There are many urban myths which exist regarding recruitment agencies. A recruitment agency is a professional staffing provider to employers. In general companies will engage a recruitment agency to source specialise staff for their organisation. Under Irish data protection law recruitment agencies are not allowed to share your information without your consent - applying for a job through an agency is not in the practical sense consent - best practice dictates they should contact you first before forwarding your CV. Furthermore recruitment agencies cannot charge candidates for their services (under the law, the maximum charge is €1, but in a practicable sense there is no charge).

In general, an employer will approach a recruitment agency and engage them professionally to source staff for a particular role. The agency is tasked with sourcing, screening and introducing candidates meeting the criteria to the hiring manager. The hiring manager will then make a decision regarding which applicants they want to interview. The recruiter is then tasked with managing these candidates through the process from application through interview to offer of employment and contract signing.