Meaning & use
employment agency
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountable
A business that helps people find jobs and helps employers find workers, usually charging the employer a fee.
Grammar: Countable: an employment agency, several employment agencies.
Patterns
- register with an employment agency
- through an employment agency
I registered with an employment agency after leaving college.
The employment agency sent three candidates to the interview.
Many offices hire temporary staff through an employment agency.
nouncountable
A government or public office that gives unemployed people job listings and advice.
Grammar: Often followed by a place: the local employment agency.
Patterns
- sign up at the employment agency
The public employment agency offers free training courses.
He visited the local employment agency every Monday.
Word forms
| plural | employment agencies |
|---|
Common combinations
- register with an employment agency
- She registered with an employment agency in the city center.
- a recruitment employment agency
- A recruitment employment agency found him a role in finance.
- use an employment agency
- Small firms often use an employment agency to fill urgent vacancies.
- a temporary employment agency
- A temporary employment agency supplied extra staff for the holidays.
Synonyms and how they differ
- recruitment agency
- Recruitment agency is the usual British term and often suggests finding skilled staff, while employment agency is a broader general term.
- staffing agency
- Staffing agency is common in American English and often refers to supplying temporary workers.
- headhunter
- A headhunter is an individual who searches for senior or specialist candidates, not an organization that serves all job seekers.
Word family
- employ verb
- to give someone paid work
- employment noun
- having a paid job
- employer noun
- a person or company that hires workers
- employee noun
- a person who is paid to work
Commonly confused: employment agency or employer?
employment agency vs employer
An employer actually hires and pays workers, while an employment agency only connects job seekers with employers.
Practice
After losing her job, Maria signed up with an ___ to find temporary work.
Choose one answer.
An employment agency matches workers with jobs; the other agencies handle insurance, trips or property.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “employment agency”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.