FAQ about the Recruitment Industry

We all work to the Recruitment Act of 1973,  this act regulates the conduct of employment agencies & employment businesses which recruit and manage temporary and permanent recruitment.  

An Recruitment Agency is one that provides staff who are then employed by the client. An Employment Business provides staffs who do not become employed by the hirer& are employed by the Recruitment Business instead

Recruitment Agency: Full time roles, employed by the Client

Employment Business: Relief / temporary roles, employed & paid by the Agency

It will depend which sector they trade in. Most Agencies do not need a License to trade however in some areas they do. If a Agency works with farmers for example, they will need the gang master license. 

There are Recruitment bodies including REC and Team. These are more focused on temporary recruiters however they do cover all areas of Recruitment

• Engage with possible companies who might be needing a Recruitment Partner to support them
• Source candidates using a range of methods, we use the 22 step checklist approach here at HtE
• Register candidates and find out core details, which are set out in the Recruitment Act of 1973
• Shortlist candidates for the client, so they can select candidates from a shortlist of suitable candidates
• Arrange interviews and secure interviews. Manage this process. 
• Support with the offer stage, this can often be the hardest stage, to secure talent. We work in partnership to secure the best talent.

The UK has nearly 40,000 Recruitment Agencies and Employment Businesses. With a vast majority of these being small companies with less then 10 Consultants.

In 2019, the Recruitment industry generated 39 billion worth of revenue in the UK. Recruitment is split into multi sector recruiters, general recruiters and Niche market recruiters. 

What is a CV? A CV (also known as a Curriculum Vitae, or résumé), is a written overview of your skills, education, and work experience.

The best order for a CV is:

• your name
• your contact details
• 3 lines profile about yourself
• employment history. for each job add the job title, the dates (inc months), company name and some key duties. Also include any key information about the company, the employer might not know about them. 
• education, list university, college and school
• qualifications. list your qualifications including any work based ones
• key skills, if you have key skills you want to communicate them. add here
• hobbies

A cv is about selling yourself. These are some of the mistakes we see on a regular basis:

• leaving a old phone number on or no contact details at all
• spelling mistakes
• using mix colour. just leave it all black and white
• not including key skills / words. many cv platforms use smart searching for recruiters, we need these on a cv otherwise we would not short list you
• not shouting about any awards you won

Simple answer – YES

Longer answer – Recruiters will use AI and other search technology to march. If your CV is not updated you could loose out on new roles. When you send a CV for a job, the recruiter might get 50+ CV’s on the same day, they will do a quick check on the CV against the job requirements. If your CV is from a few years ago, it might look as not relevant.

Under the 1973 Recruitment Act, we have to check you meet the requirements for the role. It is a legal requirement Agencies do this. They also need permission to send the CV to the client and make sure you are interested in the role.

NO, Consultants do need to check the CV and do a 1st stage interview with a candidate. This is a legal requirement. Most agencies (including HtE) will work around your available time slots to do this.

Call and let your consultant know. A Recruitment Consultant works on your behalf and needs to let the Client know what you are saying. Always let them know. 

NO, under the Recruitment Act of 1973 UK Recruitment Agencies do not charge candidates.

YES   YES   YES

It is so important to have a Linked in profile and have it up to date. Make sure your picture is suitable and each section is filled out. Recruiters use key words to find candidates, ensure you have the key words section filled out

YES. We would always advise you to add key words and not just put a job title

Insider tip: The way 95% of Recruiters work is with smart searching. If you are searching a database of 30,000 you need to create a short list. If for example you are looking for a Freight forwarder with Ocean experience, you would search for Ocean as a key word. If you are searching for a Chef from a Michelin background, you would search the word Michelin. You might miss out on jobs by not having key words on a CV.

We would suggest 2-3 agencies is a good range. You will find each agency will have strong areas, by using 2-3, you will get a good range of candidates.

We are a finders service, we find a candidate but they are employed by yourself. You will be responsible for onboarding them, paying salary, pensions and NI.

This is where you give a vacancy to just one agency. The great benefit of this for yourself is that you will get a full matching service. It will feel like the team are part of your team even more. With Retained, you tend to pay 30% of the fee upfront and the rest upon start 

Normally NO unless it is a retained placement. They will use the Agency name in the advert. This will keep it confidential on job boards, so other companies in the same market  or your customers, will not know you have a gap. That can be really useful, you do not always want your customers to know a key member of staff is not in post.

This is offered by most Agencies just incase the placement does not work out. This is normally a % of the fee back. This for most agencies is between 4 weeks and 12 weeks. our rebate period is 12 weeks, on a sliding scale.

A Recruitment agency often have large databases of CV’s, they are advertising all year round so do get good brand awareness. They will then educate a possible candidate about your brand and values. This is so important, to communicate why work for yourself. They will also send you a short list of candidates, so you will not get 50 cv’s, you will get a small number instead.

The info we need to start matching on your role:

• Job title
• location of the role
• about your company
• about the role
• salary
• any benefits
• any core skills or qualification you will require?

Yes, this is a core part of the salary package. It is really important part, as this will motivate the consultant to fill the vacancies. 

Thresholds are based on either a monthly or Qtr basis. This is the amount needed to be applicable for bonus. Most Agencies will set this at around £4,000-£5,000 a month which is often the running cost of a desk.

Most agencies will pay bonus on everything billed, as long as the threshold has been met. There are a very small number of Agencies who pay only above the threshold figure.

Billing is normally classed as the month someone starts.

This is a hard question to answer, as every agency works different.

This is a hard question to answer, as every agency is different. Here are some examples of what some agencies do:

• One person allocated to the end to end recruitment of a position (called a 360 consultant), they normally get the whole bonus
• Some agencies split the role with a Resourcer, Account Manager and Business Development role. Companies we are aware who do this, either do a 1/3 split per function or a 1/2 split

There is 2 types of agencies, most do use a CRM system but not everyone. 

CRM focused agencies: These normally have strong policies and ways of working. everyone works in the same way, using set forms and emails. They also have a very black and white work method

Manual method: Some agencies (mainly smaller ones) might use a manual system, where they keep manual notes and not using a standard approach. You will normally find once a company grows, they need a CRM to prove for audit reasons and for great customer care, to have a set process. 

HtE Recruitment uses a database called EBoss, which is really easy to use.

• To ensure standards are met
• To ensure every client gets the same service level, regardless on who works on the role
• To meet criteria in the Recruitment Act. Without set standards, it might mean some desks will not comply. 
• To ensure great levels of service
• To help for team work, if someone was on holiday, others need to cover. By having set work methods, it means it is a one stop shop

• Registrations
• CV matching
• CV sending
• Arrange interviews
• Sales calls
• New jobs
• offers made
• proactive sales

It will change from sector to sector, the above are the standard ones for most agencies. 

The company was established in February 2007.

Logistics, Sales, FMCG, IT, Digital and Hospitality & Catering

Our Head office is at 3000 Aviator way, Airport City, Manchester. We are a National Agency, covering the whole of the UK.

The company is named after the 3 parts of our DNA. 

H  –  Honest approach to Recruitment

T – Trust we build with clients

E – Experience our team have within the sectors they work in

The Director is Rick, he set up the business in 2007. Prior to this he worked for another Recruitment Agency for 3 years, worked for Devere & Thistle Hotels and did a degree at Sheffield Hallum University.

This always depends on the position and location, some roles can be filled in days and others can take a few weeks. We will always offer a estimated time scale, depending on candidate availability. Our promise is that we will start to match on the role, the day we get the green light from yourself to start working on it.