UK Recruitment Industry - “The Spotty Youth of British Business”

It is true to say that as a marketeer I really should think before I speak – which sadly I don’t, much to the annoyance of many of those who have worked with me in the past and who would subscribe to the thought that “he only opens his mouth to change feet.” But I would hope that those same critics would also conclude that I can always be trusted to “say it as I see it” and more importantly am always prepared to give way to a well argued contra-opinion. And my frankness has added considerably to my strength as a negotiator, lobbyist and champion of difficult issues.

I have been using the phrase “Recruitment is the Spotty Youth of British Business” since my time as Managing Director oft the REC, the trade body for the £26 billion UK recruitment industry, where I coined it to convey a heartfelt belief that the recruitment industry desperately needed to ‘grow up’, especially if it was ever to stand a chance against the apparently respectable HR and purchasing community – its primary clients.

I visualised the average operator as a hormone charged adolescent, bounding with energy and enthusiasm (and perhaps just a little anger) and eager to please everyone around but without the knowledge and sophistication of age. Simply I reckon the average recruiter goes about business like a ‘bull in a china shop’ and breaks more than a few priceless plates along the way.

Whilst I was charged by some as ‘dissing’ the business sector (which simply goes to enforce my point), the reality is that I have a real love of the industry and especially its passion but I do feel it should spend less time raving (for the short term pleasure) and more time focusing on life and the pursuit of happiness (its strategic gains). It has never come as a surprise to me that few recruiters have Business Plans and even fewer have exit strategies. When I explained to one business owner just what the business was worth to a buyer, after first being highly offended by the derisory valuation of the best business in the land he said “Hell who cares, we have really good parties!” What shocked him more was what it could be worth if the whole corporate psychology was just a tad more robust and a little less ‘Happy Days.’

I hate recruiters who make just enough money to buy the Villa in the South of France and then become absentee parents and leave the blood, sweat and tears of the day-to-day operation to a team of good managers, who themselves quickly become disillusioned and start making plans to rip-off the database and form their own money machine in competition. The resulting legal action, fought from the South of France, which both parties enter into with the same teenage venom as a pair of young Rottweillers.

A more structured and focused approach; leading business development by reference to a well engineered plan and deviating only within measured and reported parameters, could make the experience more enjoyable; in a rewarding sense, and more rewarding; in a long term profitability and return sense. Entrepreneurs often believe their cavalier style and devil-may-care flamboyance will make up for all traditional business disciplines. Well, sadly they are wrong and all good entrepreneurs (like the Bransons of this world)quickly recognise that they can only be gung-ho within the constraints of a focused and profitable plan and with the right people around them to make it succeed.

Therefore I conclude that most recruiters need a mentor, probably with a few grey hairs and real and practical business experience and success, and preferably not just in recruitment, to help guide the formulation and delivery of the business’s full potential. This will also enable it to realise its true worth. And even better, to ensure you get the best service from your mentor give that chosen person authority by appointing them to the board as a Non-Executive Director. Then expect your NXD to tell it like it is, not pussyfoot around difficult subjects and take responsibility (at least in part) for your success.

Gareth