Where the hours go
Recruitment agencies
A recruitment desk runs two businesses at once: the one that finds people, and the one that proves the paperwork. These pages take the second one apart, job by job, and say which parts of it run on rules.
The two halves of a recruitment desk #
Ask a consultant what they do and you get the first half: sourcing, screening calls, selling a candidate to a client and a client to a candidate, and holding an offer together until it is signed. Look at where the hours go and you find the second half.
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Reformatting CVs into the house template
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Collecting references, qualifications, proof of identity and right to work evidence
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Getting three diaries to agree on a Thursday afternoon
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Writing the same short update to eleven people who are all waiting on somebody else
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Chasing a timesheet on a Monday so that payroll can run on Wednesday
The second half is not slack that a better consultant would cut out. A good deal of it is required by the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003.
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Confirm who somebody is and what they can do Regulation 19
Before an employment business supplies a work-seeker to a hirer it has to obtain confirmation of that person’s identity, and of the experience, training, qualifications and any authorisation the hirer specifies or the law requires.
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Give a Key Information Document before terms are agreed Regulation 13A
On no more than two sides of A4, with a revised one issued within five business days if the details change.
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Keep the records Regulation 29
Records of every work-seeker and hirer application, for at least a year.
How to tell which parts run on rules #
The test is not whether a job is boring. It is whether the same trigger produces the same steps and the same output, every time, without anybody having to decide anything.
Formatting a CV is a good example of a job that is half and half, and the same split runs through the rest of the desk.
Runs on rules
- Moving dates, headings and contact details into a fixed layout. The same operation on every CV
- Booking an interview, right up to the moment a client moves it
- Chasing a missing reference. Almost entirely, which is exactly why it is so irritating that it eats an afternoon
Needs a person
- Deciding what to cut, what to lead with and how to explain a gap
- The judgement about whether somebody will actually last in a team
- The call that rescues a wobbling offer
- The decision about a candidate whose paperwork does not quite line up
They need a person who is not on their fourth hour of reformatting.
The parts that are not rule-shaped are the ones worth protecting. The sorting exercise is set out in full in what agency admin genuinely runs on rules.
What these pages will not do #
They will not name a product and they will not hand over a build. Whether anything on your desks is worth automating depends on your split between permanent and temporary work, your client mix and how many of your placements are repeat business, which is what the free audit is for.
If you want a number before you speak to anyone, start with the free tools, which count hours rather than sell software.
One thing to be clear about throughout. Your duties stay yours. Right to work checks, the Conduct Regulations and the records behind them are the agency's responsibility, and they are enforced by the Fair Work Agency, which took over from the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate.
Recruitment agencies
Candidate admin, compliance packs, formatting and the chase that never ends.
- What agency admin runs on rules A sorting test for agency work: same trigger, same steps, same output, every time
- Right to work checks for agency workers Who carries out the check when a worker is placed, and where the repeated admin sits
- Chasing candidates for compliance packs Why the pack stalls, what the Conduct Regulations actually require, and what repeats
- Reformatting CVs to the agency template What the house template really costs a desk, and which part of it is judgement
- Interview scheduling The three way diary problem, and why rescheduling costs more than booking
- Keeping candidates and clients updated The update nobody bills for, why it slips first, and what it costs when it does
- Timesheets and temp payroll What happens between Sunday night and Friday, and why one missing approval stops it
- Writing and posting job adverts Which parts of an advert repeat, which parts are the sell, and where the time goes
- Automated CV screening What screening tools get wrong, and the duties that stay with the agency either way
Where these numbers come from
- Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003, regulation 19 , read 19 September 2026
- Conduct Regulations 2003, regulation 13A, key information to be provided to work-seekers , read 19 September 2026
- Conduct Regulations 2003, regulation 29, records , read 19 September 2026
- GOV.UK, Fair Work Agency , read 19 September 2026 . It replaced the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate.
Last checked 19 September 2026.
Our workings are on the methodology page .
Free audit
A free audit for recruitment agencies
One call, walking through a normal week. You get the tracker of every repeated job ranked by hours, a map of the top five, and the number of hours a month they could give back. Yours to keep either way.