Private employment agencies are almost everywhere – for some they are even free of charge. For whom it is worthwhile and what you should know about it.
Workers urgently needed, please report: These and similar words can be read in many places today on notices, flyers and even on vehicles. In many sectors, companies cannot fill their vacancies. And yet there can be good reasons to use a private employment agency when looking for a job.
The employment agencies or job centers also support job seekers in finding a new employer. However, Andreas Kübler, chairman of the board of directors of the Association of Private Employment Agencies (VPA), advertises with close supervision.
Especially in cases where the job search proves to be difficult, private intermediaries could “take care of an applicant much more intensively and provide him with advice and support”.
Kübler gives an example: A job seeker is an excellent craftsman, but his demeanor seems a little awkward due to his rather clumsy nature. “In such a case, there may be a risk that the candidate will be rejected if he applies directly without involving a private employment agency.”
A private employment agency can talk to the employer in advance of the interview. For example, he informs him that after a thorough examination of the applicant’s qualifications and work motivation, he is convinced that he is exactly the right person for the vacancy.
In many cases, private intermediaries proceed as follows: First, they create a very specific profile of the applicant. “In discussions we sound out abilities, wishes, interests and goals,” says Kübler.
The next step is to search for suitable employers. There are often good contacts with companies, so that a private employment agency can simply pick up the phone and inform a potential employer that he may have a suitable candidate for a vacant position.
In some cases, the private employment agency looks through the application documents of the job seekers and gives tips for a better organization. Job interviews are also practiced.
That all sounds like a high cost. Whether this is actually the case depends, on the one hand, on whether the job seeker is unemployed or not. The unemployed receive a so-called activation and placement voucher from the Federal Employment Agency or the job center. With such a voucher it is possible, for example, to take advantage of a private employment agency: It is free of charge for the job seeker.
The value of the voucher is usually around 2500 euros. EUR 3,000 is provided for the long-term unemployed or people with disabilities. The private employment agency settles a fee of this amount with the employment agency or the job center in the event of a successful placement.
“There is a part of the fee if the job seeker has worked for the employer for six weeks without interruption,” explains Kübler. The employment agency receives the remaining amount from the Federal Employment Agency if the job seeker works for the company for six months at a time. “If the candidate is given notice during the six-month probationary period, the private employment agency is no longer entitled to the remaining fee,” says Kübler.
Private employment agencies who want to work on the basis of activation and placement vouchers must be regularly certified by competent bodies. The certification is considered a kind of seal of quality that a private employment agency works in accordance with the legal requirements and does more than just send an applicant’s documents to potential employers.
Job seekers who turn to a private employment agency do not enter into any legal obligations. In general, they should make a copy of their activation and placement voucher and give it to the private employment agency.
“It is possible that job seekers make several copies and also commission several private employment agencies to look for a suitable position,” says Kübler. The employment agency that successfully places you in a job is then given the original of the voucher for settlement with the Federal Employment Agency.
If you are not unemployed and hire a private employment agency, you have to pay the fee yourself. “But there are only costs if the placement is successful,” says Christian Ludwig from the headquarters of the Federal Employment Agency in Nuremberg. The financial risk of failure lies solely with the private employment agency.
And: Companies themselves can also commission a private employment agency: “Especially in view of the shortage of skilled workers, the use of different search channels increases the chances for employers of being able to fill their vacancies,” says Ludwig.
(This article was first published on Saturday, November 05, 2022.)
