Managed service providers (MSPs) have become the new outsourcing. Their apparent benefits are cost savings, compliance and increased resources. But do MSPs manage to deliver all these benefits and, most importantly, do they give the client the greatest chance of getting the best candidates? In my opinion, they do not.

First off, there is the fee clients pay the managed service vendor, which they must add to the recruitment fees they pay to the agencies.

Secondly, because of the set-up of these managed service vendors and the time it takes to progress, say, interviews and feedback, or negotiate anything, the recruitment process is longer, the best candidates go and the roles are often re-released.

Thirdly, I think it is rare that the clients working through these MSPs get the best candidates for the roles because, as mentioned above, they get other roles before the process has finished.

When agencies sign up to these MSPs they buy in to service level agreements. Do they ever work? In short, no. Often feedback is hugely delayed, but it is rarely within the timescales set. As a result, the quality candidates have gone.

Nowadays compliance is becoming ever more important with new laws and regulations being passed, increasing the amount of red tape to be negotiated. But you don't need an MSP to sort this out. Give the recruiting managers a list of things that must be offered. They email this to an agency they wish to use and if the agency can offer it, they send back an acceptance and their terms to prove it.

MSPs claim that they free up HR and management time by taking over the recruitment process. But the managers still have to write the job specifications, produce a business case for the budget, put the request to the MSP, go through the CVs, allocate a time for interview, carry out the interviews, make an offer, integrate the candidate into their team, authorise timesheets and allocate budget...

Recruiting managers come to us when they have a recruitment need — and often one that needs to be met at speed. They know they will pay a fee and for this they expect quality candidates. MSPs do not allow for this to happen and, in my view, certainly do not allow for quality service and value for money.