Why use a recruitment agency?

Recruitment agencies have always played a significant part in recruitment generally, but they are beginning to play an even bigger role in graduate recruitment.

Many recruitment agencies specialise in areas such as IT, accountancy, marketing, personnel, advertising and sales. They tend to know their specialist area extremely well and they can offer permanent graduate opportunities as well as the usual temporary vacancies.

How should I approach agencies?

Remember you will be making an impression from your very first telephone call, letter or visit. It is therefore very important to prepare yourself.

• Make sure you are clear about the types of vacancies you are interested in.
• Research what types of vacancies and the number of vacancies the agency handles - if there is a mismatch between these and your own job ideas, you are wasting everyone's time. You can do this by checking out their website or ringing them.
• Think about why you would be suitable and sell your skills and/or experience.
• Supply the agency with a clear and concise CV.
• Follow this up with a telephone call and try to speak to the consultant who is dealing with your application (if known).
• Check that the agency will not send your CV to companies without them letting you know. (It is important to know to whom your CV is going, particularly if you are registered with a number of agencies who may be sending your CV to similar or the same employers.)

How should I approach the interview with an agency?

• An agency interview should be treated in the same way as any other interview, and therefore you need to dress smartly and sell yourself.
• Ask for feedback on your interview performance and listen to any tips.
• Remember, agencies are not obliged to reimburse any travel expenses, and so, if you have to attend an interview, it is important to check out their policy on expenses in advance.
• If you are successful at the agency interview, then you are more likely to have a further interview with the actual employer.

Points to remember

• A good consultant will be honest about whether or not they have or are likely to have vacancies in your chosen field.
• A good consultant will be a negotiator of salary on your behalf.
• A good consultant will be your ally in persuading the company to talk to you. Therefore it is important to establish a good relationship with any agency that may be in a position to help you with your career aims.
• It is ILLEGAL for the agency to charge you a fee for finding you work (except in restricted areas: sport, entertainment and modelling). You should not be required to offer money up front. The only thing they may charge you for are services such as CV writing.
• Check whether the agency you deal with is a member of a professional institute such as the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) (www.rec.uk.com). This body lays down clear Codes of Practice for member agencies.

On-line recruitment agencies and job related websites

Many recruitment agencies have websites where you may be asked to register your details onto a database in the form of an electronic CV. Employers will pay a fee to the agency to gain access to this database to search for suitable candidates. Before using this method of recruitment, you need to decide:

• whether or not you want to commit your CV to the Internet;
• how much control you will have over to whom it is sent;
• whether it will end up in the most appropriate sector for you to stand a chance of employment;
• whether the vacancies available on the website are up-to-date and for graduate positions.

Other sources of information

Try the Yellow Pages in the area you wish to work (reference copies of all areas are available in most libraries) or research online at yell.com.

Unsure which agency to try? See how other job seekers have rated them at: www.hirescores.com.

We have some recruitment agencies listed on JOBSonline and within our vacancy resources.