Rec 2 Rec / Recruitment Jobs - News
The 3Rs
An R2R Perspective on Recruitment, Recession and Recovery
It’s been a tough year for pretty much most of us in Recruitment – whether you’re an agency, R2R or internal recruiter.
Almost overnight, the candidate lost their status as “king” and the market became very client driven. Internal candidate applications increased dramatically and yet many businesses had reduced their own head count, still having to cope with the increased CVs and phone calls.
Heading to the Autumn, we hear of “green shoots”, “slower decline” and “recovery”. The media is finally publishing some positive stories and talking of the end of this recession. I say “this” as we know it will come around again.
My fellow REC R2R sector members are all reporting increased activity – more vacancies and candidate movement. How long will it be before we go full circle back to a candidate short and candidate led market? Will it happen again? Are the days long gone of clients contending over the same candidate to secure them?
I believe this recession has provided a valuable lesson to us all – managing the balance between candidate and client contact; do we have effective recruiters in the right job; no longer offering inflated salaries that aren’t necessarily reflective of a candidate’s added value; fee levels, managing costs etc. That’s why I love recruitment – because I continue to learn and adapt to the market and the people around me. I am not saying I get it right every time, however.
Looking to the future and as businesses plan for the upturn, I believe employers must soon be more open to the candidates they are willing to hire; to look beyond their CV and at their true potential and abilities. For the past year, clients have been hiring candidates with sector specific experience only as they have had a larger candidate pool to available to them. However, as many recruiters have left the industry from choice, have been forced to change careers or take a “backward” career move, just to keep employed, the talent pool has decreased.
I feel it’s time to start considering great recruiters with the right attitude, focus and determination that have the ability and eagerness to learn a new sector. After all, you can’t teach attitude! Why not invest in great sales people who demonstrate that they want to work in our Recruitment Industry? Talk to your REC R2R partner and seek their opinion, even involve them in your hiring discussions. Whilst clearly some challenging times ahead still remain, let us hope and plan for a period of a successful, albeit more streamlined Recruitment Industry.
Fiona McDonald
Manager at Wilkinson Hindle and Vice Chair of REC R2R Sector Group
Never underestimate the value of a good CV
The importance of CVs should never be underestimated.
A good CV should be like a meticulously planned sales document, provoking interest and response, according to advice from career management and outplacement consultancy PCS Executive... cont
'Green shoots' inspire 1 in 4 to look for new job
More than one in four workers (27%) said they have been encouraged to start looking for a new job as a direct result of media coverage centred on "green shoots of recovery". The figure rises to 40% for workers in London... cont
Don't ignore your rec-to-rec
Rec-to-recs manage a vital link in your recruitment supply chain. Have you hugged yours lately?
Not 12 months ago I Was beating them off with a stick. Even as a contingency rec-to-rec I was offered (but didn't accept) retainers to favour clients with the best candidates. Come to think of it, not just the best candidate either... cont
Getting realistic about your own job search
Even experienced recruiters make unrealistic demands when looking for new jobs.
To prepare effectively for your own personal job applications, you must become more aware of what will make you stand out from the crowd, to be seen as that exceptional candidate...cont
New REC Appointment
New Vice Chair
We are delighted to announce that Fiona McDonald from Wilkinson Hindle was appointed the new Vice Chair of the R2R Group. A nomination and vote took place at the last meeting which was held in December. We would like to congratulate and wish Fiona luck in her new role.
Rec To Rec Comments
Recruiter Magazine 21st Jan 2009
"... Fiona McDonald, recruitment manager at Wilkinson Hindle, says: There are recruitment consultants in the marketplace who have been let go for a reason - they weren't hitting their targets. So a large proportion of people on the market aren't the ones you want to be working with. There are exceptions, such as good recruiters who may have been working for a regional office which has been closed, but there are a lot who aren't up to the job now....
... I would tell clients to get good references for people. You need to be sure that people who are on the market are there for a good reason. They need more than one strong reference, and they need to be able to prove a good track record.
...Previously a client may have said they want an experienced recruiter regardless of discipline. Now they are being specific. They want someone who has been in the sector."
Key Recruitment Trends 2007 from the REC
Price Freeze - our latest report at 2007 price!
This report presents the main findings from the REC's monthly tracking research. The results show 2007 was another strong year for the recruitment industry with most indicators of satisfaction, performance and efficiency generally ahead of those recorded in 2006. The end of the period saw significant changes on some of these data as the market came to terms with a possible economic slowdown after a sustained period of economic growth.
Key Trends in 2007
· Employers continued to use the same average number of agencies (2.5) as they did in 2006 although usage increased slightly towards the end of the year
· Employers were less likely to 'always use' an agency than they were in 2006
· During 2007, employers across most sectors increased the use of temporary agency workers as a proportion of their overall workforce
· Agency workers generally found it easier to find work. This was true across most sectors and all regions with the exception of London
REC stresses the truth about recruiters!
A report published by the Stroke Association this week stated that the recruitment sector is the most stressed environment in which to work.
The survey said that 82 per cent of recruitment consultants said they regularly felt stressed, followed by those working in the legal profession (77 per cent), education at 73 per cent and marketing at 71 per cent.
In response to the article in the FT on the back of this survey, the REC has countered the negative implications and has called for the survey to be put into context. Responding to the report, the REC’s Chief Executive Kevin Green said: “Recruitment can be an extremely rewarding profession with many recruiters citing great satisfaction from seeing their candidates grow and progress throughout their careers.
“In fact, the REC’s latest Annual Benefits and Salary Survey shows that job satisfaction in the industry is still very high with just over three quarter of all recruiters saying they are satisfied with their job. That is a very encouraging statistic in an industry worth nearly £27 billion to the UK economy and which employs more than 100,000 people.”
Kevin Green continued: “Recruitment is certainly a fast-paced industry with candidates needing jobs and employers seeking suitably skilled workers often at very short notice. It would be surprising if recruiters in the frontline of the UK labour market did not at some point experience some stress.
“The key is to make sure that this is managed and that recruiters have access to the kind of training and qualifications that enable them to excel within a key engine room of the UK economy.
“It is not a question of ‘sparing a thought for Britain’s hard-pressed recruitment consultants’ as the article suggests, but rather recognising the contribution that professional recruiters bring to both employers and job-seekers on a daily basis.”
Success for Stacey April 2008
Stacey Ward has successfully passed the REC exam in Recruitment practice and is looking forward to her new role as a Assistant Recruitment Consultant.
Wilkinson Hindle are committed to Best Practice and REC membership, aiming to provide the opportunity for staff to train and study for the body qualifications and encouraging them to fulfil their potential.
Recent Article published in The Recruiter
Fiona McDonald manager of Wilkinson Hindle comments on the state of the Rec 2 Rec business and receives strong support for her comments...
A Day in the Life of a Rec2Rec Consultant!
"I often ask myself, what will I be when I grow up?! Rec2Rec has historically had a pretty poor name. Maybe this is justified by the practises of some. However, in the main, the Industry is full of trustworthy, hard working and credible recruiters, who believe passionately in the Industry and do their utmost to source quality recruiters for their clients.
As an active member of the R2R division of the REC, some times it is of little comfort to know that we all go through similar frustrations with candidates who clearly should know better – are there really that many “flaky” recruitment consultants across the UK?
I could write a book on excuses why candidates let you down – couldn’t we all?! However, when I moved in to R2R nearly four years ago, I was looking forward to dealing with professional candidates who worked in the same industry as me and would therefore have themselves been faced with let downs, no-shows, lack of communication, blatant lies etc – and would obviously not behave in that way too. How wrong I was – and perhaps naïve?
It amazes me that recruiters who come to us to find them a new role can act with such lack of integrity and appear to hold no value on the importance of communication. Call me a traditionalist, but I am a proponent of physically “speaking” to someone when you have an issue. Even though I am always available outside office hours on a mobile, some candidates think it’s acceptable to speak via text only! How can you resolve issues and negotiate effectively for them this way? Email and text are frequently used as a means to “let you down”. Where is the sheer professionalism and credibility to make a telephone call and explain situations in that good old-fashioned method?! The sheer plethora of lame excuses offered by experienced recruiters will never cease to amaze me – and I won’t even start on the unconvincing and unacceptable reasons recruiters provide as to why they can’t attend an interview, let alone contact you.
My plea to all you recruiters out there looking for a new role and working with a credible Rec2Rec company is to ask yourself: “Is this an acceptable way for my candidates to deal with me?” And to all clients who work with Rec2Recs and think we have an easy ride, please think again! We work hard to eradicate such bad practises from our candidates and those who continue to perpetrate our efforts. Please don’t hold us personally responsible for the ineptitude of such unscrupulous individuals."
Fiona McDonald
Manager
Wilkinson Hindle
fmcdonald@wilkinsonhindle.co.uk
Strong support in response!
Dear Fiona
I have just read your letter in the 6th February issue of Recruiter. It touched such a nerve that I simply had to drop you a note!
I agree with absolutely everything you said. I have been in recruitment for 14 years and, like you, when I first branched into R2R a number of years ago I naively believed that the candidates would be more reliable, more respectful, more professional. Oh dear, what a huge misconception that was...
...Reading your article, it was so refreshing to see someone else who still believes in what seem to be classed as old-fashioned values. In these days of political correctness when we all have to watch our p’s and q’s in almost every respect, it never ceases to amaze me that those fundamental qualities of honesty, integrity, loyalty and respect seem to have disintegrated in the majority of people. Very sad. In spite of that, I won’t ever let my own standards drop – and I’m sure you’re the same at Wilkinson Hindle.
Anyway, just wanted to thank you for such a great letter. It gives the rest of us hope that there are still at least SOME decent recruiters out there!
Kind regards
Name and address supplied.
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