8 Dangers Common in Retail Recruitment Agencies - By: Saxon Marsden-Huggins

While we are certainly witnessing the decline of the manufacturing and resource industries, today's economic playing field hosts an expanding service industry. This shift has created a huge demand for retail workers and recruitment agencies are responding to this need by specializing in retail recruitment. But beware the dangers of the retail recruitment agency:

1. Inability to Bridge the gap

The service industry is highly polarized between low skill, low wage jobs and higher skill, higher wage professions. Retail recruiters must recognize this gap and be able to operate within both ends of the spectrum. Unfortunately, some retail recruitment agencies may focus on the lower end of the spectrum, overlooking or underutilising top tier talent.

2. Lack of Expertise

You need a recruitment agency that understand what a retail job looks and feels like. Beware of recruitment agencies that claim to be retail recruiters, but lack retail experience.

3. Poachers

Poaching, or stealing employees from the competition is a common and technically legal practice among recruiters. If past behaviour is a good indicator of future performance, consider the down side of recruiters who will sink to these tactics. If your recruiter stole your new employee for you, what will stop that recruiter from stealing from you?

4. Lack of Ethics

With fast paced growth in the Service sector, retail recruiters may succumb to the lure of using shortcut underhanded methods of gathering candidates. Just as a poacher may steal a worker from you, a recruiter with low ethics will not be deterred from using their tactics on you, just because you have used their services in the past.

5. Cave Men

As the retail industry grows, so too will it evolve. In fact the labour markets and labour market participants are evolving. Recruiters must be able to keep up. Watch out for recruiters who aren't harnessing the benefits of social networking to find your retail star.

6. Scaredy Cats

Similar to the Cave Men, Scaredy cats will fail to evolve with the market. While cave men are just not tuning in to keep up with what's new, the Scaredy cats know; they are just reluctant to jump on the bus. In the fast paced retail world, you don't have time to wait for the scaredy cats to get comfortable with the new technology. You need quality people now!

7. Reactive

The Reactors will respond to your needs. So, you might ask, whats the problem? The problem is that while reactive is great, proactive is so much better. If you are an employer in the retail industry, a recruiter who has had their ear to the ground long before you walk through their door is far more impressive!

8. Respect for retail

The retail recruiter you ultimately select must have a respect – dare we say passion – for the retail industry. The service sector, criticized for its job ghettos and skills gap, often receives less respect than the former superstar manufacturing and resource industries. A great retail recruiter will have respect for the shortcoming of the industry and more than that, a passion to address them.

The Service Sector is the fastest growing industry since the onset of the post industrial era, and this growth is not expected to slow down any time soon. Specialized retail recruitment agencies are a great resource to access, when you understand what to watch out for.

About the Author

For a recruitment agency who will hire you the right person in the retail industry, visit recruitshop.com.au/source.htm.

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