Emma Brierley discusses the benefits of introducing a code of practice into the recruitment process in order to standardise procedure and eradicate unethical methods. 

The UK has the largest recruitment market in Europe. According to the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC), the country’s recruitment industry was worth £24.51 billion in the year to March 2004. Freelance, temporary and contract placements accounted for £22.81 billion of this total while the permanent market was worth £1.7 billion. A report published by Key Note forecasts that by 2009, the UK’s freelance and temporary market will grow by 8% to £25.6 billion whilst the permanent market will increase by 8.1% to £1.87 billion over the same period. 

With such a buoyant jobs market comes an extensive choice of agencies that all vary widely in terms of quality, cost and approach. Who you choose to find your staff depends entirely on your requirements and your commercial reality – if you need to fill a relatively high volume of non-specialist, temporary positions, then choosing a mainstream non-specialist agency is likely to be your wisest move. If you need to fill a more specialist position, logic dictates that you engage a niche agency. 

Specialist Recruitment 

The higher status of niche agencies is reflected in the work that they put into identifying, vetting, signing up and managing good quality freelance consultants. In general, these agencies deal with accomplished professionals in the knowledge-based industries. The talents are generally high in demand and their personalities have a significant impact on the organisations they work with. Finding someone with the right personality and skills for a role inevitably takes more effort than finding someone with just the right skills. Building a partnership with the recruitment companies which find your staff is important – a company’s people are its most valuable asset. It is important to establish a partnership with your chosen recruitment agency – investing time and resources up front to ensure you have reliable and regular access to the best talent is an investment worth making. 

Openness and Trust 

Mutual trust is fundamental to the success of the three-way relationship between an agency, its clients and the candidates that it places with them and transparency between all three partners goes hand in hand with trust. It is this transparency, openness and trust, or lack of it, in the industry that prompted the REC to initiate a new Code of Practice for the marketing, media and communications industry in September 2007. 

The code was created following the efforts over the last 18 months to stamp out “unethical behaviour” across the recruitment industry and to set a standard of service that professional recruitment agencies will aspire to reach. An increasing number of recruitment companies have been flouting the rules, such as sending out CVs without discussing the opportunity with candidates beforehand in a bid to get the CV to the client first, and this has resulted in confusion and the lengthening of the recruitment process. 

REC Marketing, Media and Communications Group (MMC) 

The MMC is now striving to see the code become quickly established in order to drive out the cowboys from its industry. As Chair of the MMC, I am delighted that the code has won so much support from like-minded recruitment professionals, clients and candidates, all keen to maintain high standards. The question of ethics is everyone’s problem and bad practice should never be ignored or encouraged. Ignorance would only lead to the whole industry getting a raw deal and standards would inevitably fall. As a fast moving and growing industry where talent moves about, this code will ensure that all those involved will operate under the same rules. With a code in place, it will now be much easier for recruitment agencies, candidates and clients to build a relationship with confidence in the knowledge that everyone will offer a certain standard of conduct and behaviour. 

The Magic Number 

There are three parts to the code: one part is designed as a Code of Practice for recruitment companies, one is a Guidance for Client organisations and one will serve as a Guidance for Candidates working in the sector. 

By committing to the code, recruiters are agreeing to ethics such as not submitting any candidate for a position without first conducting a face-to-face interview to assess their suitability; informing candidates and seeking their agreement on which companies their CVs are being sent to before forwarding those CVs; having a duty of care to fulfil any commitments to the candidate and to provide feedback to the candidate; not sending CVs to clients without the client’s agreement. The guidance for client organisations is there to define the ideal working practice between all parties to ensure that a good working framework is set up, terms of business are clarified, the brief is clear and candidates’ information is managed well within the client organisation and recruiters are well briefed about each role. 

By having a code and guidance rules in place, clients, candidates and recruiters can understand how the business of recruitment operates and any confusion can be eliminated. With a code comes a duty of care – everyone involved should be responsible for the ‘job’ in hand. Due to the talent shortage in the market, the balance of power lies with the candidate but realistically, the power should be equitable between the three parties involved. A clear and open recruitment process is what everyone should strive for. 

Acceptance 

The code has been welcomed by other professional bodies in the industry. Richard Houghton, Chairman of the Public Relations Consultants Association (PRCA) said: “One of the core focuses for the PRCA is raising standards in PR and as a people business we fully endorse the Code of Practice as an important step forward in improving the recruitment process for all our members.” 

Tom Hadley, the REC’s Director of External Affairs said: “We are continuously striving to raise standards within the recruitment industry and this latest initiative can only work to enhance and promote the work of recruitment professionals in the marketing, media and communications sector who have a genuine desire to achieve the highest standards of performance.” 

He added: “At a time when employers in this sector are crying out for high calibre candidates, professional recruiters have a key role to play in ensuring that resourcing needs are met in an ethical way.” 

Those wishing to find out more about the new Code should visit www.rec.uk.com. Emma Brierley can be contacted at ebrierley@xchangeteam.com or by calling 020-7005 4400.