Recruitment refers to the process of sourcing, screening, and selecting people for a job at an organization or firm, or for a vacancy in a volunteer-based organization or community group. While generalist managers or administrators can undertake some components of the recruitment process, mid- and large-size organizations and companies often retain professional recruiters or outsource some of the process to recruitment agencies.

The recruitment industry has four main types of agencies employment agencies, recruitment websites and job search engines, "headhunters" for executive and professional recruitment, and in-house recruitment. The stages in recruitment include sourcing candidates by advertising or other methods, and screening and selecting potential candidates using tests or interviews.

Agency types

The recruitment industry has four main types of agencies. Their recruiters aim to channel candidates into the hiring organisation's application process. As a general rule, the agencies are paid by the companies, not the candidates.

Traditional agency

Also known as a employment agencies, recruitment agencies have historically had a physical location. A candidate visits a local branch for a short interview and an assessment before being taken onto the agency's books. Recruitment Consultants then endeavour to match their pool of candidates to their clients' open positions. Suitable candidates are with potential employers.

Remuneration for the agency's services usually takes one of two forms:

• A contingency fee paid by the company when a recommended candidate accepts a job with the client company (typically 20%-30% of the candidate's starting salary), which usually has some form of guarantee, should the candidate fail to perform and is terminated within a set period of time.
• An advance payment that serves as a retainer, also paid by the company.
• It may still be legal for an employment agency to charge the candidate instead of the company, but in most places that practice is now illegal, due to past unfair and deceptive practices.

Websites

Such sites have two main features: job boards and a résumé/Curriculum Vitae (CV) database. Job boards allow member companies to post job vacancies. Alternatively, candidates can upload a résumé to be included in searches by member companies. Fees are charged for job postings and access to search resumes. Since the late 1990s, the recruitment website has evolved to encompass end-to-end recruitment. Websites capture candidate details and then pool then in client accessed candidate management interfaces (also online). Key players in this sector provide e-recruitment software and services to organisations of all sizes and within numerous industry sectors, who want to e-enable entirely or partly their recruitment process in order to improve business performance.

The online software provided by those who specialise in online recruitment helps organisations attract, test, recruit, employ and retain quality staff with a minimal amount of administration. Online recruitment websites can be very helpful to find candidates that are very actively looking for work and post their resumes online, but they will not attract the "passive" candidates who might respond favorably to an opportunity that is presented to them through other means. Also, some candidates who are actively looking to change jobs are hesitant to put their resumes on the job boards, for fear that their current companies, co-workers, customers or others might see their resumes.