Recruiting new members of staff can be a strain on any business. Not only may you suffer financially from the advertisement and time staff have to put in to the process but you may also find that you have not got the time needed to fully evaluate the candidates and may end up employing the wrong person for the job. This is where a recruitment agency can come in and help you manage the whole process. They often start by finding out what the job is about and what the ideal candidate will need to be like. They will need to know if they need any special training or qualifications and what type of person you are looking for in terms of personality. They will also need to know details of the job such as working hours and salary. Once they have this information they can then start to search their database of potential candidates to see if they can find people that may be interested in applying. They will also usually advertise the job on their website or on a number of jobs boards to attract new potentials that may fit the bill. Many agencies will carry out phone interviews with anyone they want to put forward to you first to ensure they are the right person for the job. They can then pass all the details over to you to allow you to select people you would like to attend interviews.
Recruitment agencies usually charge a set fee for finding staff for permanent positions and often this is based on a percentage of the salary offered even though it may be a fixed fee.