You don't need a crystal ball to see that a cataclysmic shift is happening within the recruiting space. The recruiting services landscape already looks starkly different than it did before the economic meltdown and is continuing to morph dramatically.

The primary value that a recruiter used to offer was finding candidates for their clients and selling those candidates on their client's opportunities. Everything else was added value. Fast forward to today, now finding candidates and selling them on their client's opportunities is the added value part and everything else is the real value. The reality is that finding people today is very easy to do courtesy of web technology and the abundance of resources and tools available. Anybody can do it and companies have access to the same internet tools as recruiters do. Consequently, recruiters will need to redefine their value proposition to remain competitive in this rapidly changing industry.

I think there are several key areas where this new value will manifest itself. For all intents and purposes, recruiting as we once knew it, is obsolete. And the future looks bleak for recruiters who don't augment their value proposition so that it includes some combination of the following value offerings.

Niche recruiting.

The recruiting industry as a whole is largely commoditized. However, this highly monotonous industry is starting to become more mosaic in response. This fragmentation is the result of a visible trend in high specialization recruiting. Recruiters will need to find a niche to stay competitive. It will be the recruiters who are subject matter experts with singular focus in a narrow space that will be the most valuable in the near future.

Why is having a niche so important? First, it creates a perception that the recruiter is a recognized industry expert. This status appeals to both prospective clients and candidates. Furthermore, it gives recruiters instant credibility with passive candidates which is important these days considering that candidate resistence to recruiters is at an all-time high. Clearly, the most effective way to pique the interest of a passive candidate is to speak their language and to be cognizant of their money skills. Niche recruiters can do this better than anybody else and that's why they are so valuable.

Unfortunately, finding a niche is very difficult. If you choose the wrong one, it's not easy to reestablish yourself in another. After all, the whole value of having a niche is long term exposure and staying power in a given area. Nonetheless, being identified with a niche is a necessity for any recruiter with an eye on succeeding in the business long term.

Network equity.

Tomorrow's recruiters will need to have colossal networks to offer any realistic value to their clients. By virtue of the relationship with a recruiter, clients will expect to gain equity in a highly valuable network.

There are so many important reasons for this and it's beyond the scope of this blog entry to cover them all. Suffice it to say, that recruiters with substantial networks can source better quality candidates and do so in a fraction of the time when compared to recruiters with negligible networks.

A large network will also bolster a recruiter's image and repute. A large network instantly conveys the impression of good standing within the professional community. Unfortunately, due to years of declining sentiment toward recruiters in general, a good reputation must be quickly established in order to overcome general recruiter resistance on both the client and candidate side.

Web 2.0 expertise.

For most recruiters, the extent of their internet tools proficiency is running Boolean search queries on job boards. That simply won't cut it anymore. The days of earning high fees for being the first in line to present low hanging fruit to clients is, thankfully, grinding to a halt.

Recruiters will need to master the use of web 2.0 tools to be able to offer any realistic value to their clients. They will need to be expert social networkers and cyber sleuths. Unfortunately, learning this technology is daunting and presents a steep learning curve for earlier generation recruiters. Sadly, I think web 2.0 is going to wipe this group out. But that's the hard reality.

Job Marketing.

Without question, a job marketing strategy is an essential aspect of any recruiting initiative today. Amazingly enough, this basic and vital recruiting function is rarely ever provided by recruiters and search firms. Recruiters will need to be able to write compelling job ads for their clients that stand out from all the others online. This adds a creative aspect to recruiting that was never required before in a traditionally conservative sales oriented industry. Without question, new generation recruiters will need to have creative mojo in the area of job marketing to be truly valuable to a client. They will also need to be savvy enough with web 2.0 to choose the right marketing channels in order to ensure their job ads reach the right candidate audience.

Long gone are the days of dull requirements-intensive job descriptions that describe the person who will do the job. Job ads of the future will describe the job and the opportunity inherent in it. They will communicate the job value proposition in a creative and compelling way. Companies will expect their recruiters to provide this service. Recruiters who are not creative by nature and lack strong marketing skills will need to outsource this process in order to survive. Clearly, job marketing will be part and parcel of recruiting services in the future.

Hiring process support.

Fact is, managers have a full-plate supervising the people they already have. Needless to say, most aren't enthusiastic about single-handedly managing the process of hiring new people as well. And for good reason. Considering that much of the hiring process is project management and documentation related, these activities lend themselves well to being delegated. Support in this area can provide tremendous value to a manager and I believe we will see some form of hiring process support commonly bundled with professional recruiting services in the future.

Some of these activities will include the consultation and documentation necessary to create a performance profile, writing the job ad, comprehensive candidate screening, interviewing technique coaching, assessment advice and tools, facilitating reference gathering and background checks, on-boarding support and a long-term performance evaluation road map.

Employee performance-based fee structure.

The Performance Payouts fee structure will become the industry norm. Companies will want to work with recruiters who are confident in their candidates to share the hiring risk with managers.

An employee performance-based fee structure means paying recruiting fees for a new hire's success on the job, not for a recruiter's success in finding the candidate. The key difference being that recruiting fees are paid for new hire results instead of candidate potential. It is a ‘try before you buy' fee structure in which incremental payments representing a percentage of the total recruiting fee are spread out over a specified period of time and paid only as new hires reach calendar milestones. I think it is safe to say that the days of large lump sum fees payable 15 days after a candidate's start date are on the fast track to the Smithsonian.

I believe those are several of the most dramatic changes that we can expect to see in the evolution of professional recruiting services. I look forward to hearing your thoughts!