Pushy recruiters - 01/2001

Traditional recruitment agencies have been knocked, as nearly three quarters (68 per cent) of UK businesses complained that services aren't effective because they can't talk direct to job seekers and nearly half (41 per cent) are sick of constant nuisance phone calls from irritating recruitment consultants, slating them as worse than estate agents.

Most worryingly, the report by Continental Research also found whilst businesses aren't happy with the service delivered, because they have no recruitment training (87 per cent) and little confidence in direct advertising for filling positions (63 per cent), the majority have become reliant upon recruitment agencies.

One of the chief complaints is that agencies are charging exorbitant fees, with nearly a quarter of businesses (21 per cent) feeling that the margins recruitment agencies charge for permanent and contract staff are too high. Not surprisingly, larger companies that are often more dependent on agencies, are nearly three times (47 per cent) more likely to be concerned about margins than their smaller counterparts (18 per cent).

Jeremy Price, founder and managing director of we2.net, recruiters to the contract and now the permanent accountancy sector, said:

ìRecruitment agencies are lazy creatures. Happy with the status quo whilst continuing to cream off exorbitant fees. Businesses have not yet been presented with a viable alternative, one that combines high service levels, with a leaner more efficient service.î

We're in an age where managers want access to a pool of skilled personnel, and a recruitment process they can control in their own time. The technology for this exists now, and I hope for their sakes it will be the end of all those aggravating calls from recruitment consultants.

www.we2.net