reed.co.uk launches Exchange marketplace to connect employers and agencies

Leading UK job site, reed.co.uk, has launched a new online marketplace to connect employers with specialist recruitment agencies to fill their vacancies. The new service is called Exchange.

Exchange: watch the demo from reed.co.uk on Vimeo.

reed.co.uk Exchange allows employers to post vacancies anonymously into the marketplace where they can be accessed only by approved, specialist recruitment agencies. Recruitment consultants can pitch and negotiate online to work on individual jobs and, once engaged, start putting candidates forward. Once an offer is accepted and a new employee starts work, the employer pays the agreed fee.

Martin Warnes, Managing Director of reed.co.uk, comments:

“Employers place real value on the service they receive from specialist recruitment agencies and Exchange is a way for reed.co.uk to foster this.

“We’re already the UK’s biggest job site, we know recruitment inside out and we have extensive reach into both employer and agency markets. This makes Exchange an obvious complement to reed.co.uk’s current job board offering.”

Posting vacancies on Exchange is free of charge, so employers only pay when they successfully make a hire. Employers can work with as many of the agencies that pitch to them as they like.

Exchange will cater for all industry sectors, with a minimum salary of £25,000 for roles being posted.

Warnes comments:

“Exchange will really come into its own for niche, harder-to-fill roles, where we can add real efficiencies to the process of engaging with the best specialist agencies in the market.

“There will be an accent on quality and control to ensure employers receive the best and most relevant agency pitches and quickly gain access to the most appropriate talent pools, whilst consultants can focus only on the vacancies for which they have specialist market knowledge.”

Consultants will be able to build their reputation in Exchange, with employers invited to leave ratings for all of the individuals they work with. In addition, agencies can tailor each pitch, including providing anonymised candidate details when they first look to engage with a new client.

For the roll out phase, agencies joining Exchange will be limited to those who are both members of the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC) and existing customers of reed.co.uk. However, any agency can apply to join Exchange, which will be rolled out on a wider basis during the coming months.

Warnes explains:

“Listening to the needs of our users is what has led us to develop this service and, once it’s launched, that won’t change. We’ll continue to gather as much feedback as we can so we can develop and evolve the service to ensure we’re giving employers and agencies an effective, efficient and high quality experience.”

Learn more at reed.co.uk/exchange.