Recruiters - Don't complain about a lack of candidates!

If you know me, have read any of my published content in the trades or seen me present, you will know I am the biggest supporter of the traditional recruitment industry and have a passion to protect it from the press group monopoly on candidate flow and the trend for employers to go it alone using the latest employment technologies.

Imagine then my disappointment when I distributed my CV to a number of rec2rec and technology agencies, as a candidate through their standard application process, in a quest to establish if there were any businesses they were talking to and could place me with that needed the short-term or flexible support of someone like me; 10 years traditional and on-line recruitment experience at a sales and senior level, ex MD of the REC's technology subsidiary, ex REC's Acting Technology Director and all-round staffing and employment technology/innovation specialist.

There were 4 types of response from the agencies I approached.

1. Immediate phonecall to introduce themselves and their business, then a fact find to establish what I was looking for and how they could support me. - To those, if you are reading, I salute you. You represent everything I have grown to admire about the recruitment industry and I look forward to working with and recommending you to my peer group.

2. Personalised email thanking me for sending my details but confirming I fell into a category they didn't support or I was looking for an opportunity outside their geographical boundary. - I can accept this as a reasonable response. After all time is money and they were good enough to say straight away that we couldn't help each other. I would say however, that I probably know many people that do fit into their categories and geography so if they used me correctly by staying in touch as an introduction point, I could probably facilitate a couple of fees a year for them.

3. Automated email confirming that my details have been received and would be databased for reference against suitable opportunities. - Not on face value negative, however, I know what this means. Because there was not a specific vacancy available at the time my CV was received, I was going into a database, many of which are not proficiently searchable, so in most cases I will be approximately 200kb of space taken up on their server and will never be seen again.

4. Nothing, nada, zip, tumbleweed rolling across a desert with an eary sound in the background. - An appalling response. Now considering most agencies when questioned will say that the biggest issue to their business is finding candidates, why oh why, would you not engage with one, one who I like to think is a strong candidate, who is placeable, connected, experienced and regularly in the press applauding the industry!

To those who provided the 2, 3 and 4 responses, what happened to specking candidates out? Is this a thing of the past or is the focus on the fee rather than candidate.This got me thinking. When some recruiters complain about a lack of candidates, do they mean a lack of candidates that perfectly fit the actual roles they have available at that very moment in time?

We know from the unemployment rates that the majority of job seekers in the UK are placeable, so I wonder if the focus was more candidate orientated, is there more value to be achieved all round!Here's a thought and perhaps a challenge to directors in the recruitment industry that follows the mystery shopper principle. Why not submit your CV to your own business via your website and see what response you get. You might be surprised!

Finally, to the agency that sends their automated responses with the subject header 'Resonses' with a missing 'p' and from an email address that starts 'reject', you might want to assess the experience you provide to job seekers!

It's Official, Technology 'Wont' Replace Recruiters!!!

I read, with surprise, in Recruiter Magazine today that a report called 'Debunking the Myths' has been produced by Cordoba Consulting for REC and KPMG to tackle questions on managed services and technology within the UK recruiter and employer marketplaces.

I was surprised because I find it difficult for a report to be so definitive in its conclusion that technology 'won't' replace recruiters because "too few employers have a sufficiently well-defined brand or web presence to attract as many candidates as they need".

I wonder if Cordoba included a review of the job board and search marketing industry's when conducting their research because, forgive me if I'm wrong, the low cost level playing field access to job boards, CV databases and pay per click sponsored links in the UK has given even the smallest employers equal opportunity to promote themselves and their vacancies on-line, which for some time has been the most proven method of finding a new opportunity for UK job seekers.

The report is also released at the same time as the CIPD's 'Recruitment, Retention and Turnover Study' which highlights that 73% of businesses surveyed used agencies in 2006, which is down from 76% in 2005. 3% doesn't sound much but a 3% reduction in UK recruitment industry turnover equates to £750 million pounds, which incidentally is more than the turnover of the fourth largest recruitment company operating in the UK by £250 million based on 2005/2006 figures, so not an insignificant sum!

In addition, we continuously read about the record profits and sales figures of technology vendors, including Stepstone Solutions and Jobpartners, who provide recruitment solutions to corporate employers to power their self-hire strategies.

I'm not saying that technology will replace recruiters but there is compelling and documented evidence that it is and will continue to erode corporate employers dependence on agencies, so a report claiming that technology won't have an effect sounds more like it is based on opinion rather than fact.

There's No 2.0!!!

Just a bit of tongue in cheek, but I had yet another conversation with a chap at the weekend who believed Web 2.0 described the impending launch of a new version of the Internet to rival the existing one!!!

I know, I know, it's like what they say about 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire', it's only easy if you know the answer, but you can't blame people for getting the wrong idea, when marketeers around the globe have jumped on the 'latest buzzword bandwagon' and flooded the press with Web 2.0 this and Web 2.0 that, without explanation and headlines like 'how web 2.0 are you?', plus historically, technology companies have called new versions of their products version 2.1, 3.0........

I of course explained in detail where the term Web 2.0 originated from and what it meant (fastrack here), but it led to some really humorous afterthoughts given that marketeers could now continue this methodology for describing other business practices, activities and pastimes.

Our discussion then was taking place at a BBQ 2.0 because we were using gas rather than charcoal, and the liquid of choice to wash down the food was Beer 3.1 (3.1 because it was in a can rather than on draught and included a widget so we could pretend it was draught). We went on and on, probably something to do with continued flow of Beer 3.1 and the introduction of Spirit 4.6, 4.7 and 4.8.

We had to stop because it started to get annoying, but it did highlight and semi explain a real issue I have noticed in the UK recruitment market. Technologies and innovations are complex but the explanations of what they do and what value they provide don't need to be. So here is a simple request to all technology marketeers around the world. Focus on simple 'plain English' explanations of your products and services rather than creative technological jargon!!!!

It might have an influence on a current trend where many recruiters are in the process of changing their existing recruitment software because it didn't do exactly what it said it would do on the tin (thanks Ronseal)!

On a side issue, we also started discussing if an actual Competitor to the existing Internet could be created with the hard-drives of dormant PC's, Laptop's and Server's around the globe being used to power it. Probably Beer 3.1 talk again but something to ponder on the next time I get a free minute or two.