Recruiters need to stay abreast of the latest technology if they want to compete in a crowded marketplace
8 a- t3 ^8 ~) I0 DOne of the positive fall-outs of the dot.com boom in the mid-1990s was the burst of innovation in the use of the Internet by the recruitment industry.
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9 ^7 g. [/ g' i, [5 i# J: ?* B; }Astutely, recruiters quickly drove up the usage of online job boards, helping to fuel the massive growth of companies such as
www.monster.com, which now boasts 1.6 million registered users and sites in 26 countries around the world. Over and above the online recruitment giants, a huge network of smaller local sites have sprouted up by country and by market, supporting the growing number of recruitment consultants, job seekers and employers who see the Internet as a faster, more efficient channel for job posting and hunting, globally.
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Are you growing with the market?
6 b4 ^2 s, y5 f/ V0 v0 ^* t6 ?Today, the needs of the market have grown more sophisticated but there has been reluctance in some quarters of the recruitment consultancy sector to harness the latest Internet developments and jump to the next level.
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6 b9 J7 E+ o7 D5 z* z3 E- ]As a result, some agencies are facing the quandary of how to service larger corporate clients where there has been a decisive movement towards automation of both permanent and contract staff hiring through recruitment management systems. Big companies looking to outsource their large or mid-scale recruitment are now making their decisions partially on an agency's ability to understand, implement and use workforce acquisition technologies.
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_) X) w# {& @- T* t' g/ O$ IWhat's in it for us?
& s6 O6 V/ F0 T% QSo why is this trend happening and what is the significance for the recruitment consultancy market A useful starting point is to review what changes have happened within recruitment through the introduction of technology and how they can potentially advance ways of working.
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! s7 `! n" M7 C8 u# [Historically, even when a recruitment consultant or a company placed a job online, applications would be invited via post, or e-mailed CVs would be printed off and handled in the traditional manner by the client's resourcing managers. Today, by providing standardised electronic forms and CV submission points at the job-posting site, recruitment consultants can automate applications from the very outset.
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This allows a huge streamlining of processes, reducing the administrative workload on the agency, so that decisions on which CVs should be forwarded to the client are based on full evaluations. Another benefit for consultants is that their CVs are not lost in a surge of emails - each submission is stored against the relevant job, which allows quicker processing times - resulting in fewer 'lost candidates'.
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As part of their registration process, online applicants will have specified their preferred method of contact, so the system can then issue standard rejection notifications by mail, e-mail or even SMS. Those who have gone through to the next round will also be notified and, if appropriate, sent links to psychometric or other profiling tests to be completed online and returned to the recruiter by a certain date.
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# Z: u" e% m7 IAll of this is monitored by what we call 'workflow' technology - essentially, something which tracks what is happening where and with whom - so that recruiters can see if someone is holding up the process or be reminded of an upcoming deadline and what needs to be done in advance of that.
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In the case of contractors, recruitment consultants can save considerable time today with online timesheeting, billing and invoicing technology that reduces reconciliation time, eliminates errors and facilitates faster payments to keep cash flow balanced.
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4 }6 Y4 v# i1 L' w2 HEssentially, what this means for consultancies is they can become more responsive and move candidates through the recruitment process more quickly. Automation also enables more flexibility and quicker interaction between the three key touchpoints - candidate, consultant and client.
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& ]+ ]# k2 i* G# X2 kProof of the pudding lies in performance / @7 L* M9 W* E/ n
So, one of the primary drivers of the migration towards technology lies, as we can see, in keeping track and greater control of processes, as outlined above. The other is the push to monitor and report with much more sophistication on consultant and candidate performance, which is increasingly important in a market focused on returns.
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Systems which offer management reporting should be able to provide recruiters and their clients with breakouts on figures such as number of candidates submitted for a role versus their suitability and offers made. This type of information helps companies to track the relative performance of their recruitment consultancies, to determine those which they may want to give preferred supplier status.
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/ u/ K0 e2 @& m1 |Finally, from the consultants' perspective, this type of reporting is becoming a critical tool with which to differentiate themselves and their performance, in order to stand out in an increasingly homogeneous marketplace.
