Comparing recruitment agencies

Our review team spent hundreds of hours meticulously researching the top IT recruitment agencies Melbourne wide. We found that while there are a number of strongly performing recruitment agencies, Superior People was ranked number 1 overall. This was based on a number of factors, including:

• Highly competitive fees, which overall tend to be cheaper than the rest of market, and is the cheapest of our top 5 ranked companies
• Strong customer service, with a personal touch, a willingness to respond to any queries, strong knowledge of the industry and quick response times
• A strong policy around guarantee periods, which can give companies comfort

Our Superior People review team ranked them 4.5 stars out of 5.

Pros:

• Low fees
• Quick response times
• 6-month guarantee period
• Doesn’t demand exclusivity

Cons:

• Short payment terms (7 days)
• Not IT recruitment specialists

Fees

The graph below depicts the fee models for our top 5 recruitment agency in Melbourne.

	$0 - 50K	$50 - 80K	$80 - 150K	$150 - 250K	$250K +
	10%	10%	10%	10%	10%

Our Superior People review team found that this agency have a fixed fee model, charging 10% of the employee’s annual base salary, for permanent employees (which is the majority of their business).

The graph below shows the spread of fees from our top 5 Melbourne-based IT recruitment agencies. Superior People has a fixed fee model, of 10%, no matter the amount of salary earned by the prospective employee.

Superior People does not demand exclusivity for its clients. While other recruitment agencies in the industry charge higher fees if the client is not exclusive, Superior People prefer to trust in the calibre of their recruiters, and don’t ask for the client to exclusively seek their assistance to find the right candidate. This is because Superior People believe that doing so could potentially restrict a client’s ability to find the right candidate.

Superior People are willing to offer reduced fees, if a client is willing to engage it to hire multiple candidates. If a client is seeking multiple candidates for the same role and skillset, the fire employee fee will be 10% of the annual base salary, and the subsequent employees will be charged at 5% of annual base salary. If the client is seeking for Superior People to place multiple employees, but each employee is a different role with a different skill set, the first employee fee will be 10% of annual base salary, while subsequent employees will be a fee of 8% of annual base salary.

Overall, this fee model is highly competitive when compared against the other top 5 IT recruitment agencies Melbourne wide.

The payment model for Superior People is that they require payment within 7 days from recruitment of the invoice, an invoice being issued on the employee’s start date. Our review team found that when pressed about these tight payment terms, this company was willing to allow for payment terms of 14
days in certain circumstances.

Customer Service

The graph below depicts the rankings given to each of our top 5 Melbourne-based IT recruitment agencies, based on their customer service performance when handling customer enquiries via email and over the phone. Our Superior People review team rated this company with 9.5 out of 10 for the level of customer service exhibited in its capable management of email enquiries. In fact, when asked for the company terms and conditions over the phone, Superior People generally send them through within an hour.

Our Superior People review team were also impressed by Superior People’s customer service when handling customers’ phone requests, and reflected this satisfaction by giving the Melbourne-based IT recruitment agency a high rating of 9.5 out of 10.

These scores for customer service satisfaction to both email and phone enquiries rank Superior People as having strong results – first overall – when compared to the customer service performance of the other top 5 Melbourne-based IT recruitment agencies.

Their strong customer service was demonstrated in a number of ways:

• Clients speak to a director of Superior People when they call seeking more information about a potential engagement, who is knowledgeable about the business, and is able to make decisions about fees and discounts.
• The director of company is exceedingly friendly, and makes clients feel like he is keen for the work, and committed to finding the right candidate which suits the clients needs
• Superior People are confident in their abilities and methodology, demonstrated by their willingness to work without exclusivity
• While they aren’t IT recruitment specialists, they have the experience and capability to find excellent candidates in this industry.
• Our Superior People review team found that they operate with a high level of transparency

The graph below reveals how fast our top 5 IT recruitment agencies in Melbourne sent through their standard terms and conditions when our Superior People review team requested them over the phone. Superior People generally sent through their terms and conditions within an hour, which was the equal quickest response time of the Melbourne based IT recruitment agencies.

The rows in the image below, taken from our larger Melbourne IT recruitment agency comparison table, reflect how our top 5 were ranked for their overall customer service performance, as well as the overall speed of their replies to customer enquiries. Our Superior People review team rated Superior People 4.7 out of 5 for customer service and found its response to customer enquiries was given at a fastest rating.

This image below is an example of one of the many positive customer testimonials on the company website. Of these reviews, our Superior People review team found that there is a recurring theme of high customer service satisfaction, with almost all the reviews paying particular praise to the flexible guarantee periods and their ability to find long term and high performing employees.

The image below shows the online request form provided on the Superior People website. With its clear formatting and easy to follow layout, is a quick and effective form of communication between Superior People and their potential customers.

Guarantee period

Guarantee Period is the period in which the recruitment agency will replace a candidate should they demonstrate poor performance or leave the company within the guarantee period. All recruitment companies offer different guarantee periods.

A few highlights about the Superior People guarantee period are as follows:

• If the employee leaves or is unsatisfactory within first six months they replace that candidate at no additional cost. In fact, this company is willing to replace the candidate for free as many times as they need to, until their client is satisfied. This is particularly good compared to the other IT recruitment agencies Melbourne wide.
• Our Superior People review team discovered that if the client prefers credit towards another employee hire, instead of replacing the failed candidate, this is another option. They do not however offer refunds of the fee.
• The replacement guarantee has the standard exclusions that are industry practice. For example, the replacement guarantee will not be provided in the circumstance where the employee is let go due to redundancy, company restructure, retrenchment, restructure of the position, misrepresentation of the position by the employer, redeployment or relocation or candidate has gone on maternity leave. If it is shown that a candidate leaves their employment within the first 6-month period due to any form of mental, emotional, physical disability, harassment or bullying, the replacement guarantee will not apply. The replacement guarantee will not apply if payment has not been received within 7 days as per our Payment Terms (or 14 days if otherwise agreed by Superior People. In short, the guarantee period will be apply if there is a performance issue, but won’t apply for things like redundancy etc.

The graph below shows that Superior People’s guarantee period is 6 months.

Our Superior People review team found that this recruitment agency’s 6-month guarantee period is the longest period compared to the other top 5 Melbourne IT recruitment agencies

The image below, taken from the Superior People website, sets out the detail about the company’s guarantee period, which is 6 months. They include an impressive statistic, that 72% of all candidate they have placed have remained with their employers for 12 months. This should give businesses comfort that this company generally succeeds in placing a successful and appropriate employee.

Methodology

Superior People have a number of ways to source candidates for their clients. For example, they have a large network which they can draw upon. In addition, they are active through online networks such as LinkedIn. They also use job boards such as Seek, and are also capable of head hunting certain high calibre candidates. They noted that sometimes the client will provide them with the organisation that they want to head hunt from, or otherwise they can assist clients by head hunting based on their industry experience.

There are generally 2 or 3 stages to their process for finding candidates. There is an initial phone call, followed by an interview around cultural sit, and another interview focusing on the candidate’s skills. This is typical for the industry and is not similar to other IT recruitment agencies Melbourne wide.

Superior People will generally interview up to 20 potential candidates. The more senior the position the fewer interviewees needed, for senior staff the number of candidates interviewed is likely to be closer to 10.

This Melbourne based IT recruitment agency will generally try not to send their clients a short list of more than 3 high quality candidate options.

Expertise

Superior People were established in 2007.

They are not dedicated IT recruiters. They recruit for a broad range of industries, and have the capability to recruit within the IT and technology sector, as a high level when compared against the other IT recruitment agencies Melbourne wide.

The image below is a snip from the Superior People website, and lists the various industries they recruit in. They are not solely IT recruitment specialists, but the breadth of industries means that this recruitment agency may be able to assist with a business’ various employee needs.

The graph below indicates that Superior People has offices in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.

	Melbourne	Sydney	Adelaide	Perth	Brisbane

However, from discussions with their team, it is clear that they can hire candidate Australia-wide, if this would suit the client.

Overall, our Superior People review team rated this company 4.5 stars, which ranked them first out of our top 5 Melbourne based IT recruitment agencies.

Melbourne IT and Technology

Our review team spent hundreds of hours meticulously researching the top IT recruitment agencies Melbourne wide. We found that while there are a number of strongly performing recruitment agencies, Superior People was ranked number 1 overall. This was based on a number of factors, including:

• Highly competitive fees, which overall tend to be cheaper than the rest of market, and is the cheapest of our top 5 ranked companies
• Strong customer service, with a personal touch, a willingness to respond to any queries, strong knowledge of the industry and quick response times
• A strong policy around guarantee periods, which can give companies comfort

Our Superior People review team ranked them 4.5 stars out of 5.

Pros:

• Low fees
• Quick response times
• 6-month guarantee period
• Doesn’t demand exclusivity

Cons:

• Short payment terms (7 days)
• Not IT recruitment specialists

Fees

The graph below depicts the fee models for our top 5 recruitment agency in Melbourne.

	$0 - 50K	$50 - 80K	$80 - 150K	$150 - 250K	$250K +
	10%	10%	10%	10%	10%
	16%	16%	16% (up to 100k) 18% (more than 100k)	18%	18%
	15%	17%	19%	21%	21%
	17%	17%	17%	17%	17%
	15% ($0 - 30k) 16.5% ($30 -50k)	18.50%	21%	25%	25%

Our Superior People review team found that this agency have a fixed fee model, charging 10% of the employee’s annual base salary, for permanent employees (which is the majority of their business).

The graph below shows the spread of fees from our top 5 Melbourne-based IT recruitment agencies. Superior People has a fixed fee model, of 10%, no matter the amount of salary earned by the prospective employee.

Superior People does not demand exclusivity for its clients. While other recruitment agencies in the industry charge higher fees if the client is not exclusive, Superior People prefer to trust in the calibre of their recruiters, and don’t ask for the client to exclusively seek their assistance to find the right candidate. This is because Superior People believe that doing so could potentially restrict a client’s ability to find the right candidate.

Superior People are willing to offer reduced fees, if a client is willing to engage it to hire multiple candidates. If a client is seeking multiple candidates for the same role and skillset, the fire employee fee will be 10% of the annual base salary, and the subsequent employees will be charged at 5% of annual base salary. If the client is seeking for Superior People to place multiple employees, but each employee is a different role with a different skill set, the first employee fee will be 10% of annual base salary, while subsequent employees will be a fee of 8% of annual base salary.

Overall, this fee model is highly competitive when compared against the other top 5 IT recruitment agencies Melbourne wide.

The payment model for Superior People is that they require payment within 7 days from recruitment of the invoice, an invoice being issued on the employee’s start date. Our review team found that when pressed about these tight payment terms, this company was willing to allow for payment terms of 14
days in certain circumstances.

Customer Service

The graph below depicts the rankings given to each of our top 5 Melbourne-based IT recruitment agencies, based on their customer service performance when handling customer enquiries via email and over the phone. Our Superior People review team rated this company with 9.5 out of 10 for the level of customer service exhibited in its capable management of email enquiries. In fact, when asked for the company terms and conditions over the phone, Superior People generally send them through within an hour.

Our Superior People review team were also impressed by Superior People’s customer service when handling customers’ phone requests, and reflected this satisfaction by giving the Melbourne-based IT recruitment agency a high rating of 9.5 out of 10.

These scores for customer service satisfaction to both email and phone enquiries rank Superior People as having strong results – first overall – when compared to the customer service performance of the other top 5 Melbourne-based IT recruitment agencies.

Their strong customer service was demonstrated in a number of ways:

• Clients speak to a director of Superior People when they call seeking more information about a potential engagement, who is knowledgeable about the business, and is able to make decisions about fees and discounts.
• The director of company is exceedingly friendly, and makes clients feel like he is keen for the work, and committed to finding the right candidate which suits the clients needs
• Superior People are confident in their abilities and methodology, demonstrated by their willingness to work without exclusivity
• While they aren’t IT recruitment specialists, they have the experience and capability to find excellent candidates in this industry.
• Our Superior People review team found that they operate with a high level of transparency

The graph below reveals how fast our top 5 IT recruitment agencies in Melbourne sent through their standard terms and conditions when our Superior People review team requested them over the phone. Superior People generally sent through their terms and conditions within an hour, which was the equal quickest response time of the Melbourne based IT recruitment agencies.

The rows in the image below, taken from our larger Melbourne IT recruitment agency comparison table, reflect how our top 5 were ranked for their overall customer service performance, as well as the overall speed of their replies to customer enquiries. Our Superior People review team rated Superior People 4.7 out of 5 for customer service and found its response to customer enquiries was given at a fastest rating.

This image below is an example of one of the many positive customer testimonials on the company website. Of these reviews, our Superior People review team found that there is a recurring theme of high customer service satisfaction, with almost all the reviews paying particular praise to the flexible guarantee periods and their ability to find long term and high performing employees.

The image below shows the online request form provided on the Superior People website. With its clear formatting and easy to follow layout, is a quick and effective form of communication between Superior People and their potential customers.

Guarantee Period

Guarantee Period is the period in which the recruitment agency will replace a candidate should they demonstrate poor performance or leave the company within the guarantee period. All recruitment companies offer different guarantee periods.

A few highlights about the Superior People guarantee period are as follows:

• If the employee leaves or is unsatisfactory within first six months they replace that candidate at no additional cost. In fact, this company is willing to replace the candidate for free as many times as they need to, until their client is satisfied. This is particularly good compared to the other IT recruitment agencies Melbourne wide.
• Our Superior People review team discovered that if the client prefers credit towards another employee hire, instead of replacing the failed candidate, this is another option. They do not however offer refunds of the fee.
• The replacement guarantee has the standard exclusions that are industry practice. For example, the replacement guarantee will not be provided in the circumstance where the employee is let go due to redundancy, company restructure, retrenchment, restructure of the position, misrepresentation of the position by the employer, redeployment or relocation or candidate has gone on maternity leave. If it is shown that a candidate leaves their employment within the first 6-month period due to any form of mental, emotional, physical disability, harassment or bullying, the replacement guarantee will not apply. The replacement guarantee will not apply if payment has not been received within 7 days as per our Payment Terms (or 14 days if otherwise agreed by Superior People. In short, the guarantee period will be apply if there is a performance issue, but won’t apply for things like redundancy etc.

The graph below shows that Superior People’s guarantee period is 6 months.

Our Superior People review team found that this recruitment agency’s 6-month guarantee period is the longest period compared to the other top 5 Melbourne IT recruitment agencies

The image below, taken from the Superior People website, sets out the detail about the company’s guarantee period, which is 6 months. They include an impressive statistic, that 72% of all candidate they have placed have remained with their employers for 12 months. This should give businesses comfort that this company generally succeeds in placing a successful and appropriate employee.

Methodology

Superior People have a number of ways to source candidates for their clients. For example, they have a large network which they can draw upon. In addition, they are active through online networks such as LinkedIn. They also use job boards such as Seek, and are also capable of head hunting certain high calibre candidates. They noted that sometimes the client will provide them with the organisation that they want to head hunt from, or otherwise they can assist clients by head hunting based on their industry experience.

There are generally 2 or 3 stages to their process for finding candidates. There is an initial phone call, followed by an interview around cultural sit, and another interview focusing on the candidate’s skills. This is typical for the industry and is not similar to other IT recruitment agencies Melbourne wide.

Superior People will generally interview up to 20 potential candidates. The more senior the position the fewer interviewees needed, for senior staff the number of candidates interviewed is likely to be closer to 10.

This Melbourne based IT recruitment agency will generally try not to send their clients a short list of more than 3 high quality candidate options.

Expertise

Superior People were established in 2007.

They are not dedicated IT recruiters. They recruit for a broad range of industries, and have the capability to recruit within the IT and technology sector, as a high level when compared against the other IT recruitment agencies Melbourne wide.

The image below is a snip from the Superior People website, and lists the various industries they recruit in. They are not solely IT recruitment specialists, but the breadth of industries means that this recruitment agency may be able to assist with a business’ various employee needs.

The graph below indicates that Superior People has offices in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.

	Melbourne	Sydney	Adelaide	Perth	Brisbane

However, from discussions with their team, it is clear that they can hire candidate Australia-wide, if this would suit the client.

Overall, our Superior People review team rated this company 4.5 stars, which ranked them first out of our top 5 Melbourne based IT recruitment agencies.