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."
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.
