The Recruitment Revolution
The Sunday Business Post
January 19th, 2014
The recruitment sector is changing, but it's important to keep sight of the fundamentals, writes Gareth Naughton.
The advent of Linkedin and other social media tools has revolutionised the recruitment process, with the result that some companies are taking it in-house. Are they shooting themselves in the foot, however, by foregoing the expertise of an experienced recruitment agency or consultant who may be better positioned to secure them the best candidate available?
While recruiters have reported an upturn in business in the past year, there is no doubt that the playing field has changed. It is a small market and that means tougher competition and clients looking for agencies willing to go the extra mile. Added to that you have the advent of a raft of new ways of accessing potential candidates which cut out the middle man.
Colm Buckley, managing director of The People Group, which is celebrating 25 years in business this year, believes that this is a persistent issue for the recruitment industry and one which cannot be ignored." You won't get many recruitment company owners to admit this but the truth - globally - is that many clients have deserted or are deserting the recruitment industry, at the moment and over the last number of years," he said.
"In a lot of businesses they are cynical about the value we add to a process, they are sceptical about our ability to deliver anything that they cannot get themselves through LinkedIn or other social media."We are very concious that any decent-sized blue chip in Ireland and certainly globally, is building very sophisticated systems. They are using LinkedIn themselves, they are hiring internal recruiters who in many instances come from the recruitment industry. All of that is specifically designed to cut out third party recruiters."
It is Buckley's contention that the fundamentals of recruitment - the craft of the business - are being forgotten as people look to technology to solve their staffing issues, rather than bring in a third party.This technology should be seen as an extremely useful tool, he believes, but it is not the cure-all for all recruitment problems.
"LinkedIn for us is, in fact, something that we use as a secondary tool. It is important and there is no doubt you will find very good people on LinkedIn, but we use our own methodology of tried and trusted relationships, of picking up the phone, of getting referrals, word of mouth," he said.
"I could name four or five companies that I have personally placed senior digital marketeers in over the last six months and I have found those individuals by word-of-mouth from other candidates that we had dealt with here and built up relationships with over months and years.We are running away with ourselves with the digital world and media, but they are only tools."
Underpinning the issue is that clients are no longer prepared to pay a fee for a bunch of CVs. They are looking for somthing more in-depth - the value-add that a recruiiter should bring to the table. They are looking for rcruiters capable of identifying the right talent and guiding those candidates to the point where they are willing to accept an offer.
"Recruiters need to be real experts at talent identification. There is no doubt that they need to build communities both on and off-line," he said."Ten years ago a good recruiter would have told you that their network, the people they know and could access, was the most critical thing in them being able to do their job above and beyond the competition.
"There is no doubt about it, integrated social media and digital marketing networks are very important in terms of building your brand and reputation but they are not a panacea for the recruitment process at the end of the day."
Karen O'Flaherty, chief operating officer at Morgan McKinley, said Ireland's recruitment industry had changed with a greater emphasis on specialist consultants with more in-depth knowledge.
"Because are own industry has changed, we have employed a lot of people who would have already worked in particular sectors. They are networked, they understand the industry and the people they are talking to are more affiliated with them," said O'Flaherty.
"If they are talking to those people and, equally, clients and candidates on a day-to-day basis they (have better knowledge and experience) in where the opportunities are, having the conversations to predict where the hiring might be and being able to match the skill-set with the employer better than anyone else."
Employers are looking for advice on what is out there on the market if they are planning potential hires, and a skilled recruitment agent should be able to provide the necessary insight, O'Flaherty said.
The recruitment agent acting as the middle man is beneficial to both the employer and the jobseeker, she argued, with the former likely to find a candidate who is going to stay put for a period of time and the latter bringing negotiation skills to the table.
"There are a number of employers who are happy to pay over and above for the right person, others canot afford to pay certain people, but they are looking for that expertise on how to serve them on benefits when they cannot necessarily afford to pay out on salary. Somebody who is actually very industry-specific and that has day-to-day knowledge can add a lot in that middle ground," she said.
The sector has changed as well because the "quick buck" mentality of the boom is no longer prevalent. The market is too small to sustain it.
"There is a realisation that you have to look after your customer, whether that is the professional or an employer. That has left are industry thankfully, and people are out to give a good service, knowing that if they don't get a return, in the first instance, that the jobseeker or the employer will come back to them," said O'Flaherty.
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January 19th, 2014
The recruitment sector is changing, but it's important to keep sight of the fundamentals, writes Gareth Naughton.
The advent of Linkedin and other social media tools has revolutionised the recruitment process, with the result that some companies are taking it in-house. Are they shooting themselves in the foot, however, by foregoing the expertise of an experienced recruitment agency or consultant who may be better positioned to secure them the best candidate available?
While recruiters have reported an upturn in business in the past year, there is no doubt that the playing field has changed. It is a small market and that means tougher competition and clients looking for agencies willing to go the extra mile. Added to that you have the advent of a raft of new ways of accessing potential candidates which cut out the middle man.
Colm Buckley, managing director of The People Group, which is celebrating 25 years in business this year, believes that this is a persistent issue for the recruitment industry and one which cannot be ignored." You won't get many recruitment company owners to admit this but the truth - globally - is that many clients have deserted or are deserting the recruitment industry, at the moment and over the last number of years," he said.
"In a lot of businesses they are cynical about the value we add to a process, they are sceptical about our ability to deliver anything that they cannot get themselves through LinkedIn or other social media."We are very concious that any decent-sized blue chip in Ireland and certainly globally, is building very sophisticated systems. They are using LinkedIn themselves, they are hiring internal recruiters who in many instances come from the recruitment industry. All of that is specifically designed to cut out third party recruiters."
It is Buckley's contention that the fundamentals of recruitment - the craft of the business - are being forgotten as people look to technology to solve their staffing issues, rather than bring in a third party.This technology should be seen as an extremely useful tool, he believes, but it is not the cure-all for all recruitment problems.
"LinkedIn for us is, in fact, something that we use as a secondary tool. It is important and there is no doubt you will find very good people on LinkedIn, but we use our own methodology of tried and trusted relationships, of picking up the phone, of getting referrals, word of mouth," he said.
"I could name four or five companies that I have personally placed senior digital marketeers in over the last six months and I have found those individuals by word-of-mouth from other candidates that we had dealt with here and built up relationships with over months and years.We are running away with ourselves with the digital world and media, but they are only tools."
Underpinning the issue is that clients are no longer prepared to pay a fee for a bunch of CVs. They are looking for somthing more in-depth - the value-add that a recruiiter should bring to the table. They are looking for rcruiters capable of identifying the right talent and guiding those candidates to the point where they are willing to accept an offer.
"Recruiters need to be real experts at talent identification. There is no doubt that they need to build communities both on and off-line," he said."Ten years ago a good recruiter would have told you that their network, the people they know and could access, was the most critical thing in them being able to do their job above and beyond the competition.
"There is no doubt about it, integrated social media and digital marketing networks are very important in terms of building your brand and reputation but they are not a panacea for the recruitment process at the end of the day."
Karen O'Flaherty, chief operating officer at Morgan McKinley, said Ireland's recruitment industry had changed with a greater emphasis on specialist consultants with more in-depth knowledge.
"Because are own industry has changed, we have employed a lot of people who would have already worked in particular sectors. They are networked, they understand the industry and the people they are talking to are more affiliated with them," said O'Flaherty.
"If they are talking to those people and, equally, clients and candidates on a day-to-day basis they (have better knowledge and experience) in where the opportunities are, having the conversations to predict where the hiring might be and being able to match the skill-set with the employer better than anyone else."
Employers are looking for advice on what is out there on the market if they are planning potential hires, and a skilled recruitment agent should be able to provide the necessary insight, O'Flaherty said.
The recruitment agent acting as the middle man is beneficial to both the employer and the jobseeker, she argued, with the former likely to find a candidate who is going to stay put for a period of time and the latter bringing negotiation skills to the table.
"There are a number of employers who are happy to pay over and above for the right person, others canot afford to pay certain people, but they are looking for that expertise on how to serve them on benefits when they cannot necessarily afford to pay out on salary. Somebody who is actually very industry-specific and that has day-to-day knowledge can add a lot in that middle ground," she said.
The sector has changed as well because the "quick buck" mentality of the boom is no longer prevalent. The market is too small to sustain it.
"There is a realisation that you have to look after your customer, whether that is the professional or an employer. That has left are industry thankfully, and people are out to give a good service, knowing that if they don't get a return, in the first instance, that the jobseeker or the employer will come back to them," said O'Flaherty.
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