Employment agencies as we know help candidates find the right job for them. On the other side, it helps companies to get the right candidate for a job opening in their company. 

It basically connects the right company with appropriate candidates. 

We know these employment agencies by names like placement agencies, recruitment firms, staffing agencies, etc. 

But are you aware of the different segments these companies have or what solutions these segments can provide you?

Let’s find out!

Below is a list of different type of recruitment agencies and what they do:

1) Blended Firms 

Staffing and recruiting firms that place candidates in full-time, temporary, and contract jobs. So whether a client wants to hire somebody on a full-time basis, a temporary employee, or a high-level contractor, they can go to one such firm.

2) Direct Contingency Firms 

In this segment, the agency is only paid once the candidate is actually hired for a full-time role at the client’s firm. The power, in this case, is totally in the hands of the Employer as multiple agencies must be competing to fill the same position, if the company chooses your candidate then only your agency will get paid.

3) Employee Leasing 

A company that handles the administrative functions of employment. The company basically takes the client’s core employees and transfers them to the employment of the leasing company which further handles their payroll, benefits, etc. They handle all the risk administration & the HR functions for the client. In addition, they sometimes also do some management consulting for the company itself w.r.t their resource requirements. 

4) Retained Search Firm

A staffing company that handles recruiting for executive and high compensation positions. Retained searches are very high-level positions or hard to fill positions. Common positions that are put out on retained search would be the C-suite: CEO, CFO, CIO; and this is where they pay the firm upfront. The client pays them a third of the fee up front when they accept the retainer, and then pays another one-third of the fee after a particular number of candidates have been submitted to the client, and then the last one-third of the fee is paid if the client fills the retainer. The agency will be paid two-thirds whether the client fills the job or not. 

5) Recruitment Process Outsourcing/ Business Process Outsourcing (RPO/ BPO) 

RPO is when the company transfers all or part of a company’s recruitment process to an external service provider. In this, the company can depend on the agency for the whole recruitment process, or the agency can assign a resource to the client’s site to handle all the hr activities.

6) Vendor Management System

The agency provides the software or processes that a client uses for recruiting and onboarding. This is a company that works between the client and the staffing and recruiting firm. They basically do everything. They profile the staffing and recruiting firms, distribute and create orders. They submit candidates and walk them through the hiring process. Once a candidate is hired, they handle the onboarding. They also provide time and expense tracking and reporting to their client company.