Best recruitment agencies

RaiderHammer

Looking to change jobs from my current role which I have been in for a long time so a little out of practise in this field.  

Ideally would like a remote work from home role in business / office administration or hybrid.  Based in south Essex / London region.

Any recommendations for best recruitment agencies on where to start please. 

Thank you.

Saver73

There are alot of recruitment agencies, they range from "brand names" like Pertemps and Hays to less well known names but they all do pretty much the same thing, so it's quite hard to choose.  When I've used agencies in the past I've tended to stick to the same one or two so they know me, my employment history etc. and have established a contact. You could choose by whichever isclosest to home or there are some specialist agencies the recruit in particular sectors like, finance, legal, accountancy etc.

Maybe start by looking on the job sites - Indeed, Reed, there are others - this will give you an idea of the agencies in your area, then youcould look at the agency website direct. Lots of them have the option to submit a CV online and a recruiter will then contact you for an initial discussion.

Personally I've had much more success in finding a job by applying to the employer directly. So that maybe something to consider.

Most admin jobs these days are hybrid, though there are a few fully remote roles available.

Savvy_Sue

It's also worth thinking about what field you're currently in, and whether you want to stay in it or move on. For example, there's one particular agency in this area which I believe has a contract with one of the Universities, and another which has a contract with health services. That may have been more for temps - would temping interest you? 

There are two agencies at the end of my road: one specialises in warehouse / catering / driving jobs, and the other in management: if you're contacting agencies locally, know what they specialise in! And in the far off days when I was job-hunting, I found that actually going into agencies to ask if they had anything seemed to pay off - seeing my eager young face regularly was more effective in reminding them that I was job-hunting than a regular phone call from me. 

I agree it's worth applying direct to employers as well, and to that end you might want to try to identify employers in your area who might interest you. However for fully remote work, why limit yourself to your area? 

penners324

Your better using LinkedIn, Reed and Indeed job boards than a specific recruitment agency

robatwork

The quality of a recruitment agent is really more of a concern to the company paying for them. 

To the employee it makes little difference if they find you a job.

Personally I used one many years ago and it was one guy working out of his living room, but he knew his/our area of business incredibly well. I found him in the local newspaper (for millennials this was a periodical of patchy quality printed and delivered sometimes free, or sometimes for 20p if it wasn't just adverts).

Elliott.T123

I have worked in recruitment for 15+ years, so would like to think I know what I am talking about.

I would say that unless you are at a mid to senior level or in a niche industry a recruiter probably isn't adding much value and the best way to find a role is to keep an eye on job boards and get applying especially to any direct roles.

Unless your CV is absolutely jumping off the paper most recruiters wont go out their way to try and find you a role. A recruiter will happily put you forward for a live role if they think you are a good fit and a good recruiter will also happily share your CV with any clients that they think you are a strong match for even if there aren't live jobs but only if they really feel you are a top 5% level individual.

I don't know your background OP but I will say if you are looking for a remote office admin role you will need to have some very strong experience in that sector. Remote roles are naturally harder to get as there is more competition for that job.

The only type of recruiter I would possibly suggest (I am definitely no expert on this front as my experience has all been very nich high level ) would be a specialist office admin agency such as office angels or similar. They will be able to at least give you some information on the local market etc.

lincroft1710

robatwork said:

I found him in the local newspaper (for millennials this was a periodical of patchy quality printed and delivered sometimes free, or sometimes for 20p if it wasn't just adverts).

Also for millennials, these local newspapers had a page or pages entitled "Situations Vacant", where there were dozens of jobs on offer

DullGreyGuy

Recruiters are much better having a known job vacancy and then trying to find candidates for it... after all the company with the vacancy is the one thats going to be paying for it. There are some that claim to work the other way round, having candidates and then trying go find roles for them but that often just results in them spamming people with your CV. 

Look at job boards, apply for jobs (direct or via agencies), and where possible try and speak to whoever the person advertising the job was. 

Agencies use software to screen CVs/applications, like how google crawls websites and then returns results to a search. Look at the advert and make sure you use the same sort of language they do in what they are looking for. Often means a unique CV for each job advert but it, plus the phone call, pays dividends in my experience. 

Elliott.T123

DullGreyGuy said:

Recruiters are much better having a known job vacancy and then trying to find candidates for it... after all the company with the vacancy is the one thats going to be paying for it. There are some that claim to work the other way round, having candidates and then trying go find roles for them but that often just results in them spamming people with your CV. 

Look at job boards, apply for jobs (direct or via agencies), and where possible try and speak to whoever the person advertising the job was. 

Agencies use software to screen CVs/applications, like how google crawls websites and then returns results to a search. Look at the advert and make sure you use the same sort of language they do in what they are looking for. Often means a unique CV for each job advert but it, plus the phone call, pays dividends in my experience. 

The top paragraph here 100%. The only time an agency will work the other way round is if your CV is genuinely spectacular. For example I recently worked with an individual in the renewable energy space who was a top 1%. Their CV was perfect, they matched up to what was on paper. I knew it was worth the time to send them out to a few companies we had agreed on. In less than a week I had two offers for them. That is the exception, in over 10 years that probably happens less than once a year. The rest of the time it is a case of I have a vacancy lets find the top 3-5 individuals to match that vacancy.

DullGreyGuy

Elliott.T123 said:
 The only time an agency will work the other way round is if your CV is genuinely spectacular. 

The only time a good agency will work the other way is then... on the basis I get 3-4 speculative CVs on LinkedIn or by email every week of some random BA, PM or ESG "expert" who have far from spectacular CVs there are clearly agencies that do take other tacts.

CVs are normally anonymised but easy to find the person on LinkedIn. Normally let the person know the agency is spamming people with their details. 

Elliott.T123

Sorry, should have said "the only time a good agency".

I do this with maybe 1-2 people a month but I will always send a full CV with contact details and will agree with the individual first a short list of companies they are happy to be sent to.

I love the agencies who fire off "anonymised" CV's as you say 99% of the time they are easy to find and more than once I have had a hiring manager share one of those with me and ask me to contact the individual and see if they would actually like to work there. Easiest placements ever. 

But back to your question OP.

Apply direct and if you can find a recruiter who genuinely specialises in your field work with them, don't worry about the company it is the individual recruiter. It is the same as any industry you get good and bad under the same roof.