How to... thrive as a recruiter in a tough market
While it’s important to be able to adapt to survive, long-term survival as a successful recruitment consultancy is about focusing on what you already do well as a business, writes Joy Persaud
Date:
03 June 2010
Source:
Guide to recruitment consultancies
Page:
20
1 Avoid quick fixes
During a recession it can be tempting to be drawn into making quick fixes, such as expanding into a new area of recruitment, rather than following a carefully thought out business strategy for long-term survival.
Tough markets are not the time to diversify, but are instead opportunities to ensure that clients and candidates are offered the best service and experience to breed loyalty. Claire Tuffin, managing director of VMA Group, says: “If there are areas of synergy with your core business, developing those opportunities will help to spread the risk if you traditionally focus only in one or two areas. Do what you do well, but better. Stay positive. Keep reviewing the shape, direction and offering of your business. Be flexible with clients, candidates and staff.”
Running a successful recruitment business in a challenging economic climate is about focusing on your core skills as a business, advises Mark Brewer, founding partner at Frazer Jones. “In other words, doing what you do really well and ensuring that you add the absolute maximum value to your clients.”
2 Maintain your integrity
Gary Jones, director at First Counsel, says some unscrupulous recruiters have treated candidates and clients in an “appalling way” of late. For instance, he recounts, in acts of desperation and requirement to reach targets, candidates’ CVs have been sent to clients, without authorisation from them, in a “send as many CVs as you can, because one of them will stick” approach to recruitment.
Jones has used this rocky period to develop and consolidate existing client relationships by providing assistance and advice, usually for no fee, in the hope that when the market picks up these relationships will be strengthened.
Similarly, Hilary Scanlon, director at Ashley Kate Associates Group, has been working consistently harder at building client relationships. Consultants have focused on fostering client loyalty while no recruitment activity is taking place.
3 Don’t rule out change
While quick fixes are not the answer, some recruitment consultancies have diversified their businesses over the past year to ensure survival, notes Kevin Green, chief executive of the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC). He says: “We have seen many of our members diversify in both the sectors they operate as well as seeking to add new services, such as outplacement, to their core offering. We have also seen recruitment businesses move into new models of delivery such as the outsourcing of recruitment activity.”
Jones believes that the larger consultancies have been hit hardest by recession because they are “typically highly resourced businesses with very structured systems and processes and consequently they are less adaptable to changing market conditions”, he says.
“These businesses have had to make large numbers of people redundant. While they may have smaller capital reserves to fall back on, the ones who have succeeded are those who have adapted and been innovative in what they can offer their clients, coupled with being able to manage and reduce their internal costs very easily,” says Jones.
4 Treat relationships with care
Research conducted by the REC and CIPD, A guide to productive partnerships, highlighted what best practice looks like between HR practitioners and their recruitment providers. The key was an open relationship built on trust, where agencies knew the client organisation, its culture and competitive strategy.
David Morgan, founding partner at Morgan Law, has found that client relationships have been one of the most important factors to the company’s success in recent times.
“Despite the challenging economic climate and a rise in competition – particularly around price because struggling agencies use price as a tool to engage clients – we have found that our service has enabled us to stand out from the competition. We have worked extremely hard to give back to our sectors, arranging networking events, discussion forums, seminars and presentations to help facilitate the best possible outcome in challenging times,” he says.
Tuffin says there is more time now to learn how consultancies can add value to clients’ business. But, she warns “if you didn’t have strong relationships in the first place, when the market was buoyant, they won’t thank you for trying to ‘cosy up’ when times are bad”.
5 Assess your internal structure
Morgan Law has recruited new consultants through the recession and has taken on consultants with a broader range of sector experience, as well as graduate trainees, to meet market demands. “We have also managed costs as effectively as possible and made efficiencies where we can,” explains Morgan.
Ashley Kate Associates now has all its staff working on client and candidate relationships throughout the full recruitment cycle and has removed some aspects of management duties from senior staff to enable them to focus solely on client and candidate-facing work.
6 Provide an excellent service
Darren Leppard, director of Select Appointments and Parkhouse Recruitment in Leicester and Coventry, says: “At one time anyone could move in to recruitment and be reasonably successful. Now only those that offer value for money will survive, but it is not all about being the cheapest or introducing gimmicks; it is about the service you provide. Your reputation is the best way to gain or lose new business.”
Lorraine Thomas, managing director of Metzger Search and Selection, which implemented a client survey to obtain quantitative and qualitative feedback, advises asking for clients’ views, and warns against assuming that they are happy with levels of service.
7 Value your employees
Brewer says one of the secrets of Frazer Jones’s recent success is a refusal to compromise on the quality of employees. This is echoed widely. Thomas recommends keeping teams motivated and refreshed. She says: “Look for the positives each day, enjoy and share successes and learn from each other.”
“Surround yourselves with the best people and invest in them,” says Leppard. “Make them all feel valued and important. I couldn’t have built my business without my team. They believe in our brand. We have built our reputation on honesty, integrity and our knowledge and expertise in the local market. That can only happen if everyone believes.”
Panel of experts
- Mark Brewer, founding partner, Frazer Jones
- Kevin Green, chief executive, Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC)
- Gary Jones, director at First Counsel
- Darren Leppard, director of Select Appointments and Parkhouse Recruitment in Leicester and Coventry
- David Morgan, founding partner at Morgan Law
- Hilary Scanlon, director, Ashley Kate Associates Group - Lorraine Thomas, managing director, Metzger Search and Selection
- Claire Tuffin, managing director, VMA Group