Identifying Potential Applicants
Recruitment and Employment Index
Model Forms and Letters
External Links
ACAS recruitment and selection guidance
Your own staff
Many companies offer incentives to employees to introduce to the company. In addition approaching customers and other connections can often be a highly effective recruitment mechanism. Care needs to be taken that such practices are not considered discriminatory and we recommend linking such informal recruitment with newspaper advertising.
Informal Interviews
The company will invite individuals who may be interested in employment to informally meet managers without having to make a written application. This may be done by having an open evening at the company or alternatively hiring an outside venue - often close to a competitor's location.
Recruitment agencies
Agencies can be extremely useful for the recruitment of both permanent and temporary staff. If used for temporary staff the big advantage is being able to locate available personnel with the required skills at short notice, and if they are unsatisfactory with equal short notice the agency will replace them with another more suitable candidate. They may be useful not only for the skilled and unskilled operative staff but also for managerial positions e.g. cover for long-term sickness, maternity cover etc. Agencies will often specialise in certain skill areas e.g. accountancy, secretarial etc. They will also often have a different office dealing with management vacancies.
Agencies charges depend upon the nature of the job. For manual staff they will charge an hourly rate, their profit being the difference between the employment cost and what they charge the employer. It is also important to bear in mind there will often be a fixed 'transfer fee' charge if an employer wants to convert an agency worker into a permanent employee.
The key thing to remember is that all charges are negotiable. Further if there is a chance of wanting to convert an agency worker into a permanent member of staff agree that fee at the outset.
Head Hunters
Most operate from offices in London. The good ones can be very useful when recruiting a senior manager with specialised skills. Unfortunately many of these agencies are at best average. Few small companies would have a need for them. Before using them get a clear statement of the fees, the approach they will take and a detailed list of their experience in the job area required. It is also essential to take up references with other employers who have used them. Fees range from 33% of annual salary upwards.
Job Centres
A free service provided by the Dept for Education and Employment. Often used by employers for recruiting unskilled and semi-skilled positions although they also have skilled and professionals registered with them.
Local Press
Many small companies are reluctant to advertise directly, preferring to use agencies. Our advice is to use the local newspapers/ free press directly for jobs up to lower managerial level. The news ads department will give advice on the best night to advertise. Adverts should be a clear statement of the job on offer and the level of reward.
National Press
National newspapers are good for specialised and managerial jobs, e.g. the Guardian Media supplement on a Monday. But bear in mind that most of the job seekers are London-based. They can be very expensive and companies outside of larger towns will often have to offer a relocation package to attract the right person.
Radio advertising
More likely to attract young applicants, good if you have a number of similar jobs to fill. Think carefully the best time for the ad to go out.