Recruitment
It has been a long, hard winter, and it is safe to say that the years of recession have taken their toll worldwide. The construction industry was worst hit, with projects dipping significantly during the lean years. The knock-on effect was that suppliers to the industry (lumber and construction material wholesalers and cement and concrete product manufacturers) along with home furnishing stores all took a hit. Company purchasers tightened their belts and, as a consequence, the office supplies and printing industries also suffered.
Job growth
With the recovery comes growth, and industry analysts are seeing it in abundance in many areas. This means progression in the job market, and in 2013 in the US, North Dakota led the pack in terms of recovery with job growth of a phenomenal 17 percent. Washington, D.C. came only a distant second, and Texas, Colorado and Utah completed the top five. The other end of the spectrum saw Arkansas, Mississippi, Maine, Alabama and New Mexico reporting the lowest rates of recovery in terms of job growth.
It is fair to say that confidence and competition is returning to the recruitment industry, with permanent starting salaries and hourly pay rates beginning to climb. Employer confidence is also making a comeback; indeed, 76 percent of employers polled in a recent study said they planned to increase permanent staff headcount within the next three months. There is certainly cause for optimism, and with the headway being made by the construction industry in emerging from the recession, it is no surprise that workers in this industry are the most in demand in both the temporary and permanent job markets.
There are multiple factors that have squeezed the headhunting business in recent years, so the end of the recession does not by any means indicate that it’s all plain sailing from now on.
Internet
Business functioned at a slower pace 20 years ago, which meant that recruiters were able to form and retain much longer lasting relationships with their clients. Even though staffing fees were high, networking was important then. It was vital to know the right people in recruitment to get the business done. Clients did not expect and nor could they get hordes of eager applicants for every vacancy they had to fill. Snail mail and faxed resumes sufficed, and fewer jobseekers were headhunted, which meant that the recruitment consultant developed very personalized relationships with both client and jobseeker.
The Internet has had a profound effect on the way the recruitment industry operates. Clients are able to post their own jobs and bypass the recruiter. First Craigslist and then later, and much more strikingly, Monster impacted the recruitment industry in a big way. Social media in the form of Twitter and Facebook were not causing too many ripples in recruitment, and then LinkedIn came into its own, giving more access to jobs and more personalized postings. Competing job boards have also become popular, and what all of this means is that jobseekers are able to perform their own searches and place themselves into new roles – without ever speaking to a recruiter.
The future for recruitment
What does the future hold for the recruitment industry? Nowadays, it seems that it is all about agility. It is true that the Internet has had an effect on the global job market; however, it is important to remember that it is also having an increasing impact on global growth. In fact, 21 percent of GDP growth over the past five years has been due to the Internet. Moreover, the US is the principal player in the worldwide Internet supply ecosystem, attracting in excess of 30 percent of global web revenues. As a catalyst for job creation, the Internet is second to none. Therefore, it is incumbent for recruitment companies to harness the power of the Internet. LinkedIn cannot survive without recruiters; it is worth noting that the lion’s share of its revenue comes from recruitment companies and that as its star rises, those of the job boards alongside the non-specialist, “volume” recruiters are most definitely waning.
In 2015 and beyond, specialist recruiters will continue to add value and therefore see continuing success by knowing their clients’ businesses inside and out and being a trusted consultant, advising high-end clients and jobseekers, perhaps even managing the shortlisting process for companies inundated with job applicants. Those recruitment companies which continue to use a scattergun approach to placing applicants will quickly find themselves out of the race.
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