly for a business (not through an agency), and you kept not turning up to work you would get sacked – it’s no different when working through an agency.
We have some fantastic workers, who work hard and show up everyday, get rewarded with permanent contracts or nominated for our Temp of the Month competition. Unfortunately, some people think they can treat agencies how they want and they are generally the ones to spread negativity about agencies when they’re mad that an agency has had enough on their unreliable or bad behaviour.
7. Do agencies blacklist you
If you apply to work for another agency, they will usually only be in contact with each other to confirm the dates you worked for the previous agency as part of the reference checking process.
However, the agency you work with will keep notes of your performance recorded on your candidate profile. For example, if you showed signs of bad behaviour in a placement with the agency and the company you were working for decided that they no longer required you, these notes would be kept on your file and it’s highly likely you would find it hard to find work with the same agency again.
Want to know more about recruitment agencies?
If you would like to have a chat with us to find out more about how we can support you to find work, please add your details into the below form and we will be in touch within 72 hours.
