Recruiters do many things, but there are fewer things good recruiters do. In this short article, we spotlight standard recruitment industry practice and highlight what employers should be looking for in a recruitment partner.
Standard recruiter practice
Most recruitment services throughout the UK are supplied on a contingency basis. This means that employers avoid paying for services in advance and they do not have to accept candidates presented by the recruiter. All the risk remains with the recruiter, but recruitment firms still have to make a profit. You can imagine why recruiters try to avoid spending time with candidates who they don't believe will generate a fee.
That sounds like good selection practice, but recruitment is challenging because its a people business. People are fussy and recruiters find themselves as matchmakers on skills, experience and personal chemistry. To be frank, it's a difficult mix to deal with and the widlcards in the recruitment process are:
How quickly employers review candidate details and respond.
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Xperian Recruitment offers a fantastic additional service to its employer customers; Fast Background Employment Checks, delivered at a great price so that you don't have to worry about your new recruits.
A Choice of Background Employment Checks
We supply a broad range of Background Employment Checks, from Basic Supplier Checks to FCA Checks. They are all fast, efficient and cost-effective.
Basic Supplier Check
Our Basic Supplier Check is made for you if you're looking for basic evidence that Contract Suppliers have the credentials to work for you. The Basic Supplier Check includes:
Company incorporation check
VAT registration check
Company credit check
Insurance Check
Basic Individual Check
When individual security and checking is required to supplement the supplier company checks, we can perform the following basic checks:
ID Confirmation
Address verification
Right to work check
FCA Check
For fuller, FCA compliance, we can perform the following:
ID confirmation
Electoral Roll check
Directorship search
Address verification
Right to work check
Bankruptcy / insolvency check
CCJ check
Up to date credit...
Employers should expect their recruitment partners to quickly deliver outstanding candidates. But, recruiters will only give you great results if you do your part too. This short blog will help you understand how to make sure that your organisation is worth their time.
Managing Recruiters - The Terms
You want cost-effective commercial terms guaranteeing an outstanding level of service for the lowest overall cost. The 3 commercial levers for managing recruiters are:
Rate
The percentage of basic salary and benefits payable to the agent once candidates are successfully placed.
Rebate
The period over which a percentage of the rate is repayable due to premature departure of the candidate.
Exclusivity period
The period for which a single recruitment partner retains sole right to present candidates for a vacancy.
Some employers desire a mutually rewarding relationship with their recruitment partners. Others seek commercial terms that recruiters describe as unrewarding.
Settling punitive terms generally demotivates recruiters, resulting in less focus on the employer. Don't fool yourself; the best candidates are presented to employers...
The UK has high levels of employment and continued skills shortfalls. Some employers are reporting that recruitment is slow and that they would like to recruit faster. We investigated some recent UK employment figures to find out what was going on.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS)* publish UK labour market statistics. They show that the employment rate reached 75.3 percent during the three months to July 2017.
This is the highest employment rate since comparable records began in 1971 and evidences an appetite to recruit despite any economic uncertainty due to Brexit.
Employment Market Facts
14 million People are in work (181,000 more than for February to April 2017 and 379,000 more than for a year earlier)
With an unemployment rate of only 4.3 percent, it is harder for employers to secure the employment of suitably qualified new staff.
Statistics show there are only 1.9 unemployed people for every current vacancy. This is exacerbated by a fall in net migration from the...
We believe that contractors should know how much their agents make and they should expect payments to be fair, accurate and timely. Unfortunately, many contractors have first-hand experience of their agents taking more than their fair share.
One of the simple agent tricks is to use margin calculations, rather than markup.
When an employer agrees a rate, the method of calculation should be clear from the start and here's why.
Markup vs Margin
Markup and margin are the two calculation methods for determining payments to the contractor and the agent. The difference between these methods can cause a lot of confusion.
Doing the maths
The best way to understand the difference between the markup and margin methods of rate calculation is by working through some examples.
Mark-up
Imagine you have a relationship in which you agree £100 for the contract resource. This fee doesn't cover the agent fee.
To calculate the agent's fee, simply add a percentage to the contractor fee.
By way of example, the contractor fee is £100...
Paying contactors is more tax efficient than remunerating PAYE employees. That's because employers benefit from avoiding National Insurance payments, pension contributions, sickness and holiday pay.
Contractors benefit too. Some contractors own limited liability companies from which they invoice clients and remunerate themselves. This is tax efficient for the contractor because salaries can be subsidised by dividend payments which are free of National Insurance and personal tax.
Can you make your current employees contractors?
Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is aware of so called ‘disguised employee’. They have a contract relationship with an organisation, but operate just like any other employee.
If HMRC determines that a contractor is an employee by another name, both the employer and the contractor can be asked to pay backdated taxes. As you might imagine, this can be very costly and a position to be avoided.
The key IR35 points
A contract of supply is drawn up between a supplier and a customer for the delivery of specific services over a...
