Evolution of Recruitment
Author: James Davey

With today's current economic climate, recruitment agencies
have to look at their current methods to see if they are keeping
up to date with the markets needs. It's all well having some of
the best consultants, resources and reputation behind you but
without knowing the market properly they are all useless. When
many of us started in recruitment things were very different.
Let's look at how from the two main perspectives:

1.Business Development- This side of recruitment has changed
dramatically. We all remember starting a new recruitment role
with a cold desk, no leads, maybe a database if you're lucky.
Now I'm not saying that it is no longer a numbers game, because
it clearly still plays an important part but far more research
must now be done by a consultant. Gone are the days where you
would cold call organisations, at times guessing people's names.


Research through professional networking sites, social
websites, word of mouth, referrals are now essential in
developing business and more importantly gaining knowledge. With
the evolution of the web, far more information is available on
anyone in the professional world. Now let's say you have the
appropriate information, the target company, the name of the
appropriate manager and you're ready to call, what are you going
to say? Far too many agencies claim to be vertical market
specialists when they are not.

This does not mean that your company has to focus all of its
efforts on one specific market, but the consultant must have
some genuine knowledge of that market from both the client and
candidate point of view. The best clients to work for will spot
a 'generic agency' or 'generic consultant' a mile off. We all
know the saying, 'knowledge is power' and without any genuine
knowledge guess what will happen when pitching for business?

2.Candidate Search/ Resourcing- Funnily enough, this has also
changed somewhat. I remember when I first started you could
simply advertise a new role on the standard job boards, go home
and await a mass influx of applications to work through the next
day. Now I'm not saying that all applications were good but
there would be a few solid relevant candidates to work with.
Now, due to new job sites, network sites etc... The candidate
pool has somewhat diversified. There is no "one-stop-shop"
jobsite to find all of your candidates anymore.

A variety of job sites must now be used alongside other methods
of referrals, advertising, network sites etc.... Now let's say
you find your candidate, the same rules as with business
development apply. You cannot call a good candidate and speak
generically about roles demonstrating your lack of knowledge.
You must show you have a good understanding of the market as a
whole; an understanding of what it is they do and most
importantly an excellent understanding of the role and company
you are trying to sell. Too many consultants do not truly
understand what it is their clients actually do.

For example, if you are recruiting a technical role, you need
to know more than a list of technologies that is required, you
need to know why they are used, how they are used, how extensive
a candidates knowledge needs to be within a certain technology
etc.... And most importantly consultants need to understand what
a candidate wants from their next role. It is no good pushing a
candidate towards a position that doesn't truly offer the
progression they crave; the consultant will get found out.

In summary, recruitment is a great industry because it is
always evolving. A consultant that billed 250k+ five years ago
has no guarantee to bill the same in today's market unless they
keep up-to-date with the current recruitment methods. More of
the 'blaggers' are found out in today's market as a good
recruitment consultant has to have more knowledge, you cannot
sell an opportunity unless you understand what it is you are
selling.


About The Author: James Davey is a Principal Recruitment
Consultant at Consegna UK which is a leading recruitment
consultancy specialising in Technology and
http://www.consegna-uk.com/ Management Consulting Jobs. He
personally specialises within Strategy & TMT Consulting.