What To Look For In An It Recruitment Agency

By Author: ashutosh shrivastav
Total Articles: 15
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A conservative estimate of how many IT Recruitment Agencies there are in the UK would be in the region of 5000 and most are drawing their IT Candidates from the same pool which makes it a very congested place to be. How do you sift through all these to ensure that you are getting what is most important - the ideal Contract or Permanent IT position?
Before you do this, you have to be realistic in terms of your requirements from an IT Recruitment Agency and recognise that they are an essential part of the Recruitment Lifecycle in the market place and will be around for a long time whilst clients are reluctant to embrace the entire candidate pool themselves. Ultimately, there's no escaping that IT Recruitment Agencies NEED Candidates and Candidates NEED IT Recruitment Agencies.
In the main, Candidates' experiences with IT Recruiters are positive but much like most things in life, a bad experience with one can tarnish the whole Industry with a bad reputation. The rapid proliferation of IT Recruitment Agencies in the late 1990's created a type of Recruiter which has formed the bedrock for many still in the market today ...
... - aggressive, arrogant, rude and sometimes without morals. However, unlike the constant evolution of the technologies and applications that they sell, Recruitment Consultants in the main haven't kept pace with this evolution.
So, what should you look for when you speak to an IT Recruiter? Well, in a service driven society nowadays, the level of service that you receive should be paramount. Sometimes courtesy costs very little, such as returned telephone calls, email responses or being treated as an individual as opposed to a commodity would suffice! Whilst it would be naive to think that for every job that an IT Professional applied for would lead to an interview and offer, the acknowledgement of your application and an explanation of your suitability or non-suitability should be the minimum.
It's worth noting that many IT Recruitment Agencies have come and gone over the past 2 decades but there are few that spring to mind for their consistent quality of service. In this market, your reputation as an IT Contract or Permanent candidate could be the key element in securing a new position and this should be applied to when working with an IT Recruiter and whilst candidates are in the main conscious of this, unfortunately IT Recruiters aren't.
You should never underestimate the power of ‘word of mouth' recommendations. Contract and Permanent IT candidates can be the biggest source of positive PR for an IT Agency or Recruiter and that fact it shouldn't be ignored when you are looking for a good level of service. It shouldn't be forgotten that they can also be the biggest source of negative PR if the service isn't up to scratch!

Find more information relating to ICT Recruitment, and Technology Recruitment here.