Using recruitment agency can ‘help reduce the chance of job disappointment’

Employers looking to recruit staff should use professional agencies to ensure that the right candidate is found for the job.

That is the advice being issued by the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC).

The REC suggested that agencies are beneficial for a potential employee as well because they are more likely to be placed in a job they are interested in.

Commenting on the potential pitfalls of recruitment, Anne Fairweather, head of public policy at the REC, said: "Recruitment agencies are often better placed at matching a candidate to a company as an individual left on their own may not know enough about that company."

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She explained that while an interview may go well, problems can arise when a candidate begins working somewhere and realises it does not meet up to their expectations.

Using an agency can "help reduce the chance of job disappointment", Ms Fairweather said.

A recent survey by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development reported that some 27 per cent of companies have plans to recruit staff in the first quarter of 2009.