Job Intermediation: Methods, Agencies, and Recruitment
Job Intermediation: Methods of Job Search
Methods of job search include:
- Friends, relatives, and acquaintances
- Internet and newspaper ads
- Employment agencies
- Red EURES: Job Search in Europe
- Temporary employment agencies (ETT)
- Search firms or direct recruitment firms
- Job boards of professional associations, universities, and business associations
- Unions
Job placement is a set of measures intended to bring together the supply and demand of work, providing workers with jobs suited to their characteristics and providing employers with the most suitable candidates for the positions offered. Orientation includes job search, bid management, and contracting.
Formerly, the INEM (now SEPE) had a monopoly as a mediator in the labor market. The labor reform of 1994 ended that monopoly, allowing other institutions to act as brokers under state regulation. The main actors involved in intermediation are SEPE employment offices, companies, and temporary employment agencies.
SEPE (Public State Employment Service)
The functions of SEPE are:
- Participation in the design of employment policy.
- Management of employment share, unemployment benefits, and training.
- Observation and analysis, statistics, and studies on market conditions.
- Offering intermediation: attracting jobs and providing information to employers.
The employment offices in each location perform functions 2, 3, and 4.
SEPE Employment Offices
Since the 1994 reform, employment offices are not the only institutions involved in intermediation. However, SEPE has retained a general supervisory role over all intermediary institutions, including authorization for employment agencies and temporary employment agencies. They also obtain information (for statistical purposes) from employers to report new hires or extensions (direct contracting). ETTs and agencies must inform SEPE of offers and demands managed.
Employment offices are not the primary method of search for workers, nor for businesses. Most businesses fill their vacancies through advertisements (direct requests) and contacts. In addition, employment is concentrated in managed low-skilled positions, resulting in a limited impact on the entire set of contracts.
Public employment offices can count on associated bodies (integrated employment services). These associates manage programs of vocational guidance and job search. Employment offices receive public subsidies. The proliferation of these entities makes it difficult for SEPE to control the quality of services they offer.
Agencies
Agencies, whether public or private companies, aim to bring together the supply and demand for employment. They need authorization from the autonomic SEPE (valid for Spain). The services provided are free of charge for employees, and they must attend to all unemployed people and respect equal treatment and non-discrimination in employment.
With the reform of June 2010, agencies may act through cooperation agreements or autonomously but in coordination with SEPE. In addition to job placement, they can provide recruitment services and career information and guidance. Placement agencies can be nonprofit (existing before and not necessarily free) or for-profit (a novelty, allowing them to recover management costs but not set a profit margin). The service is always free to the employee (subsidies). For-profit agencies may charge their services to employers that hire them.
Recruitment Agencies
Recruitment agencies perform recruitment processes on behalf of other companies, typically for intermediate and high-level positions. They recruit candidates through the internet, advertising, direct search, and their own databases. They act as scouts (headhunters) seeking professionals who best fit the job, focusing on high-level positions and relying mainly on “word of mouth.”