Part of the staffing & recruitment agency hub — an educational cluster covering how agencies work, the placement models and how employers and candidates work with them. For decision-style reading, see the staffing & hiring comparisons.
This page organises the questions worth asking by theme. It is educational and neutral, with no fee figures, scripts to negotiate price, or provider recommendations.
Who this page is for
- Employers about to engage an agency
- HR teams running a selection conversation
- Operations managers who supervise agency workers
- Founders setting up their first agency relationship
Core concept
The best questions are specific and evidence-seeking. Instead of "do you screen candidates?", ask "what checks do you run as standard, and what do you do beyond that on request?". Specific questions reveal how an agency actually operates.
Cover four themes: how candidates are sourced and screened; who holds the employment relationship and responsibilities; how communication, replacements and issues are handled; and exactly what the terms include. Together these tell you how the engagement will feel in practice.
Ask the same questions of every agency so you can compare answers fairly, and write the important ones into the agreement rather than leaving them as verbal assurances.
How it works
- Sourcing and screening: how candidates are found, checked and prepared
- Employment and responsibility: who employs the worker and who supervises
- Communication: how you reach the agency and how fast issues are resolved
- Replacements: what happens if an assignment is not working
- Terms: what the agreement includes, excludes and guarantees
Plan the hire before you source with the recruitment planning checklist, and keep screening consistent using the candidate screening checklist.
Key considerations
- Whether answers are specific and backed by evidence
- Whether the same questions are asked of every agency
- Which answers need to be written into the agreement
- How the agency handles uncomfortable questions
- Whether responsibilities on site are clearly assigned
Advantages
- Clear questions prevent costly misunderstandings
- Specific answers reveal how an agency really works
- Consistent questions allow fair comparison
- Written answers reduce later disputes
- A confident agency welcomes detailed questions
Trade-offs
- A thorough conversation takes time
- Some answers depend on the specific role and market
- Verbal assurances mean little unless documented
- Over-scripting can make the conversation rigid
- Comparisons still require judgement, not just answers
Common mistakes
- Asking vague questions that invite vague answers
- Not asking who is the employer of record
- Skipping replacement and escalation questions
- Leaving key answers undocumented
- Asking different agencies different things
Practical checklist
- What checks do you run as standard, and what is optional?
- Who is the employer of record, and who supervises on site?
- How do I reach you, and how fast are issues resolved?
- What happens if an assignment is not working out?
- What does the agreement include, exclude and guarantee?
- How would a temp-to-permanent conversion work?
For interviews, draw on the interview question bank and the hiring scorecard guide; to plan the wider workforce, see the workforce planning guide.
Free, printable hiring resources
Plan, interview and onboard consistently — whether you hire directly or through an agency. No signup, no gating.