IT support for recruitment agencies
IT support for recruitment agencies
Consultants on the phones and in the CRM from their first morning, candidate data that stays with the agency when they leave, and payroll protected from fraud.
- Sector
- Recruitment
- Typical size
- up to 250 staff
- Coverage
- Herts, Essex, London
- Proof
- Client reviews
In short
Dig IT Solutions provides managed IT support for recruitment agencies across Hertfordshire, west Essex and London. We run the helpdesk, secure Microsoft 365 with MFA and conditional access, keep consultants connected to recruitment CRMs such as Bullhorn, Vincere and JobAdder, manage VoIP phones and call recording, and process starters and leavers quickly so candidate data stays with the agency. It suits agencies of up to 250 staff with no in-house IT team.
Who this is for: Permanent, contract and temporary recruitment agencies of up to 250 staff: single-office specialists, multi-branch commercial and industrial recruiters, executive search firms, and the payroll and compliance teams behind a temp desk. Our contact is usually the managing director, the operations or finance director, or the office manager who looks after IT alongside compliance and onboarding.
Sector pressures
What keeps recruitment agencies up at night
Candidate personal data at volume
An agency's database holds tens of thousands of CVs, most belonging to people it never placed, alongside passports and visas from right to work checks, references, and sometimes DBS or health details for temporary workers. UK GDPR applies to all of it. CVs saved to desktops, candidate spreadsheets emailed between consultants and records nobody has reviewed in years are what turn one lost laptop into a reportable breach.
Leavers taking the database with them
Consultants move between agencies often, and the candidate and client records they worked are exactly what a competitor wants. The usual routes are a CRM export in the final fortnight, mail forwarded to a personal address, and contacts synced to a personal phone. Taking personal data without the employer's consent can be a criminal offence under the Data Protection Act 2018, but prevention and an audit trail are worth more than a prosecution afterwards.
The phones are the production line
Consultants spend most of the day on calls, and a desk that cannot dial or reach the CRM is not billing. Call quality depends on the office network and Wi-Fi as much as the phone platform, and directors want call recording, reporting and click-to-dial from the CRM. With the PSTN switch-off due in January 2027, any remaining traditional lines need moving as well.
High staff turnover and hybrid working
A new consultant needs a laptop, a headset, Microsoft 365, a CRM login, a LinkedIn Recruiter seat, job board access and a phone extension on the first morning, and many will work from home part of the week. When that depends on someone remembering, new starters lose days, job board passwords get shared, and leavers keep access for weeks after they have gone.
Temp payroll, timesheets and payment diversion
Agencies running weekly payroll move a lot of money on a fixed timetable, which fraudsters understand. The common attempts are an email from a worker asking to change bank details, a forged timesheet approval, and an invoice to a client with altered payment details sent from a compromised mailbox. Mailbox security, plus a rule that bank changes are confirmed by phone on a known number, stops most of them.
What we do
How we support you
A helpdesk that treats a silent phone as urgent
Remote support via Splashtop for the consultant who cannot log in to the CRM or whose headset has stopped working, and on-site engineers from Hoddesdon when a network, switch or branch line needs hands. Directors get one number, one accountable team and a ticket history. See managed it support service.
Microsoft 365 secured for a sales floor and for home
MFA for every user, conditional access that limits sign-ins to managed devices, automatic forwarding to external addresses blocked, and alerts on unusual sign-ins and mailbox rules. Exclaimer keeps email signatures consistent across consultants and brands without anyone editing their own.
Starters and leavers run as a process
New-starter and leaver forms through our client portal, with HP or Dell laptops imaged and ready before day one. The checklist covers the things specific to recruitment: CRM user, LinkedIn Recruiter seat, job board logins, phone extension and shared mailboxes. On departure, access is revoked the same day, the mailbox is retained for the desk, and company data is removed from the leaver's phone.
Phones and networks built for call volume
8x8 VoIP with call queues, call recording where you need it, and desktop and mobile apps so a consultant working from home is on the same extension. Underneath it, UniFi or Cisco Meraki networking with voice traffic prioritised, Wi-Fi that covers the whole floor, and branches linked so every office works the same way.
Email security and training aimed at payroll fraud
Filtering for impersonation and lookalike domains, SPF, DKIM and DMARC on your domain so it is harder to spoof to clients and workers, and short security awareness training for payroll, accounts and consultants. EDR on every device isolates anything that gets through before it spreads.
Backups, documentation and answers for client audits
Microsoft 365 backup for mailboxes, OneDrive and SharePoint with test restores, a documented record of devices, patching and access, and help completing the supplier security questionnaires that larger clients send. When you decide to certify, we prepare the environment for Cyber Essentials. See cyber essentials service.
Software we work alongside
Systems recruitment agencies run on
- Bullhorn
- Vincere
- JobAdder
- Access Recruitment CRM (RDB)
- Itris
- Voyager Infinity
- LinkedIn Recruiter
- Broadbean and job board multiposting tools
- Microsoft 365 including Outlook and Teams
Listed to show familiarity, not as vendor partnerships. We support the platform your software runs on and work with each vendor’s support team on your behalf.
Compliance and expectations
UK GDPR and the ICO
Candidate records, right to work documents and worker payroll details are personal data, and some of it is special category. The ICO expects an agency to know where that data lives, limit who can reach it, keep it no longer than it can justify, answer subject access requests, and assess a breach for reporting within 72 hours. That takes access control, logging and a retention routine rather than good intentions.
Information Commissioner's OfficeThe Conduct Regulations and the EAS Inspectorate
The Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003 require agencies to keep records on work-seekers and hirers, generally for at least a year after they last acted for them, and the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate can ask to see them. In IT terms the records need to be backed up, retrievable and protected from a leaver deleting them on the way out.
Employment Agency Standards InspectorateREC membership and client audits
Members of the Recruitment & Employment Confederation sign up to its Code of Professional Practice, and larger clients, preferred supplier lists and public sector frameworks send their own security questionnaires. Both come down to the same evidence: who has access to what, how devices are protected, and what happens to data when someone leaves.
Recruitment & Employment ConfederationCyber Essentials
Corporate clients and public sector frameworks increasingly ask recruitment suppliers whether they hold Cyber Essentials, because the agency handles their hiring data and their workers' details. The five technical controls are the baseline we run as standard, and we help you prepare the self-assessment when you choose to certify.
NCSC Cyber Essentials
What clients say about working with us
“Vince is the most dedicated IT professional I've ever had the pleasure of working with. His business has been running a long time so they really know what they're doing; they have systems and procedures in place and he stays ahead of the game when it comes to the latest technology. From fixing a broken computer screen to completely networking my offices. Highly recommend him. If there was a six out of five I would give it.”
Switching to us
How the handover works
Switching a recruitment agency starts with finding out who holds the keys. We record every device, line and login, including the CRM administrator account, job board and LinkedIn Recruiter contracts, the phone system and the domain, because these are often tied to a director's personal email or to someone who left years ago. We document it, run alongside your outgoing provider through handover so no desk is without cover, and schedule changes away from payroll day and month end. Consultants get a short, plain briefing and one number to call. The full process is at our switching IT provider guide.
FAQ
Recruitment Agencies: questions we are asked
What IT support does a recruitment agency need?
Can you support Bullhorn, Vincere or our recruitment CRM?
How do we stop consultants taking candidate data when they leave?
Can you provide phones with call recording and CRM click-to-dial?
Do we need Cyber Essentials to win client and framework work?
How much does IT support cost for a recruitment agency?
Insights
Guides for recruitment agencies
Cyber Security
Employee offboarding IT security checklist: closing the doors leavers leave open
Why former employees are a hidden security risk for UK small businesses, and a step-by-step IT offboarding checklist for accounts, devices and shared passwords.
Guides & Checklists
IT onboarding checklist for new starters (what to have ready before day one)
An IT onboarding checklist for UK small businesses: information to collect, accounts and licences, device build, security, phones and access, with a timeline.
Cyber Security
UK GDPR: the IT controls a small business actually needs
The IT controls UK GDPR expects of a small business: access control, MFA, encryption, retention, backups, processor contracts and 72-hour breach reporting.
Next step
Talk to an engineer, not a sales script
Tell us what is not working, or what you are planning, and we will give you a straight view on what it would take to fix.