Top 8 Best Recruitment Agencies in London
Whether you’re looking for temp work to get you through your studies, a regular earner to pay the bills or a foot in the door of your dream career, London has it all. But such a wealth of opportunity also comes with plenty of competition.
The discerning job-seeker needs to work hard to land a position, and with such a glut of recruitment agencies all promising to ‘build a relationship’ with you and ‘work hard for your success’ it can be hard to cherry-pick the best.
To help you decide, we have selected and presented (in alphabetical order) eight of the best from a mixture of sources: media listings, candidate reviews, industry reward winners and our own searches. Between them they cover every industry type, from teaching and technology to secretarial and manufacturing.
Attic Recruitment – Something a bit different
Founded over a decade ago by London PA experts Sarah Culshaw and Kirsty Miall, West London based Attic Recruitment describe themselves as a ’boutique’ recruitment agency offering to land clients positions with prestigious and quirky companies which value discretion and diplomacy. Specialising in PA, business assistant, and secretarial positions, Attic also supplies staff for retail outlets, banks and theatres among others. They focus on character-matching their candidates with potential employers.
Capita Resourcing – Education specialists
A branch of the FTSE100 company Capita plc, Capita Resourcing is now one of the most recognised and successful recruitment agencies in the country. Capita supply numerous teachers to schools and there are always plenty of teaching vacancies to browse. But Capita also recruit for health and social care and private sector banks and corporations. Their headquarters is conveniently situated in Westminster.
Capita was listed among the top ten recruitment agencies in the country in the 2012 ‘RecruitRank’ awards held by job-hunting website Jobsite. The awards are based on twelve months of anonymous feedback from job-seeking candidates.
CG Consultants – First Class Communication
Another highly recommended London-based recruitment agency in the Jobsite RecruitRank top ten is Surrey-based CG Consultants. They scored particularly highly on their candidate communication, a breath of fresh air to job-seekers who often find that the initial interview is the first and last they hear from their recruitment contact. CG contend that HR is the most important resource of any business.
Surrey is on the south-west border of Greater London and is a major corporate hub, hosting more company headquarters than any other UK county, including the HQs for Toshiba, Samsung, Pfizer, ESSO and Nestle. CG Consultants have an international focus, which works well for career-minded personnel in the IT, science, technology and engineering sectors.
Client Server – Tech Support
Another Surrey-based tech recruitment agency (although they also have an East London office), Client Server are often the first port of call for those who speak JavaScript, Python or C++ as a first language. Servicing London and the south-east, Client Server place their candidates with a varied clientele which includes technology leaders, investment banks, hedge funds, consultancies and innovative start-ups.
There is an online quick search function on the Client Server website enabling candidates to select positions by area, employment type and keyword.
Hydrogen Group – A Global Focus
If the way a recruitment company treats its employees has any bearing on the service you can expect, then the Hydrogen Group is worth contacting, especially if you are looking for a career with a global player. The Hydrogen Company was the highest rated London-based recruitment company on this year’s Sunday Times Best Places to Work list, and ranked in the top 20 for great colleagues. Employees at Hydrogen undergo an intensive training schedule and 70 per cent of them love their job, which is sure to have a positive impact on the service they can provide for prospective candidates.
The Eastcheap-based agency places candidates in a variety of roles from the finance, technology, science and legal sectors to mining, oil and gas. They also have offices in Dubai, Singapore, Hong Kong, America, Australia and Norway which is ideal for employees who might want to work in other countries besides London.
Maine-Tucker – London Savvy
Maine-Tucker, more than any other London recruitment agency, have a vested interest in successfully placing candidates. Unlike many agencies, where money is paid for the placement alone, Maine-Tucker offer a refund to any organisations who are not happy with the candidates they receive.
With over 20 years in the business, Maine-Tucker describes itself as ‘London savvy’, claiming that the capital’s unique working culture requires a special type of candidate.
Parker Ascott – Kick-starting Careers
At the time of our research, Bromley-based recruitment agency Parker Ascott were the most highly ranked recruitment agency, in terms of candidate reviews, on the well-known FreeIndex directory. Not only did they attract almost three times the number of reviews of their nearest competitor, a whopping 23 out of 26 candidates gave them the full five star rating for an average of 4.8 out of 5.
Parker Ascott offer a range of independent, accredited courses for candidates, including Career Coaching, Workplace Skills and Career Start with the latter proving a particularly popular investment. Some candidates even report having learned more about their field from their Career Start course than from their University degree!
Reed – Online Leaders
Based in Covent Garden, and chaired by James Reed, son of founder Sir Alec Reed, Reed Online Ltd is responsible for one of the country’s top internet recruitment agencies: reed.co.uk. Catering for the needs of nearly 4 million jobseekers, Reed receives over 80 thousand applications every day. Candidates can narrow down their search options by distance, salary and type of job, can sign up for email alerts and have access to a suite of resources from CV building to interview advice.