Pressure is mounting for authorities to step in and regulate recruitment agencies, following the emergence of what have been described as 'cowboy' operators.
The Daily Telegraph reports that one such firm, which recruits auditors and risk managers, has been using different names and spam emails promoting jobs that don't even exist in an effort to flush out unsettled employees.
The group was known as Seymour Chase and supplies established agencies with names of potential recruits. The agency has no registered address and changes its name regularly to avoid detection.
The Recruitment and Employment Confederation describes such firms as 'cowboys'.
The 8,000-strong confederation has its own code of conduct and penalties for breaches, but it has become increasingly difficult to supervise the sector's growing fringe element.
The industry has been involved in talks with the Department of Trade & Industry about regulation, but progress has been stalled because of fears over administrative costs.
Further reading:
Salary survey autumn 2006: the age of acceptance
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