IT Recruitment Agency - HwSelect.com

You've just secured a new IT project, but now you need to staff it. The project is due to kick off in a month, so there's no time to waste. You usually do the recruitment yourself, but you opt for an IT Recruitment Agency given the tight time frame. You do some research, get a couple of recommendations, but how do you know if any agency is any good? Here are a few questions you can ask before signing on the dotted line.

 

Do you specialise in IT and do your staff have an IT background?

If you need IT skills it's always best to use a dedicated IT Recruitment Agency. Recruiters need to understand the job descriptions and candidates' skills set to ensure they find the right match. Specialist IT Recruiters know which skills are in demand, the latest version of a software or language, and which certifications are actually of value. Their familiarity with technology will help them identify candidates with the right skills set even though they don't list some skills on the resume.

 

Who will do the recruitment?

Don't be fooled, very often, the IT Recruitment Agency representative is not the person who will be recruiting for your roles. The representative is usually a salesperson that forms strong client relationships but delegates the recruitment to junior staff. For this reason, it is essential to establish who will be doing the actual recruitment and arrange to meet with them face to face, so they understand your business and expectations. If an agency is unwilling to let you meet their resourcing staff, then move onto another agency.

 

Do you offer a placement guarantee?

Sometimes, despite a thorough interview process and extensive vetting, your new hire just doesn't work out. This is always disappointing but even more so when you have paid an agency a placement fee. It's always advisable to only use ITrecruitment Agencies that offer a three-month guarantee for all permanent placements. This means the agency will either refund the placement fee or find a replacement candidate for free. Insisting on a guarantee makes the agency accountable because they don't want to lose the placement fee.

 

Do you conduct reference checks?

Nowadays, it's unfortunately relatively easy to fake a reference letter, qualifications, or employment history. To protect your business, you should only work with IT Recruitment Agencies that include reference checking as part of their standard service. You want to be confident that any resume you receive is from a candidate that has been interviewed and reference checked.

 

To sum up, there are still plenty of cowboy IT Recruitment Agencies out there, and you want to avoid them at all costs. Avoid agencies that promise the impossible; you'll only be disappointed. Try to work with an agency that is realistic about finding the right candidate and that operate a transparent recruitment process. These will be the IT Recruitment Agencies that understand their market and will deliver the best results.