Eliminating Duplicate Applications

A quick look at any of these sites and you'll find that the same vacancies are advertised several times by many different recruitment agents.

This causes confusion with the candidates who may inadvertently apply to all of the positions. (Not a good sign).

Then the race begins.

Many employers will provide vacancy details to large numbers of recruiters, in fact just about anybody that asks in some cases.

They then lose track of who they are supposed to be dealing with and wonder why they are suddenly presented with large numbers of duplicated CVs.

Difficulties arise because many times, the employer has not set any guidelines or procedures for the competing agencies to follow.

They accept applications from just about anybody and the first agency to send a CV, will be the agency that they interview the candidate through.

This can be a very costly mistake.

What happens in this scenario is that some of the agencies, keen to be first to supply a CV, simply don't bother to talk to the candidates. They make multiple applications without their knowledge.

They will mass-mail the CV of a marketable candidate to just about any potential client site within commutable distance - then sit back and hope that some of these companies will express an interest.

It's all part of a very crude, inefficient numbers game.

Meanwhile, responsible agents, who take the trouble to qualify the interest and relevance of their candidates lose out, because by the time they submit a pre-qualified application, the client already has several copies of the same CV.

This wastes time and effort for everybody, but especially the employer, who has to sift through large numbers of duplicate applications and then has to fend off numerous annoying and unnecessary follow-up telephone calls.

When dealing with multiple recruitment agencies ask yourself how much work you might be creating for yourself along the way.

Let's say that you only register your vacancy with 5 agencies (a conservative number these days, especially with unemployment rising)

If each one sends you only two CV's you have to screen that number down to a manageable level to interview - costing time and money.

You do the screening, but are still expected to pay a recruitment fee!

There are other ways of increasing efficiency at the application stage and I will be pleased to advise on more efficient IT recruitment strategies if you wish.

Sometimes it really is better to talk to a recruiter - especially if it's one that can genuinely add value to your business.

If you want a more efficient IT recruitment service, please call me, David Carter on 01564 824554. I'll work with you to recruit the best available people in ways that you've probably never considered.