Red tape in recruitment

Uncategorized - Comments (1) - Published on September 3 2010

My son, being one of the many unemployed at the moment, recently visited a number of  local recruitment agencies to enquire about jobs and register for any suitable vacancies that came in. His experience of registering with these agencies illustrates just how dramatically things have changed in the world of recruitment. When I was his age, looking for work during the school or university holidays, I seem to remember that recruitment agencies (or were they called ‘Temping Agencies ’ then?) were relatively easy to deal with. You walk in, answer some questions and, if you are lucky, get sent off that same morning to your first job. The point is that, whether they could place you immediately or not, the process of registration with the agency took about half an hour at the most.  Not so today, as my son can testify.

At one agency he was required to go in for half a day in order to complete the process of form-filling, identity checks and assessment.   He had to take with him his passport, proof of address, proof of national insurance number and two new photos. Part of the process involved him being ‘CRB-checked’ (for which he was charged a fee) in the event of his being required to work with children. All his identity documents had to be verified, signed and photocopied by an agency staff member who was also required to check and send off his form to the Criminal Records Bureau for processing.   One week later my son was asked to come in again with his passport – the CRB had rejected the copy of his passport for some reason and this had to be sent off again. Another two weeks passed and the agency called to say the CRB form had been returned because the agency staff had used Tippex  in one box which apparently was not allowed.  A new form had to be completed and resubmitted.

Two months later my son remains unemployed and he is wondering whether the time and effort involved in registering with just one recruitment agency was really worthwhile.   The rationale for all these checks is clearly understood but surely we are going over the top here.   I sympathise with the agency staff who have to spend so many hours dealing with this bureaucracy – I wonder at how they are able to justify the costs involved in performing endless checks when, in the current job market, agency placement fees must be declining.

One Response to “Red tape in recruitment”

1. Luisa Sugahara says:

   December 31, 2010 at 2:18 am

   Most what i read online is trash and copy paste but i think you offer something different. Bravo.