Are recruitment agencies still relevant?
Question posed by Kerry Ann Eustice of The Guardian, Weds 8th July 2009...Recruitment agencies may once have been the first port of call for jobseekers, but is there much point to them in a digital age? The collapse of Barkers – one of the biggest recruitment ad agencies in the UK – has seen a shocked sector debating the future of not only these advertising middlemen but also the middlemen between candidate and job - the recruitment agents.
With jobseekers increasingly using alternative means to find roles – namely, social networking and online job sites, the relevance of traditional advertising and the role of a recruitment consultant is being called into question.
We wonder how many of you feel that recruitment agencies provide a useful service and how many actually feel they are already redundant.
Marketing Scout opinion, posted 10th July 2009
I am a Director of a company that specialises in recruiting for the marketing industry, two areas of business that companies tend to look too first when cutting spend and incidentally two areas that can benefit a business most when times are hard. A strong marketer as per a strong recruitment consultant can help ensure that spend in these areas is effective and delivers a return. But implementing a strong marketing strategy or bringing in key personnel to take the business forward are both skills that the development of digital technology cannot contribute to.
Yes, digital can help increase the speed of applications, eases communicating direct with the right people and generally helps make the processes easier but it cannot replace human expertise. Whilst this type of 'middle-man' cannot always be justified, companies & candidates that value finding the right person & position can truly benefit from the expertise of a strong recruitment consultant. A good recruiter knows the industry they work in inside out, ideally working in it for a considerable amount of time themselves, and can use this insight to scout out, assess, coach and develop candidates accordingly. Likewise, a commercially savvy consultant will be able to help the companies recruiting by offering genuine advice on the type of person they bring in, help implement strong HR strategies to ensure greater staff retention and will remain involved long after any fee has been paid.
Unfortunately, not all recruiters strive to deliver the same level of expertise and hence this sector always comes under scrutiny when times get tough but service levels cannot be improved by digital interception alone.
Incidentally, a poll ran with this article asking the question ‘Do you find recruitment agencies useful?’
The result...71.4% agreed, we are useful!
http://careers.guardian.co.uk/poll/recruitment-agencies-relevant?commentpage=1&commentposted=1
Posted 22 July 2009
