When looking for a recruitment agency to work with – what do you look for? A nice website? One with lots of job vacancies? One that talks about current affairs and ‘hot topics’ of the moment? Do you ever consider how their processes work and how these are audited and measured to ensure that you are working with an agency that does what it says on the tin? Well it’s important to know this before getting into business with any recruitment agency and there are actually things out there that can tell you whether an agency works with a quality system in place.
THE Agency (Recruitment) Limited has always worked towards the most recent and current ISO 9001 quality accreditation (Currently ISO 9001: 2015) to ensure that both our candidates and our clients have peace of mind that our systems, processes and working practices are in line with a recognised external quality auditor (in our case QMS International) who audit everything that we do during the year.
You may ask why this is so important? Well, in a nutshell, it means that everything we do is documented and streamlined to ensure that all candidates are treated fairly during the whole recruitment cycle – we do not discriminate, we support and endorse equality, diversity and inclusion and we always ensure best practice at all times. Additionally, our clients can be assured that all candidates go through a thorough and consistent screening process before their details are submitted to the client. All records and systems are audited internally on a monthly basis and then annually by QMS International who visit our premises and carry out a stringent audit to ensure that we are compliant with the certification.
Our Managing Director who is also our Quality Manager was trained in 1997 as a Quality Manager and Auditor and has continued to invest in quality systems and processes throughout her career. With a passion for quality we wouldn’t expect anything less.
In September 2018 the ISO 9001: 2008 certificate became obsolete and is no longer valid for recruitment agencies. THE Agency therefore took steps to ensure that our certification was upgraded to the ISO 9001:2015 in order to be able to promote our business as an accredited agency with current and up to date certification. We continue to invest in enhancing and developing all of our processes as the certification evolves overtime. Our systems and ways of working no longer resemble those from the 90’s (thank goodness) but are sleek, streamlined and in line with current requirements. Our leadership team also has an increased responsibility for looking at and reporting on the wider picture in relation to risk, strategy and objectives.
We are delighted to say that year in, year out we continue to pass our external audits with flying colours, so everyone we work with can rest assured that behind the scenes we have quality systems, practices and strong leadership in place – we are not just a pretty website, with lots of jobs and a fabulous blog! 😊
For further information on our ISO 9001:2015 Quality Accreditation please do not hesitate to contact Kimbarnes@theagencu.org.uk
In the meantime, you can see what one of our long standing clients has to say on our blog…
