I’m sat in a coffee shop, something I notice myself doing more and more, partly as it gets me out of the office but also a reflection of my work pattern that has significantly changed since the ‘R’ word arrived. Now some recruiters I talk to are all up beat, it’s about opportunity etc. etc. they have never had it so good and that may be true. Certainly my work in talent pooling, acquisition strategies etc. has increased but there are no two ways about it, on the front line, getting people into jobs has died and died dramatically.

Now before we go down the woe is me route, it will be ok, I have been around the block, have diversified into appropriate high value consultancy (but can cope with more, hint!) and do see the change in economic climate as an opportunity but in this profession I am in the minority.

When you dig a little bit deeper though, there is a slightly different story to tell, yes it is tough, but it is really that clients have changed their behaviour. More and more there is a move to an inhouse approach, talking direct to candidates, missing out the unvalued middle man recruiter.

For me this is an interesting move, for years clients have used recruitment organisations to fill the volumes of jobs they had, managing the process and supply chain rather than actually knowing how hard it is to attract talent, assess talent and successfully recruit the talent. Suddenly they are in the firing line and good news for us recruiters is that at last in some cases they actually appreciate how tough it is.

The perception has always been that recruitment companies did some advertising, got some CV’s and just emailed them in and to be fair, some did and still do. Those of us that have taken a value based, professional route know there is so much more to it and now some of those clients actually realised it.

In the main it’s the volume that has killed them, an organisation with a strong brand and access to a good pool of direct sourced talent can easily find themselves swamped. They don’t have the qualifying and assessment mechanisms in place that their recruiters used to have and they are drowning, often delivering a poor service to their candidates and because they are direct, damaging their employee branding. Not good for you, me or anyone.

The solution, well obviously in an ideal world they would come and talk to me but in reality these clients need to reassess their approach to the market and dare I dare I say it act like an agency!

When the ‘R’ word is over I will still be here to help my clients with the critical hires they will need to grow their business but I am here today to help get your inhouse capability on track, think like an agency, proactively manage the process and deliver the results you need yourself.

Martin Dangerfield