A clear indication of a booming jobs market is the news that 1,400 new recruitment companies have started up business in the last year. The demand for recruitment services can be seen across all sectors, however, sourcing talent in the IT sector has been increasingly difficult. Filling specialist, technical roles with little available talent is no easy job and this is hindering the recruitment processes throughout the sector.

The war for talent has created a tough market for IT recruitment and we recognised that a different approach needed to be taken. In the past some recruitment agencies gave themselves a bad reputation with what can be described as unethical and ruthless sales behaviour to fill roles. This is no longer acceptable and I wonder if the way forward for recruitment is based purely on ethical recruitment.

Perfectly describing ethical recruitment was a fellow recruiter’s blog I came across stating “ethical recruitment is more than a buzz term and more than the latest fad. It is crucial to the future of our industry and the success of the businesses we serve. Recruitment has come of age, it is no longer a case of “bums on seats” it’s about careful, considered selection and placement.”

Whilst it is great many new recruitment firms have been established it is worth remembering that when the recession hit many agencies disappeared, the ones that survive often have very strong ethical practices. Modern recruitment has become so much more than matching a person to a job spec, and I believe incorporating moral and ethical values to the business model is key to success. At the start of 2013, after reviewing our continued commitment to customer service, we realised the right thing for us was to separate client requirements and candidates requirements by training up candidates managers to work with candidates base, understand their goals in order to find their perfect role, rather than push square pegs into round holes of client job specs.

I believe a recruitment consultancy must endeavour to have their candidates and clients best interest at heart. Understanding the goals and ambition of what candidates want to achieve, learning the culture of client’s businesses and applying this to the search process is what makes a good recruiter in today’s market. Our candidate managers help to provide insight into our clients, match skills to job roles and personalities to company culture. They use their judgement to determine what will be the best fit for candidates, and where would be the best move for their career. On paper many job specifications can be identical but differ vastly in reality, and this is where a consultancy can provide invaluable insight on where a certain type of person is more suited, be it in a small dynamic company or a larger multinational corporate client.