Benefits of ISO for Recruitment Companies
Our clients tell us that standards such as ISO 9001 for Quality Management and ISO 27001 for Information Security have benefited them greatly, by providing a structured governance framework.
This provides better ‘management information’ that can be monitored and analysed to drive efficiency and improvement.
Recruiters also like the ‘risk based approach’ to Standards which provides some clarity as to the important areas to prioritise resources.
Impact on Recruiter Performance
Many worry about the impact ISO Management Systems might have on their business, the added overheads and additional paperwork for example.
However, ISO has worked hard to address this in recent years and our consultants are experienced in implementing lean management systems that suit recruitment companies.
ISO Standards are no longer just a paper exercise but we focus on delivering real benefit to the business, which means improving existing processes by integrating ISO requirements where possible.
The overwhelming benefit of achieving ISO Certification is that it can open up tender opportunities that previously would have been difficult to progress beyond the first round.
Protecting Personal Information with ISO 27001
Recruitment companies and employment agencies can handle large amounts of personal information including CVs, copies of identification documents, health and family data.
The impact of a data breach can be substantial in terms of damage to individuals, reputation and financial penalties issued by the ICO.
ISO 27001 for recruitment companies will provide a management framework to reduce the risks of an incident occurring but, as importantly, establish proper procedures for managing an incident if it did occur.
In addition, ISO 27701 provides a dedicated set of controls recruitment agencies can use to protect Personal Information and comply with data protection legislation. This can be added to an ISO 27001 ISMS.
Providing a Quality Recruitment Service using ISO 9001
Traditionally ISO 9001 had a reputation for being more product focused, and it may have seemed difficult to implement a QMS somewhere like a recruitment company.
However, the standard has been updated to be much more applicable to the service sector, and the process approach can still easily be applied to recruitment activities.
Our consultants have worked with specialist recruitment firms to successfully achieve ISO certification and we would be happy to discuss how we can help you.
