Industries

Marketing for recruitment agencies

SEO and websites for specialist recruitment agencies that want more client briefs and stronger candidates coming to them direct. Less reliance on job boards. More of the pipeline in your own hands.

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The situation

How the work is won.

You sell to two audiences at once: hiring managers with roles to fill, and candidates deciding who to trust with their careers. Most agencies lean on job boards and LinkedIn for candidates and on relationships for clients. That works. Until board costs climb or a key consultant leaves. Search visibility and a credible website give both sides a direct route in, and it's one your agency owns.

What sends them looking

Rising job board and LinkedIn costs eating into placement margins.
Launching a new specialist division or moving into a new sector.
A consultant going independent who needs a credible brand, fast.
Clients asking for evidence of specialism before agreeing terms.
A switch to a new recruitment CRM or applicant tracking system that leaves the current site's job feed obsolete.

The problem

Why it's harder than it looks.

Where the work slips away

Generalist messaging makes you interchangeable with dozens of agencies chasing the same roles.
Client and candidate content gets mixed together, and neither audience finds what it needs quickly.
Vacancies open and close constantly. Unless the site handles them properly, it fills up with thin, outdated pages.
CVs arrive in volume, and handling them has to meet UK GDPR expectations from the first upload.
Much of your credibility sits with individual consultants. When one leaves, some of it can leave too.

What makes customers hesitate

Clients wonder whether you know their sector or are just forwarding CVs.
Candidates worry their CV will be sent to employers without their agreement.
Job boards feel like a safer bet for applicants than an agency's own site.
Clients hesitate over fees and terms, such as rebate periods, before sending a brief.

The approach

Where Arête would start with recruitment agencies.

Every service works on its own. Which one comes first depends on how your customers search and decide.

Proof and measurement

What customers check, and what counts.

What customers look for before they call

Specialism by sector, role type and location, made obvious through dedicated pages and content.
Consultant profiles with sector experience and direct contact details.
Live, well-written vacancies that show the level and type of roles you handle.
Testimonials from your own clients and candidates, plus REC membership where held, described accurately.
A plain-English privacy notice on how CVs are stored, shared with clients and deleted.

What counts as an enquiry

A client brief or vacancy registration form.
A candidate registration with CV upload and consent choices spelt out.
A direct application from a vacancy page.
A call or meeting request with a named consultant.

What gets tracked

Client briefs received from the website and organic search, by specialism.
Candidate registrations and applications, split by source and role type.
Placements that began with a website visit, where the CRM can record the source.
Job board spend against direct applications, tracked over time.

Worth knowing

The rules and the practicalities.

Constraints for recruitment agencies

CVs contain personal data, so collection, storage, sharing with clients and deletion need a lawful basis and a clear privacy notice under UK GDPR.
Vacancy adverts should avoid wording that could be discriminatory under the Equality Act 2010.
Agencies placing job adverts have obligations under the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003, including naming the agency, so vacancy templates should be checked against current guidance.
REC membership should only be claimed while current and described accurately, as membership of a trade body with a code of professional practice.

Questions

Marketing for recruitment agencies: your questions answered

Should a recruitment agency market to clients or candidates first?

Start with your bottleneck. In short-supply roles, candidates are the hard part. Other agencies have strong candidate networks and too few briefs. The site and SEO plan can weight effort towards whichever side is holding you back, while still serving both.

Can an agency reduce its reliance on job boards?

Over time, yes. Direct applications from search, job alerts and a well-kept candidate database can take some of the load off the boards. Few agencies drop boards entirely, and there's no need to. The goal is a dependable share of applications coming in direct.

Does REC membership help an agency's marketing?

It can reassure clients and candidates that you've committed to a code of professional practice. Show it accurately, and only while membership is current. It supports trust. It won't stand in for obvious specialism and strong consultant profiles.