Playbook, recruitment agency
Candidate registration, explained before anybody picks up the phone
Registration is the highest volume onboarding conversation in this trade and almost all of it is procedural: what to bring, whether originals are needed, how long it takes, what happens afterwards. The one part that is not procedural is whether a particular document or immigration status gives somebody the right to work, and that is a question with a prescribed answer set by rules rather than by the agency, so it never belongs in a chat reply.
Why this is not the general answer
The handling pattern for setup and onboarding holds across every trade. What follows is the part that does not.
- Right to work checks have a prescribed form in most jurisdictions, covering which documents count, how the check is performed and what protection a correct check gives the employer, and none of that survives being paraphrased.
- The candidate is often trying to start work this week, so the question is really about how fast registration can happen rather than what it involves.
- Registration produces a large holding of personal data, including identity documents, so what the assistant says about the process has to line up with what your privacy notice says about the storage.
- Temporary and permanent candidates go through different registration paths in most agencies, and a candidate looking for shift work has a different urgency from one being represented for a permanent role.
How it arrives
- how do i register with you
- what id do i need for right to work
- do you need to see original documents
- how long does registration take
- can i register online or do i have to come in
- do you have any warehouse work this week
What has to be indexed for this to work
| Your registration process, step by step | How somebody starts, what happens at each stage, how long it takes, and what happens afterwards. Setting expectations here reduces chasing more than any other single document, because most chasing comes from people who were never told what normal looks like. |
|---|---|
| Right to work and identity document requirements | Which documents you accept, whether originals are required, how digital checks work where your jurisdiction allows them, and what happens if a document has expired. State your procedure and never let the assistant assess anybody's status against it. |
| What else you need before a first assignment | References, qualifications or tickets for the sector, protective equipment, a bank account for payroll, and any sector specific clearance. A candidate who arrives with all of it starts on Monday, and one who does not starts a week later. |
| Your branch hours and how registration appointments work | When you register candidates, whether appointments are needed, and whether anything can be completed remotely. This is the question that decides whether somebody registers with you or with the agency down the road. |
The reply
Registration takes about an hour and we can get most of it done in one appointment. Bring the identity documents listed on our registration page, and we do need to see originals rather than photographs for the right to work check. If you have references, qualifications or tickets for the kind of work you are after, bring those too, because it means you can be put forward straight away. I cannot tell you whether a particular document is acceptable, so if you are unsure, leave your name and email and a consultant will check before you travel.
It answers the speed question first, since somebody registering is usually trying to work soon. The originals requirement is stated flatly because it is the thing candidates get wrong and it costs them the appointment. The last sentence draws the boundary in a way that is helpful rather than defensive, by offering to save them a wasted journey.
Where it stops
The trigger. The candidate asks whether a specific document, visa or status is sufficient, or describes their immigration position.
I am not able to say whether a particular document or status gives you the right to work, because that has to be checked properly rather than guessed at. Leave your name and email and a consultant will confirm before you come in.
It stops answering before it guesses, says who will pick it up, and asks for the one thing that makes a reply possible. Nothing about it reads as a dead end.
Never say this here
Out of bounds
- Never say whether a document or immigration status gives somebody the right to work.
- Never suggest a candidate can start an assignment before the check is completed.
- Never confirm that work is available in a particular sector this week.
- Never accept a photograph or a description of a document as though it were a check.
Questions
- Why is the right to work line drawn so hard?
- Because the rules prescribe which documents count and how the check is recorded, and a correctly performed check is what protects the employer. A paraphrase in a chat window has none of that, and a candidate who acts on it travels for nothing at best.
- Can it register somebody?
- No. It cannot receive documents or write into any system. It explains the process, tells the candidate exactly what to bring, and takes a name, an email and a message so a consultant can pick it up.
- Candidates ask what work is available. Should it answer?
- It should point at the live vacancy listing rather than describe roles in its own words. Job advertising is regulated in many markets, and an assistant summarising a vacancy in the agency's name is advertising it.
Keep reading
- Everything for a recruitment agencyTwo audiences on one website. Process, payroll and compliance questions are answerable, application outcomes never are.
- Handling setup and onboarding in generalMost product material is written for somebody who already understands it. A first run guide has to be ordered, not merely complete.
- Client billing questions, and the terms of business behind themTimesheet driven invoices, permanent fee triggers and rebate conditions. The client side billing questions with fixed, publishable answers.
- Erasure requests from candidates, and where they have to landA CV holding is exactly what erasure rights were written for. How the assistant routes the request and separates it from unsubscribing.
- Which side of the desk is asking, and why it decides everythingTwo audiences, two inboxes and one confidentiality wall between them. The handover starts by working out which side of the desk is typing.
Try it on your own material
Upload a document or point it at your site, paste one line of HTML, then ask it something only your business could answer.