What should I look for in a recruitment agency?

The use of recruitment agencies is one of the best ways to look for a job. If you choose the right one, you will probably partner them for your career not just to find you new jobs but maybe to assist you with market and salary information, careers advice, resume advice and even for recruitment within your own company if the need arises.

It is therefore vital that you work with the best recruitment consultants you can find. The best advice I can give is to work with people who are recommended to you and who are specialists in their market. Word of mouth recommendations are very important for the precious career choices you want to make. Other ways to find good recruitment agencies is to research their websites and see if any testimonials are published. You can also review www.rcsa.com.au this is the website of the RCSA, the governing body for recruitment agencies in Australia and New Zealand and the site has a consultancy finder option that may be of use.

Make sure you do some research and work with recruitment consultants who have either worked in the sector that you are involved with or who have been in recruitment in that sector for a long period of time. Find out if the recruitment consultant knows the client, have they been to the client’s offices? Do they know what the culture is like? Unfortunately, there are too many people in recruitment who are not as knowledgeable about what they recruit for as they should be. Do you want to trust your next job to someone who is more interested in making commission rather than working with you to fulfil your career ambitions?

Do not be afraid to ask questions of your recruitment consultant about their background, what their career path has been or how they do their recruitment process. Working with a recruitment agency should be a partnership. For the consultant it is in their interest to get you a job as they will be paid by their client if they get it right. For you, the time and effort of finding the right role for you should be eliminated as you should have an experienced, knowledgeable and professional recruitment consultant working on your behalf.

If you work with a professional, experienced and knowledgeable recruitment consultant they will communicate with you very effectively and will give you as much information as you need to enable you to not only get an interview but also to do well in the recruitment process.

Do not be afraid to tell a recruitment consultant that you do not want to work with them if they offer you less than a professional service which would include some or all of the following – sending your resume forward for roles without permission, overselling or underselling a job to you to get you to agree to attend an interview, not returning your calls or emails and not giving you feedback throughout the whole process, not even meeting with you prior to representing you to clients. If they do not know you how can they know where to place you? If you do register with a recruitment consultancy you should expect regular feedback on what is going on in the market, sadly all too often candidates do not hear from consultants for long periods of time.

Remember that there are a number of legal obligations recruitment consultants have to abide by like the Privacy Act and the Consumers Affairs Act. Any reputable recruitment consultancy will be a member of the RCSA which is the governing body for the recruitment industry. All members are obliged to follow a high standard of ethics and conduct. Is your recruitment consultant a member?

Your expectations of a recruitment consultant should be high as you have entrusted your resume and your career options to them. It is not acceptable for you to be treated badly or ignored. If you find yourself in that position, do not be afraid to complain to the management of the recruitment agency you register with or the RCSA.