Questions to Ask a Recruitment Agency Before You Hire Them
Resource type and category
Resource type: Employer recruitment guide
Category: Recruitment Advice, Hiring Strategy, Employer Resources and Recruitment Partnerships
Intended audience
Facilities Management employers, FM Directors, Heads of Facilities, Property and Estates leaders, HR professionals, Talent Acquisition teams and organisations considering using a recruitment agency or specialist recruitment consultant.
Resource-card description
Discover the key questions to ask a recruitment agency before hiring them, including candidate screening, sector experience, references, qualifications, process involvement, fees and replacement arrangements.
Full resource-page description
Choosing the right recruitment partner can have a significant impact on the quality, efficiency and experience of your hiring process.
Questions to Ask a Recruiter Before You Hire Them provides employers with a practical framework for evaluating a recruitment agency or consultant before committing to work with them.
The guide begins by recognising one of the biggest challenges in recruitment: finding the right people among a large number of applications.
Online recruitment can generate significant applicant volume, but quantity does not necessarily translate into quality. Employers and recruiters still need to identify the candidates whose experience, skills and motivations genuinely match the vacancy.
That is one of the main reasons organisations choose to work with a specialist recruiter: to reduce the burden of screening, improve candidate quality and bring greater expertise to the early stages of the hiring process.
The guide therefore encourages employers to look beyond sales claims and ask potential recruitment partners how they actually work.
How do you choose the best CVs?
One of the first questions is how the recruiter identifies the strongest candidates from the applications they receive.
Page 3 focuses heavily on CV screening and shortlisting, describing this as one of the most demanding parts of the recruitment process.
A strong recruiter should have a clear methodology for distinguishing between candidates who genuinely match the vacancy and those whose applications only appear relevant at first glance.
The guide also highlights an important recruitment risk: an excellent candidate may not necessarily have the most polished CV.
Employers should therefore understand how the recruiter looks beyond presentation and identifies the underlying capability, experience and potential within an application.
The resource recommends asking recruiters what they specifically look for during CV screening and what controls they use to identify inconsistencies or applications that simply repeat language from the original job specification.
This gives the employer greater visibility into how the recruiter makes shortlisting decisions rather than simply receiving a final pile of CVs.
Have you recruited within our sector?
Sector knowledge is another major consideration.
Page 4 asks whether the recruiter has previously worked with organisations within the employer’s industry.
Different sectors can require very different technical knowledge, qualifications, terminology and candidate profiles, so relevant experience can help a recruiter understand the brief more quickly.
The guide suggests asking recruiters to explain their experience of similar positions and, where appropriate, provide examples of relevant clients or assignments.
However, it also makes an important qualification: lack of previous sector experience should not automatically disqualify a strong and professional recruiter.
A capable recruiter should still be able to learn a new sector, understand the employer’s requirements and adapt their recruitment process accordingly.
The underlying principle is to assess understanding, adaptability and recruitment capability, rather than relying on one criterion alone.
Are cover letters still useful?
The guide also asks recruiters how they view cover letters.
Page 4 argues that a cover letter can provide information that may not be obvious from the CV alone, including personality, motivation and communication style.
It may also help reveal inconsistencies between documents or highlight an application that has been heavily adapted around keywords without genuine supporting experience.
The resource therefore recommends asking a recruitment consultant whether they use cover letters within their assessment process and, importantly, why they take that approach.
The value is not necessarily in requiring every candidate to submit one, but in understanding how thoughtfully the recruiter assesses the information provided during an application.
Do you check references and qualifications?
Page 5 moves into candidate verification.
The guide recommends asking recruiters whether they verify qualifications and references, and at what stage those checks are carried out.
Qualification verification should be proportionate to the role.
The resource gives the example that historical school-level qualifications may be less relevant for an experienced professional with a long and verifiable career history, while a significant professional or academic qualification could warrant greater scrutiny where it is material to the appointment.
References are treated slightly differently because recruitment agencies may have different processes.
Some may speak directly with former employers, others may use written or emailed references, while some may delay formal referencing until the candidate reaches offer stage.
The guide’s recommendation is therefore simple: ask the recruiter to explain what they check, when they check it and why.
Employers should also make any specific requirements clear before the recruitment process begins.
What involvement will I have?
Another important question is how much involvement the employer will have throughout the recruitment campaign.
Page 6 explains that outsourcing recruitment does not necessarily mean handing over the process completely. A good recruiter should agree the appropriate level of communication and involvement with the employer from the outset.
Some organisations may want frequent progress updates throughout the search.
Others may prefer the recruiter to handle sourcing, screening and initial interviews before becoming directly involved at final interview stage.
The guide encourages employers to understand exactly what the recruitment service includes.
Will the recruiter simply review applications and create a shortlist?
Will they conduct first-stage interviews?
Will they participate in final interviews?
Can they support candidate assessment exercises or psychometric testing?
These questions help define the scope of the partnership before the campaign begins.
The guide recommends agreeing a clear recruitment schedule or process, allowing both sides to understand responsibilities, timelines and communication expectations.
That turns the relationship into a more collaborative process rather than a transactional CV-sending exercise.
How much will the service cost?
The final section addresses one of the most important commercial questions: fees.
Page 7 recommends understanding the recruitment company’s charging structure before work begins.
Different agencies may operate using different commercial models, including retained search, percentage-based fees or fixed-fee arrangements.
The guide encourages employers to establish what they will pay, when payment becomes due and exactly what is included within the fee.
It also recommends asking what happens if the successful candidate leaves shortly after starting or does not work out as expected.
Employers should understand whether the recruiter offers any replacement process, whether the original search will be reopened and whether additional fees could apply.
These questions are best resolved before the recruitment campaign begins rather than after a problem arises.
Taken together, the guide provides employers with a practical checklist for assessing how a recruiter works, how transparent they are and whether their approach is right for the organisation and vacancy.
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