Marketing, Media and Communications

Emma Brierley, Chair of The Marketing, Media and Communications Group (MMC) :  

"As CEO of Xchangeteam Group, one of the UK’s leading recruitment specialists in marketing, media and communications, I have become dismayed over recent years by the fact that a few agencies have chosen to adopt “unethical” practices. 

Whether it involves sending out CVs without discussing the opportunity with candidates beforehand in a bid to get the CV to the client first, or headhunting candidates from their clients, these cynical ways of working have been leading to confusion, lengthening the recruitment process and damaging the good name of the recruitment industry as a whole. 

Which is why I have been battling for so long, with the backing of other like-minded professionals, to set up an official code of practice for the sector that can be used to kick the cowboys out of the industry and generally stamp out any dodgy behaviour .

Earlier this year, a tough new standards group made up of REC members met at the Recruitment and Employment Confederation's (REC) head office in central London in order to thrash out the details of a new code. This new Marketing, Media and Communications Group (MMC), has now created a comprehensive Code of Conduct that we believe will set a standard of service that professional recruitment agencies will aspire to reach.

There are three parts to the Code: one part is designed as a Code of Practice for recruitment companies, one is a Guidance for Clients and one will serve as a Guidance for Candidates working in the sector. It will be policed by the Group and REC's Professional Standards team.  With a Code in place, it will now be much easier for recruitment agencies, candidates and clients to build a relationship with confidence in the knowledge that everyone will offer a certain standard of conduct and behaviour. 

At the end of the day, the question of ethics is everyone’s problem and bad practice should never be ignored or encouraged.  For this reason, I am pleased to see the initiative going ahead and sincerely hope that many recruitment agencies, clients and candidates will sign up to it."