Recruiters: The world is moving on, why are you still standing still?
I am amazed. Honestly I am truly amazed…….
What planet are many recruitment companies living on when it comes to the future of their businesses? Over the last few months I have spoken to many different types of recruitment business, from small to huge, generic to sector specific to micro-niche etc, and I am staggered by the level of resistance to change.
In my opinion, I think we are seeing more change in the recruitment sector now than we have seen for many years. Exciting isn't it? Well it maybe for some people, but it seems that my industry - recruitment - still wants to sit back, watch decide on its fate at a later date. Here are 10 points why I think recruitment agencies just cannot afford to wait any longer to make changes:
- Job seekers (the lifeblood of recruiters) are suffering from are suffering from 'job board-itus' and are now using less job boards. YET recruiters are now using more job boards in the hope they will find the people they want. Only one answer to that - DIMINISHING RETURNS.
- Candidate exclusivity is extinct. The days of being able to get exclusivity (and the subsequent 'control') from candidates is well and truly over. The proliferation of social media and openness of data has seen to that.
- Job adverts - the longstanding default for recruitment companies - are producing less and less relevant results. No longer can recruitment consultants simply take a job requirement from a client, place an advert and fill it from the advert response. Firstly, the likelihood is that the client has already done this, and secondly 'job-board-itus' mentioned in point, means good candidates are less likely to see the adverts and actually apply.
- The one and only income source for recruitment companies - their fee-paying clients - are relying less and less on recruitment agencies for recruitment. They are doing more direct sourcing, building better career sites, using recruitment technology more effectively than ever, utilising the power of their brands via the social channels and actually using the same resources (job boards, LinkedIn etc) as the recruitment companies themselves!
- The once successful days of hitting the phones solidly from 9-5 with meaningless scripts and (lets be honest here) sh*t so-called sales calls are over, in my opinion. Too many companies and candidates have been on the end of them, and they have developed a much harder and apathetic approach to the them. However, the days of quality, researched, knowledgeable and respectful sales calls is very much here - they are the ones that clients AND candidates are happy to receive.
- There is still a massive expectation, that as long as recruitment agencies keep doing what they have always done, things will 'turn round in the end', and their businesses will return to successful times again. Doh! Do you read the news? Does the word economy mean anything to you? Things will never go back to the way they were - surely your decreasing sales figures will show that.
- Many recruiters are under-skilled in many of the new methods needed to survive in the changing recruitment world. To be fair, this is more circumstance and speed of change that anything else. The ability to think laterally, be creative in sourcing techniques, strong relationship builders, multi-taskers and be prepared to accept change, are not necessarily in-built in today's recruitment needs. Training is needed to help them adapt and change.
- There is SO much focus on next month's perm targets / contract numbers / billings / reveues / targets / (have I missed anything here?) that little time is spent developing strategies for the next 3,6 and 12 months. It is as if the world just revolves around the next 4 week cycle. What about the word relationship? Time invested in these now, more often than not yields success further down the line. The better recruiters have always understood this, and have invested their time accordingly.
- Big data has happened. Everyone (whether they like it or not) has a digital footprint online across the social web. That means with the right tools and training everyone can be found. Online sourcing is now at levels like never before. It is for this reason that point 2 above has happened. And there are some really awesome tools recruiters can tap into immediately to find good people. Of course, the sourcing is just the first stage, engaging with them is another!
- It is actually 2012, not 2007. Just checking that you realised that - I have been convinced in my many conversations that recruitment owners haven't realised!
This is not a recruitment agency bashing post at all - recruitment is in my blood, why would I do that? There are massive opportunities in this market at the moment, for those with the vision, speed and desire to change to take advantage of them. New skills niches are opening up every day, candidate sourcing has hugely opened up your available options to find good people, and with your competitors still sitting on the social fence, you have a real opportunity to steal an march on them.
Change is upon us, and worryingly I see too many recruitment agencies prepared to sit still and watch the business world pass them by at an alarming pace. Many would expect me to bang-on about social recruiting and how you must implement it tomorrow just to survive. Well the truth is, this is much bigger than just using social networks to recruit. This is about a more fundamental review of what you think your recruitment business is actually going to look like in 1-2 years time. Now is not the time to 'suggest a review' in 6 months time (which is what one of the big household name recruitment companies have just done), now is the time to figure out how best you can get competitive advantage while you still can.
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Comments 13
Julia Briggs
Again Andy, spot on. And what also needs to be added is the whole concept of service.
When, in spite of all the poor salesmanship, you win a client - then for god’s sake treat them well. Get back to them, keep them informed, let them know the bad news (don’t run away) and develop an honest and open relationship, where you bring some value. And don’t ever ever ever mention your targets as a reason for doing something to a client. We really don’t care. In fact, most of us hate the fact you are target driven.
Rant over. For now.
David Palmer
Good post it resonates with a Discussion I’m involved with on the IOR group. I’m going to share it with a Link. Thanks
StephenTurnock
Could not agree more Andy! That perfect storm is not just on its way.. it’s here and now and and indeed an opportunity for some. BUT… those recruiters with ‘eyes wide shut’ however, there is no future in Just thinking that somehow you have been proactive posting a job and waiting… now that is standing still indeed! It’s no longer business as usual.
To be fair also, it’s the business leaders that must get to grips and understand and review and update their 10 year old mission statement and it’s ‘relevance’ in what candidates and clients expect. Recruiter ‘brands’ will no longer be created or maintained as before, but instead co-created. “People,” will take centre stage and the candidate experience that for many has not been on the button in JobBoard land, must now come top.
Hence it’s an end to business as usual > leaders must allow innovation and experiment alongside existing revenue streams. Standing still = zero growth and no future!
Helping You Hire
As a staffing solutions expert, i can tell you that we definitely take advantage of social media sites when sourcing for candidates (and pre-screening them as well!) But this isn’t to say that we don’t also utilize job boards. We also use social media to represent ourselves in a way that we couldn’t have in the pre-social media era. This is something that i think is extremely beneficial, especially given the stereotypical mindset concerning recruiters and staffing agencies.
link to staffing-solutions.biz
Barry Smith
Some good points and we all need to continue learning BUT. Like other trainers seeking work it is written as if those of us at the sharp end have no idea what we are doing.
As I said some decent points but I think a change of approach may be in order Andy.
Andy Headworth
Thanks Julia, you can breathe again now :)The best recruitment companies are famous for their service led approach.
This will just become more pronounced and expose the agencies that don’t provide good service.
Andy Headworth
Thanks David - I saw the string on IOR! That was a mad conversation!!
Andy Headworth
Stephen,
I watched a presentation from Davos last week, where Lucian Tarnoski, the CEO of BNT talked about Talent Leaders being more important than Financial Directors. I can see his point, but not sure the UK’s leaders will appreciate that statement…….. not just yet anyway!
Andy Headworth
Barry,
Thanks for the comment. I have been writing this blog for 5 years, and much of my writings and opinions are based on real experience as a recruitment professional - 20+ years to be precise. My ‘day job’ is consulting and advising recruitment companies large and small.
So while it may appear to you (possibly in the style of my writing) that I am a have no idea what recruiters are actually doing - you couldn’t be further from the truth.
I have a very good idea, and I see it every day!
Just before Christmas I presented my thoughts on this subject to well over 150 recruitment companies, and when we discussed this subject, only 3 people disagreed! The rest were in agreement with my thoughts on where recruitment is at currently.
You may have noticed across my many blog posts that I regularly share recruitment advice, tips and tricks with my readers. Yes I have an opinion, but don’t we all?
I appreciate you both reading the post, and taking the time to comment. I hope I have demonstrated that I may be someone who does know what you are doing
Andy
Barry Smith
Andy
We have never met so far be it for me to question your integrity or ability. I’m not saying that you are wrong in saying that recruiters need to embrace social media, of course we do.
Perhaps it is the way you are making your point that seems wrong. Statements like ‘What planet are many recruitment companies living on when it comes to the future of their businesses?’ does not always go down well.
As I said we can all learn to do things better but I will have been running this firm very successfully for 23 years next month. In that time we have never ‘hit the phones at 9am making sales calls’. In fact we have never used such methods and I suspect that the most successful recruiters don’t.
As I said there are some decent points in your article but I would say that your approach could be improved.
StephenTurnock
Time for that fax machine to go in the bin!. I like Andy’s reference to that ‘job board-itus’ for candidates - as they shift from the pit of no response… and especially transactional recruiters get less response, maybe even 30 % less over the last 2 years and yet the answer? advertise more… Doh! Fishing in the same reducing pool of actives.
What opportunity ahead then for change as the new dawn is here already.
Certainly direct employers are already there are they not? That says something. Again, an opportunity for recruiters to build some real value ahead.
RocketScienceRe
Andy, I often love the energy in your blogs but I wonder if you truly do have a solid handle on what is happening out here in the recruitment world. Do you for example know of the immense investment and collaboration undertaken by a major European player with LinkedIn in what amounts to the conversion of LinkedIn into a massive CRM and ATS solution that integrates across all social media platforms and reconciles data at the click of button? Are you aware of those independent recruiters who are providing managed service solutions, bespoke ad-hoc RPO solutions, in-house consultancy and Talent Acquisition Advisory? Or the many who have totally diversified to add expertise such as employer branding, social media recruitment strategy and similar to their standard service portfolio? Could the real issue here be that just as I did when I first began using LinkedIn in beta back in 2003, many of us would rather not shout our USP’s and market differentiators from the roof tops?
Whilst I truly dislike the phrase, at the end of the day. On this occasion it is very apt. At the end of the day change can be good. Change is often necessary. There are still far too many recruitment businesses out there with their head in the sand (or elsewhere in many cases) doing the same old thing the same old way. These will either adapt or die, and that isn’t a bad thing. If they don’t have the instinct or intuition to adapt then either they don’t know their industry or they don’t have the required skills to participate within it. In either case the sooner they move on to something else and stop polluting the gene pool the better.
My guess would be that these operators are the same operators that have words like ‘innovative’ in their website text and can’t demonstrate anything innovative whatsoever and believe that sending an Inmail via LinkedIn is Head Hunting.
The sooner these weaklings fall by the way side the better. Thankfully there is no ‘welfare state’ or ‘benefits system’ for the recruitment industry to help them procreate and survive against the odds and act as an inhibitor gene to the industry.
So for those of us who do ‘get it’ and are adapting and competing, the sooner those that aren’t will disappear. There is no room for ‘dysgenics’ in an industry and trying to train people who can’t see the obvious to adapt and to survive is a disservice to the sector and the market as a whole.
But then again no doubt someone is willing to pay you to come and point out the things that wouldn’t need pointing out to them in the first place if they actually deserved a place at the top table.
Andy Headworth
Darren,
Thanks for the response. Just to put your mind at rest, I do in fact have a handle on the recruitment industry. I work with recruitment companies - large and small, corporate in-house recruitment teams, and recruitment vendors, every day. The training, speaking and writing is just a small part of my working week - most of the time I am helping the clients I work with gain efficiencies in their recruitment and working processes.
I think that gives me a good insight into the recruitment marketplace. And as for your examples above the answer is yes I am aware of them. The LinkedIn one is particularly interesting, because there is more than one doing that!
You are right that change will lead to the recruitment industry ‘self-filtering’ itself of all the recruiters/companies that just don’t see the benefits of change. In effect it is the natural selection of the recruitment industry.
Happy to discuss it further with you if we ever meet
Andy