Guides · 106 step-by-step methods Recruiting can be learned.
Just not from a brochure.

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• AI copilot for recruitment agencies: what it can (and can’t) do

  An AI copilot inside your recruitment CRM can search, match, score and draft. What a UK agency should expect from one, where a recruiter must stay in charge, and how Marvin’s Copilot works in Desk.

  9 min

• Best recruitment CRM for UK agencies (2026): an honest buyer's guide

  Six criteria that matter to a UK agency, from contract and temp coverage to total cost, then Bullhorn, Access Vincere Evo, Firefish, JobAdder, Recruit CRM, Loxo, Spott and Marvin compared on sourced facts: prices, contract features, AI and reviews.

  14 min

• Bullhorn Back Office alternative for UK contract agencies: timesheets and invoicing in the CRM

  Bullhorn Back Office is now Middle Office, sold in North America. What UK Bullhorn agencies use instead for timesheets, invoicing and payroll, what Bullhorn does better, and when a CRM with built-in day-rate timesheets and invoicing is the simpler choice.

  9 min

• Equality Act 2010 for recruiters: protected characteristics, fair job ads and shortlists

  The nine protected characteristics, what the Equality Act 2010 means for job adverts, shortlists and health questions, where positive action ends and unlawful positive discrimination begins, and the gender pay gap reporting rules for 250+ employees.

  10 min

• Hiring an apprentice in England: wage, levy and funding

  What an employer in England must do to take on an apprentice: the £8 apprentice minimum wage, who pays the 0.5% Apprenticeship Levy, how training is funded, the £2,000 hiring payment for non-levy employers and the rules on contracts, training time and flexi-job agencies.

  9 min

• LinkedIn sourcing and multichannel outreach for UK recruiters

  How to source candidates on LinkedIn and run email, LinkedIn and WhatsApp sequences without burning your accounts or your reputation, and what the UK GDPR expects when you contact people who never applied.

  9 min

• MCP for recruitment agencies: connect Claude or ChatGPT to your CRM

  What an MCP server lets a recruiter do from Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor: search the candidate pool, score a shortlist, prepare a brief, update the pipeline. How to connect Marvin’s MCP server, and the safeguards around it.

  8 min

• Probation periods in the UK: length, extension and ending one

  Probation is not a legal requirement in the UK, and it can be any length. What has to be in writing, how to extend it, how to end it fairly, what changes when unfair dismissal protection starts after six months from 1 January 2027, and two annotated letter templates.

  11 min

• Spott alternative for contract and temp agencies: timesheets, client sign-off and invoicing

  Spott is a strong AI-first recruitment CRM. For a contract desk, check how it handles timesheets, client sign-off, invoicing and LinkedIn or WhatsApp outreach. What Spott does better, where Marvin differs, and prices in pounds.

  8 min

• Timesheet Portal alternative: timesheets and invoicing inside your recruitment CRM

  Timesheet Portal is a separate UK pay and bill tool that you connect to your ATS, with hourly or daily timesheets, self-billing and full UK payroll. When it is the right choice, and when timesheets and invoicing inside the CRM are simpler.

  8 min

• UK employment contract types explained

  Permanent, fixed-term, zero-hours, agency workers and contractors: what each contract means in the UK, which rights come with it, and why employment status (employee, worker or self-employed) matters more than the label on the contract.

  9 min

• Written statement of employment particulars: what UK employers must give on day one

  What the written statement of employment particulars must contain, what is due on the first day and what can wait two months, how to record changes, why a job description is not compulsory, and a checklist for UK employers.

  9 min

• Agency workers in the UK: the AWR 12-week rule, the Key Information Document and transfer fees

  What a UK employment business has to get right when it supplies temps and contractors: equal treatment after 12 weeks, day-one rights, the Key Information Document, temp-to-perm transfer fees and who enforces the rules since April 2026.

  12 min

• Contract and temp recruitment software: what a UK agency actually needs

  A contract desk does not work like a perm desk: assignments, rates, timesheets, invoices and redeployment all have to live in the same place. What to look for, and where Marvin fits.

  7 min

• Employment Rights Act 2025: the timeline for recruitment agencies

  Royal Assent, the Fair Work Agency, six-month tribunal claims, six months' service for unfair dismissal, guaranteed hours and umbrella regulation: the dates a recruitment agency needs, with the government's own caveats.

  8 min

• IR35 for recruitment agencies: the SDS, the fee-payer and the 2025 size thresholds

  Who decides IR35 status, what a Status Determination Statement is, when your agency becomes the deemed employer, and what the higher company size thresholds from 6 April 2025 change, and when.

  9 min

• Late payment of invoices in the UK: payment terms, statutory interest and compensation

  When a business-to-business invoice becomes late in the UK, how statutory interest of 8% above base rate is calculated, the fixed compensation of £40, £70 or £100, and where the Commercial Payments Bill stands.

  9 min

• AI, MCP and UK GDPR: what recruitment agencies must check before connecting Claude or ChatGPT to their CRM

  Connecting an AI assistant to your recruitment CRM through MCP moves candidate data into a new tool. What UK GDPR and the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 require, and a checklist to run before you switch it on.

  9 min

• Recruitment agency terms of business template (UK): perm fees, temp-to-perm and contractor clauses

  An annotated outline of the clauses UK recruitment agencies put in their terms of business: placement fees, rebates, temp-to-perm transfer fees that comply with regulation 10, and clauses for contractors. A starting point to review with a solicitor.

  11 min

• Right to work checks for recruitment agencies: what changed in October 2026

  Since 1 October 2026, the Right to Work Scheme covers workers, individual sub-contractors and some contractual chains, not only employees. Who checks in an agency supply chain, the penalties, and what the new Home Office guide says.

  8 min