So why use an employment agency for permanent bookings?

How do you search for staff to fill your permanent or short term vacancies?

Do you spend hours designing and writing an advertisement, then spend hundreds, maybe thousands of pounds advertising in the local papers?

This is one way to find new staff, but what if it does not yield the right kind of candidates? You may have to re-advertise week after week, spending much more money than you had forecast.
You will almost certainly recieve many CV's in response to any advert placed, but a high percentage of applicants will not have the experience or qualifications you require.

Sorting through CV's and replying to all of the respondents is a long process, taking up valuable time.
Alternatively, you could use a recruitment agency. Many companies are already aware of the benefits, some have yet to discover how they could save time and money, whilst taking advantage of an agencies' experience.

We will now give you some honest estimates of the time it will take out of your busy schedule just to fill one vacancy:

1. Writing an advert - this process can take about an hour to think of the correct wording and the exact requirements necessary for the vacancy.
Time taken: 1 hour

2. Designing an advert - once you have decided on the wording and layout, you will need to design the actual advert including logos, telephone numbers etc. Different publications have different sizes of adverts in their situations vacant sections, this may mean designing two or three different sizes and layouts.
Time taken: 1 hours

3. Arranging for publication - this will include talking to the different newspapers, discussing prices and deadlines. You will then need to arrange for purchase orders or credit card payments.
Time taken: 1 hours

4. Sorting CV's - As I mentioned earlier, you will receive many CV's; some may fit your criteria, most will not. You will also receive many phone calls from candidates wishing to enquire about the vacancy. Candidates may also apply or call on a speculative basis. This can take longer than simply scanning through CV's.
Time taken: 3 hours

5. Selecting a shortlist - Once you have a shortlist, you may want to talk to the candidates to make sure that they definitely meet your selection criteria, this could be an informal chat or a specially prepared telephone interview. After talking to these candidates, interview appointments to meet with the candidates will be arranged.
Time taken: 2 hours

6. Advising the unlucky ones - A good recruitment agency will advise those applicants who have not made it to the interview stage, though some organisations or agencies may not.
Time taken: 1 hour

This is generally the point when a recruitment agency would have completed most of their work and the customer takes over. This is a total of approximately 10 hours of work just to get suitable candidates to your office for interviews.
That's 10 hours of your time that could have been spent doing other things.

There are also the costs to bear in mind. Advertising, for example, can be very expensive and the results vary widely depending on which publication is used. You may have to advertise using newspapers, specialist magazines and internet sites.

If, for example, your vacancy is in Heathrow area, you may want your advert to reach candidates in Slough, Uxbridge, Hayes and Staines. Do not forget to include the cost of 10 man hours worth of your salary and overheads.

Adding up the time and money involved, you can see why many companies use employment agencies. The money saved by doing it yourself may be negligible, the time saved by using an agency can be considerable.

Next time you have a permanent vacancy, let Profistaff Ltd help, you may be surprised at how easy it can be!