The 10 most preferred recruitment agencies

Recruit Express, Robert Walters and PageGroup have emerged as the most preferred recruitment firms overall in Singapore.

Recruit Express, which came in second place last year, has shot to the top of the overall rankings in the Vendors of the Year 2014, pushing Robert Walters from its previous number one spot. PageGroup also climbed right up the ranks to take out third place from Kelly Services, which dropped to fourth.

This annual special edition, published by Human Resources, Asia's most read and respected source of HR news, also polled more than 17,000 senior HR professionals and C-suite leaders on which recruitment firms they prefer to use for different level placements.

For roles under $5,000, the most preferred firms were Recruit Express, Kelly Services Singapore and Adecco Personnel. For roles between $5,000 and $10,000, the most preferred firms were Robert Walters, Kelly Services Singapore and Hays, while for roles exceeding $10,000, Page Executive, Robert Walters and Hays came out on top.

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"We are humbled by this nomination. This is an affirmation that what we are doing for our clients must be right – delivering quality candidates to them in the shortest turnaround time," said Ng Yan Ching, senior director of Recruit Express.

"We are blessed with clients who have supported us for many years, and our team of consultants, many of whom have been with the company for numerous years, who, with their heightened sense of urgency, readily put in the extra hours or go that extra mile to find good candidates for the clients."

Toby Fowlston, managing director of Robert Walters Singapore, said their well-established track record over the past 15 years in Singapore - and sustained growth of the contracting business and specialised recruiters - is one of many reasons for their repeated inclusion into the rankings.

"We strongly believe that success in recruitment comes from working in partnership with our clients. Robert Walters places the utmost importance on understanding our clients’ cultures and resourcing strategies to ensure we operate as an extension of their own business," he said.

Over the last 12 months, PageGroup has continued to strengthen its offering across three brands - Michael Page, Page Personnel, and Page Executive - which has helped push them into third place.

"We have grown from 11 to 13 disciplines, having established two teams focusing on engineering and customer Service roles respectively," said Andrew Norton, regional managing director. "With more diversified offerings across all functions and all levels of seniority, we are in a better position to service our clients in all their needs across their organisation."

Now in its ninth year, Vendors of the Year provides a ranking of the most preferred vendors, service providers and consultants used by HR and C-suite professionals to recruit, manage and develop talent in Singapore.

Here are the broken down rankings for preferred recruitment firms:

In Vendors of the Year 2014, more than 125 companies were highlighted as the preferred vendors across 17 categories. These categories cover recruitment, employee healthcare, compensation & benefits, relocation, training venues, serviced apartments, payroll, training and more.

Results are gathered from Human Resources‘ annual HR Trends Survey of 17,723 professionals, made up of senior-level HR professionals (84%) and top management, including general managers, managing directors and CEOs (16%).

Companies from various industries and of varying sizes are well-represented. Senior professionals from both multinational and small and medium-sized firms were included in the survey, with the biggest industries represented including business services (16%), IT & telecommunications (13%), travel (10%), and financial services and energy, utilities & government (both 9%).

Of these respondents, 60% had either regional or international responsibilities, while 40% had domestic responsibilities in Singapore.

To read the full digital version of Vendors of the Year, click here.To see the entire list of winners, click here. 

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