Which Recruitment Agency?

We have also aimed to make the recruitment function easier for practising security managers, more understandable and – perhaps most important of all – more cost-effective for you, the hiring manager.

The underlying feature of each discussion to date has been that recruitment, by its very nature, is process-oriented and selective throughout. There must be a rigid adherence to the processes involved if success is the goal.

We've also analysed the best ways of using a recruitment agency, the methods and techniques a given agency will be adopting and, most recently, we've compared the advantages and disadvantages of in-house recruitment functions as opposed to external recruitment agencies. Ultimately, security managers should now be armed with the necessary information to make an educated decision on how recruitment must be handled within their own organisation. They should also be aware of their own role in the process.

The final piece of the recruitment jigsaw is perhaps the most crucial. Simply, it centres on which recruitment agency should be used.

Choosing a recruitment partner
At the moment you may well be using advertisements, Job Centres, word of mouth recommendations and – almost inevitably – a plethora of recruitment consultants to satisfy your hiring needs in the Security Department. However, the distinguishing factor for any organisation is what criteria you use to select your recruitment resources. That is the real crux of the issue.

Speed, cost, quality, certainty of results, warranty, time saved or even local knowledge and advice are all important factors that need to be considered prior to making such core business decisions. The aim of this analysis will be to recommend an organisation based on service offerings and delivery. This organisation will fill your departmental vacancies on time, on spec and within budget, and will maintain the integrity of your company's reputation while at the same time providing genuine value for money.

At present, such a recruitment agency doesn't exist! However, as security recruitment gains momentum and keeps pace with the changes that will inevitably occur with the advent of increased legislation and regulation, current service providers will either evolve or fall by the wayside.

As stated, the current security recruiters out there are one dimensional when it comes to their service offerings, methodologies and individual market coverage, often relying upon their 'larger than life' readers to afford the business some sort of identity. Such an approach is wholly wrong. Recruitment agencies should gain an identity through their ability to fill vacancies as opposed to which industry committee or association the managing director happens to sit on. That situation will change, and the security sector will be a better place for it.

Factors to be considered
The most common criticism of security recruitment agencies typically rounds on the issue of cost. In other words, that they cost too much. The reality is that the end user is judging the agency by the wrong criteria.

At present, aside from the major manned security contractors – who possess the necessary infrastructure to be able to handle a relationship with an agency – recruitment is very much deemed to be a 'last resort' purchase. This is the worst possible scenario and starting point. One in which a mutually beneficial relationship is nigh on impossible.

Communication is the key to the recruitment function, and yet it’s also the nub of major criticism from clients and candidates alike. Agents have become infamous for their lack of feedback on candidates, and for their aggressive sales approach to the indu

At the end of the day, security managers should select the agency that offers their service at a cost that makes you feel the pinch and, in so doing, ensures that you accept only the very highest standards of service and – ultimately – delivery.

Recruitment methodologies are constantly evolving and becoming more complex through the use of technology and innovative techniques. The majority of business sectors have demanded that their recruitment suppliers incorporate these methodologies into their day-to-day activities, and have benefited accordingly. With a high quality, service-oriented, delivery-focused approach using techniques that are complicated and require training to maintain, cost then becomes a mere factor and not an issue.

Historically, recruitment advertisements have been unimaginative and repetitive. They have generated 'generic' job seekers who want any job as opposed to the job-specific job seekers that actually desire the security role in question. Targeted, quality copy is invaluable, and will gradually replace the 'puller'-style advertisements that currently populate the recruitment pages of both the regional and security trade press. The chosen recruitment agency will have a substantial advertising budget, and use that funding intelligently by spreading the marketing spend across a number of advertising mediums.

Communication is the key to the recruitment function, and yet it's also the nub of major criticism from clients and candidates alike. Agents have become infamous for their lack of feedback on candidates, and for their aggressive sales approach to the industry's customers. The priority has shifted towards revenue-generation, while rising sales targets have assumed greater importance than courtesy calls. The ideal recruitment agency will commit to a clear passage of information for both clients and candidates. Good communication will become a standard.

Areas of expertise
At present, security recruitment agencies have limited their expertise to one or two areas (ie manned security, electronic security, IT security, sales and marketing and corporate sector security, etc), while the quality of service that the dedicated companies provide is generally of a good standard.

However, the legislative changes now looming will change the face of the security industry forever. We'll see the larger corporations dominating the market, and providing a fuller range of security offerings. These corporations will inevitably demand a similar range of services from their suppliers, and thus the niche recruitment boutique will come under threat from larger agencies offering a wider range of recruitment services.

The future, then, lies in vertical market specialisation, with teams of dedicated recruiters becoming experts in their chosen specialist areas.

The current answer to the question: "Which Recruitment Agency?" would be to use the services of the agencies which exist, but to use your newly-acquired knowledge of the recruitment market and process to your benefit, and to control matters carefully. From a recruitment perspective alone, the future certainly promises much.

For you, the security manager, the question immediately focuses the attention on cost. This is not intended as a criticism, but rather more as a recognised fact. Security managers are nothing more than a by-product of the environment in which they work.