How do recruitment agencies work?

The evolution of how recruitment agencies work

The world of work is changing rapidly. Among the many economic change drivers, Covid has accelerated the evolution of the jobs market and this is affecting how recruitment agencies work.

A key change to employment has seen working from home (WFH) become widely adopted through digital enablement. Technology has allowed millions of people who are able to perform their roles without the need to attend a centralised place of work to carry on by remote working, largely conducting business as usual.

So, how do recruitment agencies work in this rapidly evolving operating environment?

Many businesses are able to adopt a ‘no bricks’ approach. Again, this is enabled by the array of digital technologies that are now in mainstream use.

And when it comes to the specialised software that recruitment agencies need to let them do their work, an entire class of technologies known as RecTech (a contraction of ‘recruitment technology’) has emerged, with dedicated applications and features, just for the recruitment sector.

Without any requirement for a centralised office or branch network, recruitment agencies are able work in a more profitable way, freed from the financial overheads associated with a bricks and mortar estate.

All recruitment staff, from agency principals and recruiters, right through to finance and administrative back office workers are able to perform their roles effectively, without any need to be in the same place.

How recruitment agencies work

Generally speaking, the core activity of matching candidates with the jobs that clients require the agency to fill is achieved in two ways.

• Matching existing candidates in their database with jobs
• Advertising jobs to attract appropriately skilled applicants

The main back office functions that support the activity of actually recruiting for vacancies include timesheet processing, invoicing and agency worker payroll.

Recruitment agencies are able to work effectively by readily accomplishing all these tasks through recruitment agency staff WFH, or from other remote locations. Well-designed RecTech back office software, like ETZ, provides user-friendly experience and enables other technology elements like accounting to be seamlessly integrated.

Although ‘no bricks’ is a good operating model, many owner/operator agency entrepreneurs or chains still choose to have an office location or build branch networks. Some of the reasons for this result from it being easier to do some of the work of recruitment agencies in a centralised location.

Management and oversight is certainly easier, as is training and mentoring. And candidates are also likely to find a high street office convenient for identity document verification and interviewing.

However, technology already allows these to be performed remotely. As we move forward, digital document verification and video interviewing are there to support the transition of how recruitment agencies work to the ‘no bricks’ model.

Many start-up agencies might choose to avoid initially setting up an office. It is perfectly feasible to do the work of a start-up recruitment agency using the ‘no bricks’ model, and indeed, it makes sense to keep overheads to a minimum when starting a new business of any type.

Support to do the core work of recruitment agencies from ETZ

To find out more about how we support recruitment agencies with the technology expertise to streamline back office operations book a demo.