---
title: Keep Calm and Carry On (...recruiting)
description: Legal issues are cropping up all too often in recruiting these days.
---

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# [Keep Calm and Carry On (...recruiting)](https://blog.logicmelon.com/blog/keep-calm-and-carry-on-recruiting)

 Written by [Logic Melon](https://blog.logicmelon.com/blog/author/logic-melon) | Jan 1, 2019 12:00:00 AM

### Legal issues are cropping up all too often in recruiting these days.

 

 

[In fact, the folks over at Menzies Law reckon ](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/8-top-companies-using-design-thinking-hr-analytics-burke-powers)[legal disputes about recruitment fees are up 25% on last year](http://recruitingtimes.org/recruitment-and-hr-legal-updates/17938/number-recruitment-dispute-cases-increase-25-year-says-law-firm/).

So, what’s occurring? Are recruiters just being a little too quick to turn to the courts? Or, is it because falling candidate numbers have made hiring super competitive?

Let us give you the low-down on the current situation, and how you can dodge a day in court.

## What's the beef?

It all boils down to competition. In today's world, companies are desperately trying to find enough staff with the right ingredients to get on board.

### The job market in numbers:

 

- The newest stats show 748,000 vacancies across the UK.
- This is the highest number in 15 years, 74% higher than the mid-recession low.
- About 1.67 million people aren't in work, making the unemployment rate 5.1%.
- 2.2 unemployed people are available for every job vacancy (the lowest since before the millennium).
- In 2011, there were 5.9 unemployed people for every vacancy.
- If this trend keeps going, there will only be 0.8 unemployed people per vacancy by 2019.

 

[**Thanks to the *](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/8-top-companies-using-design-thinking-hr-analytics-burke-powers)[*stat masters at the ONS*](http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20160105160709/http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/lms/labour-market-statistics/january-2016/index.html)* for these lovely numbers*

### Recruiters are in it to win it

All this has made recruitment super-competitive. With these extra pressures, recruiters can slip into bad habits.

Here are some of the legal trapdoors to watch out for:

 

- **'Back-door' hiring:** A recruiter introduces a candidate to a client. The candidate isn't hired until later on, when the company approaches directly to dodge the fee.
- **The 'fee fight':** 'Charlie's Agents' introduces a candidate to a client, but no hire happens. Later, 'Joberoo' swings by with the same candidate, who they hire for a fee. Charlie's Agents aren't happy and demand a fee too.

 

## [Recruiting, but without the headache](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/8-top-companies-using-design-thinking-hr-analytics-burke-powers)

[If I could offer you only two tips for the future, tighter contracts and storing evidence would be it.](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/8-top-companies-using-design-thinking-hr-analytics-burke-powers)

### [Contract law 101](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/8-top-companies-using-design-thinking-hr-analytics-burke-powers)

[Recruiters' terms aren't worth jack until a client’s seen them, and agreed to them in writing.](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/8-top-companies-using-design-thinking-hr-analytics-burke-powers)

[When it comes to disputes, it doesn’t matter whether you’re a recruiter or hiring manager working with an agency. You’ll need to be able to show what (or, who) was the 'effective cause' of the hire.](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/8-top-companies-using-design-thinking-hr-analytics-burke-powers)

[Some recruiters might come up with terms that say a fee's due once a CV's been opened as an email attachment. But, any lawyer better than The Simpsons' very own Lionel Hutz will be suspicious of such agreements from the off.](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/8-top-companies-using-design-thinking-hr-analytics-burke-powers)

### [Evidence... my dear Watson](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/8-top-companies-using-design-thinking-hr-analytics-burke-powers)

[Whether you’re an agency or in-house recruiter, staying out of court is all about keeping records.](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/8-top-companies-using-design-thinking-hr-analytics-burke-powers)

[You've gotta be able to show exactly how the hire took place, and what caused it, to win the argument.](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/8-top-companies-using-design-thinking-hr-analytics-burke-powers)

[This means stashing a whole stack of notes on things like:](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/8-top-companies-using-design-thinking-hr-analytics-burke-powers)

 

- Email comms
- Written transcripts of phone calls
- Key dates: CV submission, introduction, interviews, negotiations and acceptance
- How they decided to hire

 

[If you get on top of all this, you can avoid a legal headache and carry on like the hiring angel you are!](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/8-top-companies-using-design-thinking-hr-analytics-burke-powers)

 

 

 

[View full post](https://blog.logicmelon.com/blog/keep-calm-and-carry-on-recruiting)

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