Short answer
Check the licence first — recruitment agencies need a licence for some work and not other work. Then check that the business is who it says it is: of the 1,003 Australian recruitment agencies in this directory, only 19.1% publish an ABN you can confirm, and 23.5% list a phone number that contradicts the one on their own website.
Recruitment Agencies handle permanent and temporary hiring, labour hire, executive search and candidate screening for employers. This is what to check before you let someone choose who works for you, and what the evidence says about the category as a whole.
Recruitment Agencies are licensed for some work and not others
Recruitment itself is unlicensed, but labour hire — supplying workers who remain the agency's employees — requires a labour hire licence in Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and the ACT, with a public register in each. An agency placing workers into your business in those states must be on it, and using an unlicensed provider is an offence for the host as well.
Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and the ACT each publish a labour hire licence register. For straight recruitment there is no licence; the contract and references are the check.
What 1,003 Australian recruitment agencies actually publish
We check every business in this directory the same way, and publish the result whether it flatters the trade or not. For recruitment agencies:
| What we checked | Recruitment Agencies | All trades |
|---|---|---|
| Publish an ABN we could confirm | 19.1% | 21.5% |
| Listed phone matches their own website | 29.4% | 59.2% |
| Listed phone contradicts their own website | 23.5% | 7.7% |
| Website responded when we checked | 94.4% | 81% |
| Corroborated by two or more sources | 88.9% | 81.1% |
| Median number of Google reviews | 35 | 39 |
What goes wrong with recruitment agencies
- Labour hire from an unlicensed provider, which exposes you as the host business
- Replacement guarantees that turn out to be conditional on a second fee
- Candidates whose references and right to work were never actually checked
What to ask before the work starts
- If you supply workers on hire, what is your labour hire licence number?
- What is the fee, and what is the replacement guarantee in writing?
- What do you verify about a candidate before you send them?
A recruitment agency who answers all three of those without hesitating is telling you something useful. One who is vague about a licence number is telling you something too.
The median matters more than the average
The median recruitment agency in this directory has 35 Google reviews. That is the number to hold in your head when you see a perfect five-star rating: five stars from four reviews and 4.6 from three hundred are not comparable, and the second is almost always the safer hire.
It is also why the ranking here weights review volume more heavily than review score. A business cannot buy its position, and a handful of glowing reviews does not move it far.
Where the recruitment agencies are
Sydney (136), Melbourne (106), Brisbane (85), Perth (61), Adelaide (24). A shortlist for your own area is more useful than a national ranking — the best recruitment agency in the country is no help if they are four states away.
Where to check a licence, by state
There is no national register. Search the licence number with the regulator for the state where the work is happening.
- NSWNSW Fair Tradingbuilders, electricians, plumbers and specialist trades
- VICBuilding and Plumbing Commission, and Energy Safe Victoria for electricalbuilding practitioners and plumbers; electricians are Energy Safe Victoria
- QLDQueensland Building and Construction Commission (QBCC)building and most trade contractor licences
- WABuilding and Energybuilders, electricians, plumbers and gas fitters
- SAConsumer and Business Servicesbuilding work contractors and supervisors
- TASConsumer, Building and Occupational Services (CBOS)building and occupational licences
- ACTAccess Canberraconstruction occupations licensing
- NTNT Government building practitioner registrationbuilding practitioners and electrical workers
Common questions
- Do recruitment agencies need a licence in Australia?
- Sometimes. Recruitment itself is unlicensed, but labour hire — supplying workers who remain the agency's employees — requires a labour hire licence in Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and the ACT, with a public register in each. An agency placing workers into your business in those states must be on it, and using an unlicensed provider is an offence for the host as well.
- How do I check a recruitment agency's licence?
- Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and the ACT each publish a labour hire licence register. For straight recruitment there is no licence; the contract and references are the check.
- What percentage of Australian recruitment agencies have a verifiable ABN?
- 19.1% of the 1,003 recruitment agencies in this directory publish an ABN we could confirm against the national register, against 21.5% across all trades.
- How many reviews should a recruitment agency have?
- The median recruitment agency here has 35. Treat a five-star rating from a handful of reviews with more caution than a slightly lower rating from hundreds.
Compare recruitment agencies near you
1,003 recruitment agencies, ranked on the evidence described above rather than on advertising.
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