Recruiters - time to move up the talent supply chain
James Osborne
Co-Founder @ The Recruitment Network | Empowering Recruitment Business Leaders and Solo Operators to maximise their performance, productivity and profitability.
One of the great advantages I have when working across so many different recruitment businesses, is that I get to see a fantastic helicopter view of what is working right now.
What is working, where is it going wrong and what some of the most profitable recruitment businesses doing in this current market to win more business, source more candidates, convert more deals and in many cases outperform parts of their market.
There are a number of things those organisations have in common, and I will be talking more about these shortly, but for the sake of this article, I wanted to highlight just one thing in particular now, as this was a topic of real interest yesterday in some of my meetings with recruitment business leaders...
Where do you sit in the supply chain?
There is no doubt in my mind that the way individuals and organisations engage with recruiters has changed significantly in recent years.
They have different expectations of the service a recruiter should supply them and they have different expectations as to how the relationship should unfold.
One of those changes is around the positioning of a recruitment business in the customer supply chain.?
For years, many recruiters have been considered the contingent supplier of a transactional service. Running around competing against hundreds of other agencies for the same job, working to unrealistic terms on PSLs and wasting hours on jobs they are never going to fill (or that commercially make no sense to fill).
The Recruitment (R)evolution
That has now changed.
It is an evolution (or some may say a revolution) of our industry that we have been seeing unravel for a while, but now the reality is a good recruiter, a good recruitment company positions themselves as a transformational talent partner – commanding high value fees, having far deeper relationships with their customers and influencing the entire talent supply chain.
This true consultancy-esq style of working is where the real success is being had and what many recruitment businesses are morphing more and more in to.
So, how do you do that?
The future of our industry is built around our ability as recruiters to source data, share insights and consult with organisations about their talent strategies, and individuals about their future career moves, as much as it is about our ability to source talent for them.
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Having a dedicated source of truth, of data, allows recruiters to move up the foodchain and act like true consultants, commanding a different type of relationship and fee structure.
This is where the right tech stack comes in to play.
The right automations feeding your business, feeding your recruiters with live and current insights, leads and useful data to repurpose and engage back with your market.
To advise. To consult. To add value.
To influence.
Transactional Supplier or Talent Partner
I would suggest that above everything else, the repositioning of your agency, from a transactional supplier of a contingent placement service to an embedded partner who is advising, consulting and influencing strategic decision making around talent is one area where your technology stack can really enhance your service offering.
Get that right, and the impact to your placement ratios, your fee structure, the quality of your relationships and the size and quality of the types of projects you will be engaged on, well… is huge really!
The Recruitment Network is a large global community made up of industry advisors, mentors and recruitment business leaders who collaborate and work together to increase their performance, productivity and profitability.
FREC - Chief Operations Officer UK, EMEA and APAC at IMS People ★
8 个月Great read James. Absolutely agree with you. Very sound advice!
Group Client Solutions Director, Professional Services at Impellam Project Services - enabling organisations to deliver Digital Change & Transformation at pace through SoW, outcome based professional services and teams
8 个月100% correct James and something I have been banging on about for years. If you actually break down all the ingredients a good technology recruitment company has the same ingredients as a big tech Management Consultancy (C suite client list, access to teams of talent, relationships up and down a business, marketing, a sales force/engine), then it isn't that difficult to jump to a management consultancy mindset and proposition. This will then naturally lead to elevating the conversation to how you can not just deliver 'people' to the client, but actually deliver 'projects' and the project outcomes the client wants to achieve. Yes you will need to invest in a small team of good Project Managers and technical consultants, and yes, you need to careful of what you commit to, but the return and fees margins will very quickly pay that back. This is the model that is gathering pace right now, as Big 4/Big X lose more and more market share to smaller, more agile, more modern propositions. Big 4/Big X are making a move down and traditional good tech recruitment businesses are investing and moving up the chain - and the market is willing and asking to entertain them to get their work and better value for money. It's an exciting time.
Author, and host at ESIX, TLIX & IXCommunities: The preeminent peer networking groups for talent leadership professionals, worldwide.
8 个月Great points! A shameless plug, James Osborne - this is exactly what our book on consulting skills for recruiters is all about: https://amzn.to/3V5HQjI
1:1 and Group Coaching for Business Leaders.
8 个月Just as you say James it's about evolving from transactional suppliers to strategic partners. Mastering consultancy skills, leveraging data insights, and embracing technology. It's a transformative journey that elevates the value proposition. Transitioning from a traditional recruiter to a management consultant mindset is pivotal in today's recruitment landscape.
The pricing expert helping recruitment leaders do things differently
8 个月I agree that good recruiters are becoming more consultative (which leads to higher fees and more engaged clients), but the tech stack feels like only one piece of the puzzle. Recruiters also need to act more strategically, identify their clients' underlying problems, and communicate their services in a way the client values. This is as much about behaviour and mindset as it is about data and automation.