Why recruitment agencies don’t advertise who the employer is.

The reason recruitment agencies most often don’t, though not always, disclose the employer’s name in job postings is generally to protect their own and the hiring company’s interests and manage the recruitment process effectively. It can help maintain confidentiality when the employing company is undergoing internal changes, replacing an employee, or launching a new initiative and it helps save the employer’s time. Protecting candidates from job scams is another reason, especially these days.

• Saving the employer’s time: When a recruitment agency does include the name of their employer client in job postings, it is highly likely that the employer will start to receive unsolicited sales approaches from other recruiters, job boards, media publications and marketeers. This takes up a lot of time and distracts the employer from their day job. As the saying goes “time is money” and one of the key benefits of using a recruitment agency is to save time and money.
• CVs from other recruiters: Other recruiters may see the job posting and either call the employer or send a never-ending stream of CVs directly to that employer. These calls can become tiresome and time consuming. CVs are highly likely to be submitted by recruiters who have not been fully briefed on the role – again, wasting time (their own, their candidates and the employers). Many of these CVs could, and do, come from recruitment firms who have not agreed and signed terms with the employer and this can upset procurement, finance, and HR if one of those candidates is actually selected (and it does happen) as it can lead to bad faith, commercial disputes and legal challenges later.
• Managing candidate flow: By not disclosing the employer, the agency can filter applications and ensure that only the most suitable candidates are presented to the client. 
• Maintaining confidentiality: Some companies prefer to keep their hiring plans confidential, especially when replacing an employee, launching a new project, or undergoing internal restructuring. 
• Avoiding direct contact: Recruiters act as intermediaries, and some companies prefer that candidates engage with them first, rather than contacting the company directly. 
• Ensuring proper process: By working through the agency, the company can ensure that the recruitment process is managed professionally and that all legal and HR requirements are met. 
• Competitive advantage: Some employers may not wish to alert their competitors, or their customers, to the fact that they are short staffed. A competitor could use this knowledge to their commercial advantage and manipulate the situation. Customers may be reluctant to do business with a company if they perceive them to be short staffed which, in their mind, could mean longer waiting times, delivery delays, quality issues, rushed or poor service etc.
• Recruitment scams: As soon as your job vacancy and company name are posted online there is a growing risk that this information is harvested by scammers who are increasingly making calls to unsuspecting job seekers whilst pretending to be you and presenting your job vacancy to those to whom their intentions are not good – this can cause you severe reputational damage and candidates can be left out of pocket . Savvy candidates will do a quick google to find your job and when they see the vacancy is real, they are more likely to believe that the scam call is genuine which can lead them to being unwittingly scammed. This is a fast growing issue, nowadays, and you can read more about it by visiting JobsAware. Recruit Cumbria is a long-standing recruitment partner of JobsAware which is a brand of the Modern Work Foundation (formerly SAFERjobs), which started out as a Metropolitan Police fraud forum within Operation Sterling in 2008. Since that time, they have helped over two million people with a safer job search and to stay safe while in work.
• Opening opportunities: Sometimes, candidates may overlook a terrific opportunity if they see the company name and have preconceived notions. Not disclosing the name can allow candidates to be more open-minded and consider opportunities they might not have otherwise. 
• Protecting the recruiter’s commercial interests: Most recruiters only charge the employer a fee when they have filled the position and the employee starts their new job. The agency will have spent a lot of time and money advertising the position, shortlisting candidates, interviewing candidates, submitting candidates, arranging interviews with the employer, gaining, and providing feedback, negotiating terms and offers and onboarding preparation. If a candidate bypasses the recruitment agency by making a direct approach to the employer which results in them getting the job, the recruiter would have no way of recouping their costs. So yes, there is self-interest too and to the local and national economy (recruiters contribute £44.4 billion to the UK’s Gross Value Added and the recruitment industry is worth over £141.2 billion to the UK economy).

Sometimes, recruiters do include the employer’s name in their job postings.

There are always exceptions to the norm and sometimes recruitment agencies will include the name of the employer on their job advertisements and job board postings. They will do this for several reasons which include:

• Exclusivity: The recruiter is working on this role on an exclusive basis and the employer has agreed that they will not be sharing their vacancy with any other recruiter or advertising the position themselves. Exclusivity in recruitment means exactly that – the recruiter will be solely managing the entire process which includes all job board posts and recruitment advertising.
• Confidence: The recruiter is confident that any direct approach to the employer will be redirected to the recruiter.
• Employer of choice: The employer is one for which everyone wants to work! The recruiter believes that naming the employer (and using their branding in the job posts) will increase the number of suitable applications.
• Marketing: By naming an employer the recruiter is sending a message to their client’s competitors “hey, we work in your industry, we have candidates you might be interested in speaking to, are you hiring, would you like to work with us?”.
• In-house recruiters: Large employers will often contract with recruiting firms to manage all their internal recruitment. These recruiters will usually be based on-site at the employer’s premises and will function as an internal department of that employer.

When should a recruiter reveal the employers name to me?

Concisely, before they share any of your personal information with the employer.

Once you have been shortlisted, for a job vacancy, a good recruiter will want to speak to you, in person. This contact will either be by telephone, face-to-face or via Zoom, Teams and the like.

During the conversation a professional recruiter will:

• Get to know you and what it is you are looking for in your next role.
• Understand your personal circumstances (location, salary expectations, work/life balance, career goals etc).
• Discuss the role in depth.
• Tell you who the employer is and provide you with lots of information and insight about them.
• Explore your suitability for the role and the roles’ suitability for you (it is a two-way thing!).
• Gain your permission to share your application with the employer.

After your job application has been sent to the employer, a professional recruiter will:

• Help get you interview ready, specifically, for that employer and position.
• Make and confirm all the interview arrangements on behalf of you and the employer
• Keep you fully informed throughout the entire recruitment process.
• Provide feedback which is honest, accurate and useful to you and your future career.
• Share your feedback with the employer.
• Do a bit of negotiating with the employer, on your behalf, if needs be.
• Hopefully (fingers crossed), get to present you with a job offer from the employer on terms which work for you. Often the employer will make the offer direct to you. Secretly, however, most recruiters prefer it when the employer asks them to put the offer to you because they view this as “the best part of a recruiters job” and “there is no better feeling than being the one to tell someone they have just landed their dream job”!
• Guide you through the resignation process if you find the idea of handing your notice in, to your current employer, a little daunting.
• Remain by your side right up to the onboarding period and beyond.

Recruit Cumbria (which includes our trading names Recruit Hospitality and Recruit North) recruits permanent staff for multiple job sectors which includes: accountancy, business support, hospitality, IT, legal, marketing, retail and sales across Cumbria and Lancashire. Whether you are looking for a new job or have a vacancy to fill, give us a call on: 01228 307765 or send us a message via our contact page.