There are more than 15,000 recruitment agencies in the UK, and thousands of them are based in London, covering all the major sectors like IT & Digital, Sales & Marketing, Finance & Accountancy, Engineering & Construction… so how on earth do you find the right recruitment agency in London to fill your vacancy?
What’s more, given the general (global) mobility of talent and the undisputed attractiveness of London as a place to live and work for many candidates, potential recruitment partners may even come from much further afield – both nationally and internationally – hence you need to find the good guys amongst them.
So how does a business owner, hiring manager or in-house recruitment team find the most suitable, specialist recruitment agency for a tough assignment, particularly if you don’t run a tight PSL, or haven’t recruited in this niche before?
One thing’s for sure: you definitely won’t be able to do it all yourselves. So the natural thing to do is turn to your old friend – Google, right? This, though, is a needle-in-a-haystack search, you need to stack the odds a little more in your favour, so here’s three approaches to find the best recruitment agencies in London:
The personal approach. In our super-connected world, we have never had a wider social circle. There is incredible power in asking friends, colleagues and networks for referrals. Assuming that the roles are comparable, a track record of previous work can be a decent indicator. However, no matter how wide the net is cast, echo chamber effects will always persist. Somehow the same “safe” recruiter names will keep popping up.
The research approach. There is a mine of information out there when you want to research who to work with on your role. As well as the usual suspects such as Google, LinkedIn and job boards, there are increasing numbers of recruiter directories such as Agency Central who are seeking to connect discerning employers with suitable recruiters. However, given the opaque nature of senior recruitment, it is hard to ascertain who can actually do the job.
The Hiring Hub approach. A recruitment agency marketplace, Hiring Hub reverses the search process and brings the best specialist recruitment agencies in London – or further afield – to you. Employers simply post a role, recruitment agencies will apply to work on it, and those you approve can submit their best candidates (those you don’t approve can’t see your details as the job posting is anonymous and it’s a closed marketplace).
As with everything, a balanced and mixed approach is key. If you’re recruiting for an IT role and you have friends that work in the sector, it’s well worth asking them: “do you know who the best IT recruitment agencies in London are?” (You should get a more personal synopsis that you’d get from Google.)
If you have plenty of time, conducting research is useful for context, but if time is short and you just want to fill your vacancy with a great candidate, quickly, and with little hassle, we’d humbly suggest you give Hiring Hub a whirl. It’s free to post a job and within hours you’ll have specialist recruitment agencies in London searching for your next hire, all for a recruitment agency fee that you set yourself, upfront, for clarity.
Click here to read reviews of Hiring Hub on Trustpilot, where it is rated five stars. Visit the website to learn more about the recruitment agency marketplace, or book a demo to see how it works for yourself.
