Find a Recruitment Agency in the UK

Finding a recruitment agency in the UK is easy with the REC's Agency Finder, and you can find a link to this incredibly valuable tool located further down this page.

We've also included advice on how you can get the best out of this great tool (it's not as easy to use as it should be), plus you'll also find expert advice on how to get the best out of recruitment agencies to ensure that they work hard on your behalf.

REC's Recruitment Agency Directory

The Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC) is the main professional body that represents the whole of the UK's recruitment industry and covers every employment sector in the UK.

• REC's Agency Finder allows you to search for a recruitment agency that is in their Member directory by keyword (such as your employment sector), company name or address / postcode or a combination of all of these search terms.

Why Should You Use REC's Recruitment Agency Directory?

• Each agency listed has been vetted by the REC, so you can be sure that they are a genuine recruitment agency and not a fly-by-night company.
• All recruitment agencies that are members of the REC must sign up to their Code of Professional Conduct and they are tested every 2 years to ensure that they continue to meet the high standards that you'd expect of an agency.

How You Can Get The Best Out of REC's Directory

The directory isn't particularly intuitive to use, but it's worth persevering with, as it will yield a valuable list of pre-vetted recruitment agencies. Please carefully read all our instructions below to get the best out of it.

Getting started:

• Go to REC's Agency Finder, then enter a keyword (e.g. your employment sector), a company name, or an address or postcode, then hit return or press the green button with the small white magnifying glass on it.
• You will then be presented with a list of agencies and a 'Filter results by: Sectors' box.
• The 'Filter results by: Sectors' box only appears after you've conducted a search, it is not there to start with - so you'll need to do a search to get it up.

Our Top Tips:

• If you've been recommended a specific agency, then just enter the name of the agency in the search box - if they're a member of REC their name should be listed.
• When you don't know the name of an agency, you can just enter a keyword, such as your sector name, e.g. accounting, childcare, engineering, etc.
• This may yield 100s of results, for example putting in engineering gives you over 600 results. You can narrow this down by putting in a city or town name or the county where you work.
• When you get the results of your first search, you will see that you can 'Filter results by: Sectors', for instance if you're seeking a childcare agency, then select 'childcare' and click on the blue 'update' button.
• If you're using the 'Filter results by: Sectors', you may want to delete any keywords you entered before - if you then leave the search box blank and hit return or the green button, you'll get a list of all agencies in the sector you selected throughout the UK.
• Don't enter a postcode unless you know the exact postcode for an agency, but are unsure how to spell the company's name. Entering a postcode alone will only yield agencies with that exact postcode.

Not getting enough results:

• If you don't get many results, then widen your search by removing the address you entered (e.g. county or town / city name) - it's easy to quickly look through a list of results yourself and pick out the agencies that are located near to you (or near to where you want to live).
• To see all the agencies in a particular sector: enter your sector in the search box, then hit return or the green button, then select your sector in the 'Filter results by: Sectors' box and delete any text you entered in the search box, then hit return or the green button and you will have a list of all the agencies in the UK in your sector.
• It will take you a few minutes to master how it works, so please don't give up, as you'll be rewarded with a list of genuine recruitment agencies.

How To Get the Best Out of Recruitment Agencies

• View their website to see if they have any suitable jobs (to find their website, enter their name and telephone number into a search engine). If they do have suitable jobs then create a list of these jobs, otherwise put them on your 'B' list (only to be contacted if the other agencies don't work out).
• Make sure you already have an up-to-date first-class CV, as a agency will want to see your CV straightaway. If your CV is weak, don't expect them to take your application any further. If you want a better CV, then please see our CV services.
• Ensure you know which jobs you want to apply for (on their website), or at least what type of job you want, plus the sector and the level of seniority, as agencies need to know this information to place you.
• Create a brief sales pitch about yourself - just a few headlines outlining why you are the best candidate for the jobs you want to apply for, focussing on your key experience, skills and achievements.
• Telephone the agency on the number listed on their website and be prepared to answer any questions that they might have.
• Try and get to meet them face-to-face if possible, especially if they have lots of job vacancies for which you feel you would be suitable.
• Email them your CV after you've spoken to them, including a brief summary of your telephone conversation in your email, so that they can link your email to the phone call.
• Make regular contact with the agency and ensure you view their jobs frequently and sign-up for jobs by email, plus any Twitter of Facebook feeds. Contact them as soon as you see a suitable vacancy to get yourself first in line.

Other job search pages to visit:

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