Hello everyone, I am new to this forum and have found it to be an invaluable source of information so far.

I have been tasked with obtaining ISO 9001 for a Recruitment consultancy

I was wondering if anyone could give me guidance with regards to this as the "service" is a candidate who is on site at another premises.

I am wondering how this fits into 7.2.2 and 7.5
As there is no purchased product do i completely miss out 7.4 ?
Tricky one for me

Your responses would be useful to me

thanks

Hello Debbie - welcome to the Coves!

Certainly ISO 9001 can be used in a consultancy (maybe more should use it);)

We don't have space here for the long version of how it applies, but, your 'Product Realization' would be the handling of either recruiting customers' projects/contracts (review, planning, interviewing, analyzing, reporting etc.) or the individuals who apply for a position (I'm guessing you 'hold' their info until a match is made). You may not, indeed, purchase anything in the way of other services (e.g. use another 'specialist' agency for specific personnel) or, have to control any measurement equipment, so these can be excluded, with justification in your manual. Otherwise, just about everything applies to the way you work your normal business processes (with maybe a few additions such as audits etc.)

Hope this helps. There will be quite a few more responses here, I have no doubt.

(P.S where are you from in the U.K? - I'm a Brit, too!)

It is fair to say that your organization buys nothing in support of the service you provide?

Where ever you see the word "product" it includes service(s).

What exactly is the product (or service) that you provide? Is the candidate your product or is placement of the candidate your product? Or something else?

Thank you,

Dirk

I have been tasked with obtaining ISO 9001 for a Recruitment consultancy

I was wondering if anyone could give me guidance with regards to this as the "service" is a candidate who is on site at another premises.

I am wondering how this fits into 7.2.2 and 7.5
As there is no purchased product do i completely miss out 7.4 ?


The broad answer to your question, Debbie, is that ISO 9001 can be applied to a recruitment consultancy very well indeed - it's a generic Standard for a quality management system, intended for application in virtually any organisation, from profit-making to non-profit, and from manufacturing type businesses to service-based ones - which is where yours fits.

As you read the Standard, keep reading 'and/or service' wherever you read 'product'. I know, it requires a bit of mental manipulation - if it's easier, just read 'service' throughout instead of product. If you keep thinking service, service, service instead of product, product, product, it gets a lot easier.

7.2.2 - critical to your services, surely? You need to review to ascertain that you know what your customer wants and have a good expectancy of being able to meet their requirement. If they want a senior accounting manager, and you think they want a junior accounts clerk, you've got a problem, no? Or suppose they first say a senior manager, but then later email something about a junior clerk. Well, you need to resolve these 'differing requirements' before you waste everyone's time searching for the wrong person.
Sometimes they don't provide anything in writing - they might tell you XYZ is leaving - I need a replacement. If you already have specs for that role, that's fine. But if you have NO idea of what they want beyond a warm body... you would both have a problem.

And the 'records of the review' might be as easy as, say, a consultant viewing the summary of requirements/the Position Description/their notes of client requirements and entering them into your computer system.

7.4 Whatever you buy in - whether that's goods or services - if it has an effect on *your* quality of service, then it applies. If you don't buy in stuff, it doesn't. Forget coffee & stationery & paper clips - no real effect. But if you outsource, say, behavioural intervieweing or psych. testing, it would.

7.5 IN general, covers how your organisation goes about controlling its core services - ie, how it goes about getting work, sourcing candidates, screening them, presenting them, etc. Here's where you need to identify your need for procedures/guidelines etc.

ID & traceability - well, you don't want to mix up the Jones BM file with the Jones JD file, do you? Or send a candidate to the wrong customer?

7.6 almost certainly doesn't apply.

Hope this helps.

Remember - keep reading SERVICE instead of product. Then ask yourself - how do we do this?

Hello everyone, I am new to this forum and have found it to be an invaluable source of information so far.Glad to hear it, Debbie. Keep asking and we'll keep posting!

I have been tasked with obtaining ISO 9001 for a Recruitment consultancy

I was wondering if anyone could give me guidance with regards to this as the "service" is a candidate who is on site at another premises. As posted earlier the set of processes you operate are easily accommodated by ISO 9001. Have a search around the competition - there are many registered recruitment agencies out there.

For me: I have carried out a contract with a certified company and my company is in the process of assessing and (hopefully) registering one as well.

I am wondering how this fits into 7.2.2 and 7.5 The customer defines a set of requirements (all of 7.2). What your agency does to satisfy their requirements is your process control (7.5)
As there is no purchased product do i completely miss out 7.4 ? You probably purchase some services such as advertising to meet the customer project requirements. Have a look at all that your company purchases and see how they might support your processes.
Tricky one for me

Your responses would be useful to me

thanks

Good luck! :cfingers:

interesting...now, what about Design and Development , all the 7.3 elements? Do you think it will be applicable in service industry, such as this ?

interesting...now, what about Design and Development , all the 7.3 elements? Do you think it will be applicable in service industry, such as this ?

Sure! Recruitment consultancy is a typical Design process. If my customer comes to me with the need - say for a top quality "quality" person. As an organization I have to come up with a one off means of satisfying those needs to find this outstanding individual, putting together a search and selection programme and then delivering it.


...... or I could just trawl the Cove! :lol:

thanks very much Paul

You are helping to clarify the situation for me.

I have only been in a retail environment for IS09001 before so all the help in a service industry environment is of great help.

Pity I can't get a peek at a Quality Manual written by a Recruitment Agency -
Any ideas on that ?

Debbie

Pity I can't get a peek at a Quality Manual written by a Recruitment Agency -
Any ideas on that ?
Glad to be of help, Debbie. Unfortunately the only manuals like this I have access to are of our certification clients. I will speak to one and ask them to contact you direct - they may not though as you may be working for a competitor!