How to Choose an Energy Recruitment Agency

When you need to hire for a technical energy project, the recruitment agency you choose matters. A good specialist can put the right people in front of you quickly. A generalist who doesn't understand the work can cost you weeks of wasted interviews, and in a safety-critical industry, a poor hire costs far more than a fee.

Here's what to look for in an energy recruitment agency, and the questions to ask before you sign terms.

Specialist or generalist?

Large generalist agencies cover many industries. They have big databases and national reach, but their consultants often move between sectors and may not know the difference between an AGI and a PRI, or why CompEx matters.

A specialist energy recruitment agency works in one sector, often in one part of it. Its consultants understand the roles, the qualifications and the client's standards, and they know the candidates personally. For technical and safety-critical roles, that knowledge usually matters more than database size.

What to look for

• Industry experience in the team. Have the consultants worked in the sector themselves, or recruited in it for years? People who've been on site can assess candidates properly.
• An understanding of competence. In gas, that means knowing the difference between holding a ticket and being competent on a live asset. See our article on competence in HAZCON.
• Access to candidates who aren't looking. The best people are usually in work. A specialist with a strong network can approach them directly.
• A clear process. How do they screen candidates? Do they check certificates and references before they send a CV?
• Honest advice on the market. A good agency tells you if your rate, salary or location will make a role hard to fill, rather than promising the impossible.
• Flexibility. Can they handle a single urgent contractor, a hard-to-fill permanent role and a full project team?

Questions to ask before you sign

• Which roles like ours have you filled in the last year?
• How will you find candidates, and how many of them will be people who aren't actively applying?
• How do you check qualifications, competence and right to work?
• What happens if a placement doesn't work out? Is there a rebate or replacement period?
• Who will actually be working on our vacancy, and how often will we hear from them?
• How do your fees work for contract and permanent placements?

Warning signs

• A flood of CVs that don't match the brief.
• CVs sent without the candidate's permission, or to several clients at once.
• No questions about your project, team or site conditions.
• Vague answers about how candidates were screened.
• Pressure to agree terms before they've understood the role.

Why sector focus matters in gas

Gas is a small, closely connected industry with strict safety rules, specific standards and its own competence frameworks. An agency that works only in gas and energy will already know many of the people you need, and can tell quickly whether a candidate's experience fits your assets.

That's the approach we take at Onshore Technical. We're a specialist gas and energy recruitment agency with first-hand industry experience, and we offer rapid placement, priority search and full team placement depending on what your project needs.

If you have a role to fill, register your vacancy and we'll be in touch to talk it through.