Press Coverage
Job agencies are 'pushy and costly'
Sunday Times - 2001-04-08
Recruitment consultants are "pushy", "pestering" and "dishonest", according to a survey of FTSE 100 companies.
The report found that more than half of respondents were annoyed by constant phone calls. Many others were irritated by speculative CVs landing on their desks. In a few cases recruiters were branded as downright dishonest about a candidate's merits.
More than one in ten companies said recruiters failed to deliver people when needed.
Commissioned by Perriam & Everett, which hires consultants for recruitment agencies, the survey found that companies face a huge skills shortage.
Zena Everett, co-founder of the company, said the survey revealed an ironic situation where agencies would make several calls in order to win contracts but would then not return phone calls when clients needed to find new staff.
"People do not like constant calling to try and win business but then we found agencies did not respond to clients once they had won business," she said.
She added that most agencies offered a professional service but that some treated recruitment like selling used cars.
There has been huge growth in recruitment consultancies in recent years especially in the IT sector. But with belt tightening now taking place across the business community, experts believe many will face a fight for survival.
In total, almost one-third of clients said consultants provided good value for money only some of the time. More than a quarter held the view that they did not receive a service worthy of the fee.
Companies revealed that although they were aware that agencies can meet all their requirements, one-quarter pointed to an overall need for consultants to improve their services and cut their fees.
Everett said: "We need to provide better post-placement services and enter into tighter relationships with clients."
However, Everett said much of this depended on companies using agencies for more than simply finding staff. Most firms now offer specialist services such as psychometric testing.
