The New Age of Recruiting

The recruitment landscape isn’t just changing. It has already fundamentally changed. The old adage that the larger your candidate database is, the stronger your recruitment brand, no longer rings true. The reality is that social media (primarily LinkedIn) has made active and prospective candidates visible to all and having a ‘large database’ is no longer the province of the larger brands.

Recruitment has become more competitive (certainly in markets like Hong Kong and Singapore) and it is compounded by the industry having very low barriers to entry. Companies have also become more astute at recruiting, directly through on-site talent acquisition teams, and mainstream candidates have become more accessible to the general market Therefore, for a recruitment firm to survive in the long term, it has to add real value.

Honestly speaking, it is about time that this has happened. For too long, the recruitment industry has been open to those that purely transact, add very little value to a recruitment process, don’t consult and treat candidates like commodities, providing very little in the way of service. In the current climate this type of recruiter won’t last and that’s a good thing. In order to be successful in recruitment in the current climate, you have to add value in a hugely competitive market.

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Recruitment is a very tough industry. Before it may have been just job matching in simple terms, but that isn’t the case any longer. Companies can recruit straight forward roles directly. It’s the difficult ones they struggle with. A recruitment firm has to specialize, its consultants have to understand the market (industry and roles) and they have to consult.

So what type of person succeeds in recruitment now? Those who can build relationships, connect with their clients and candidates, and are very well networked. You need to access prospective candidates that others can’t source – and do so faster. Understanding what sits behind a job description and get to the heart of a culture are also key, as well as being able to influence and being able to challenge and push back.

Fundamentally our business is about people, and it’s about relationships. The industry has evolved, in many ways for the better. It’s certainly not easier, but it is more rewarding and takes the industry closer to becoming truly consultancy driven. Those that survive are the ones that adapt their models, are focused on high levels of service, added value and consultation. Recruitment firms that fail to do this and rely purely on volume activity rather than actually consulting will begin to dwindle. Is this really bad for our industry? In my view, it is a ‘no’.

Ambition’s vision of building better futures is built on our recruiters genuinely changing lives. It’s time our profession was also respected for the service we do offer to many people. To differentiate the best recruiters from those who don’t enhance the reputation of our industry is a good thing.

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