Jan Marshall, HR director at London Marriott County Hall, told Recruiter that she was looking for added value from a recruiter that can service the whole of the UK and can thereby offer preferential rates for using them.

Marshall adds that pressure on margins brought about by competing hotels dropping their room rates has meant that she is very cautious where the hotel was spending its money.

Marshall says vacancies are first advertised on the firm’s website and once that is exhausted and a suitable candidate is not found they would to go to an agency.

And when Marshall does engage an agency, she says she would prefer to work with consultants who know all about her business.

To this, Marshall advises consultants to take time to visit the location, have a look around and if the assignment is for a particular department, they could go to that department to see what the other people are like to get an idea of who would fit this position.