More often than not, acquiring your dream job requires you to be in the right place at the right time. Especially when you’ll be fresh out of university, with little to no connections and just a bit of experience, deciding on the recruitment agency who will handle your CV can make or break the start of your career.
With this in mind, it’s important that you understand the difference between the role of a recruitment consultant, and the role of a recruitment agency.
What is a recruitment agency?
Recruitment agencies prioritise filling the job orders and can act independently. They act as the intermediary between the client and the candidate, and often facilitate negotiations. Their focus is finding vacant roles and filling them with candidates that have the matching skillset.
What is recruitment consultancy?
By contrast, consultants work with the client and assist the candidates throughout the whole process. The role of a recruitment consultant is to investigate the specific requirements and challenges that face both the client, and the candidates.
After providing the detailed insights, recruitment consultancy allows the recruitment expert to deliver a bespoke solution for each job role, ensuring that the client and the candidate are well matched.
To decide whether you’ll need the support for a recruitment agency or a recruitment consultant, we’ve listed several differences between the two below. You need to bear in mind the goals you’re trying to achieve with your recruitment to identify the correct path for you. Whether you’re an applicant or a client, you need to find the perfect fit for you
Recruitment Agency vs Recruitment Consultancy
- Recruitment agencies use a quantity over quality approach whilst recruitment consultants provide a service based on relationship development.
- Recruitment agencies advertise a job offering and send out CVs of potential candidates to the client. Providing a lot of CVs is being backed by the expectation that one of them will stick to the job and can possibly be an asset to the client.
- Part of the role of a recruitment consultant is liaising with the client to know more about them and their business. Consultant pride themselves on this, as it allows them to develop a favourable and long-term relationship.
- Recruitment consultants also make every effort to know their candidates, their history, experience and expectations, and make sure that both the client and the candidate are well-suited to each other.
- Consultants can offer bespoke advice to clients and candidates while agencies negotiate placements
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Consultants are usually knowledgeable about the market they are working in and they can give advice to both the client and the candidate about training requirements, pay rates and career opportunities. - Agencies, on the other hand, are trained to recruit people and fill the vacancies provided by companies and businesses. The relationship they have with the client and the candidate will end after the guarantee period is over.
- Between company growth and development, consultants based their service on success rather than commission.
- Recruitment agencies often have the trouble of mismatched candidates and roles. They can have an indefinite approach to a candidate’s expectations and client’s specific needs since the goal they’re trying to achieve is to fill the quota of the job rather than further the development of either party.
- Consultants ensure that the success of their service is measured by having the perfect match. By learning about the candidate, recruitment consultants don’t offer broken promises. Instead, the role of the recruitment consultant is to assist the candidate with every step of the way.
K.A.G. Recruitment Consultancy can assist you if you’re looking for a new challenge or want to start your career. With over 20 years in the recruitment industry, we have had exposure to a variety of businesses, sectors and contacts. We have developed some amazing relationships over the years and understand that listening to both clients and candidates to match their aspirations and visions is what counts.
As illustrated above, the role of a recruitment consultant is not to take a vacancy instruction, place the role and move on. It’s about the long-term goal and commitment to partnering with the client and candidate in order to assist their growth and plans for the future.