Perhaps you’ve heard about recruitment agencies, but it is possible you do not know what those firms do, just like the name suggests, recruitment agencies are firms or companies that have a listing of job vacancies, from these they try to match up individuals on their database with the right jobs as they become available. The chief aim of an employment agency is to find and employ workers for permanent or contractual basis. Temporary agencies mainly deal with recruited people for short-term contracts. These Temp agencies most regularly work with companies that want to outsource part of their workload at selected days of the year; this can be for the duration of their busiest or peak periods when permanent staff are on holiday. This however overlaps with recruitment agencies considering that at times temporary posts could result in a person getting a long-term full time job.

In the United Kingdom temporary workers are in reality hired by the agency which then receives payment from the company that wants temporary staffing. In most cases such a method often results in full time employment where the employee of the recruitment agencies becomes a paid employee of the outsourcing business rather than being paid by the recruitment agency. There also exists student recruitment offices. These days we also have recruitment firms that recruit people for special professional roles, this may be teaching for instance. In most cases the hired person is paid by that agency as a supply teacher and may be later employed on long term position by the school. Other recruitment agencies specialise in engineering and sales jobs.

Other agencies may also specialise in strictly executive recruitment. They add the executives personal information and skill listing to the database and then run matching with other recruitment agencies and other head hunting agencies. This tends to make it hard for firms to prevent their employees from being head hunted. There also exists an employment agency directory that enables employers to decide on which agency they think is best suited to manage their recruitment and staffing requirements. These agencies may request potential candidates to submit their resumes to ensure they can be linked to the proper vacancies, when employers are actively seeking for people to undertake specific positions.

In today’s  world, a lot of employers and job seekers use the expertise of recruitment companies to save time and money. Recruitment agencies help to match employers with job seekers who fit their criteria. Some agencies specialise in certain markets or sectors, such as temping or secretarial services.

Recruitment companies will not generally charge a fee to the job seeker, they usually make their income from employers who pay them a fee to search out suitable candidates for their job vacancy.

The conventional way of finding a recruitment agency was to look on your local high street, but now there are several Internet dependent recruitment companies to make life easier.

Employers will use recruitment companies for quite a few different reasons:-

* They are a small business without the need of a personnel department to organise finding employees.

* They do not wish to advertise or go public with their requirements.

* They wish to save on advertisement costs.

* They may be trying to find special expertise.

* They’ve had problems in the past with finding suitable applicants through advertising.

Why should you think about registering with a Recruitment Agency to find a job?

There are many advantages to registering your details and your CV with a recruitment agency or with a few recruitment agencies:-

* You won’t have to devote as much time reading through the classified sections

* If you are looking in a particular sector, then you can select recruitment companies which specialise in that industry.

* The recruitment agency will do the difficult work so you don’t have to . They will have the technology to send your details out to hundreds of employers at the touch of a button, saving you time and increasing your exposure.

* Recruitment companies will be in a position to find jobs that match your needs and expertise and also you won’t squander your time by applying for unsuitable positions.

* It’s possible you’ll want to do some temping, before finding a permanent job, and you can find recruitment agencies that specialise in finding temporary positions.

* The employers you want to get in touch with may only use recruitment agencies and not take other applications.

* A recruitment agency will be able to help you prepare your CV and prepare for interviews. They may even offer mock interviews and other helpful services.

* They will be able to give you feedback about your CV and about how you performed in interviews.

Recruitment agencies benefit both the employer and the job seeker; it’s a win-win-win situation.

Furthermore remember to keep a record of which recruitment companies are locating relevant vacancies for you. If the ones you sign up for don’t appear to be performing – go and seek out a few more to register with – you’ve got nothing to lose.