Is this the tipping point?

100 Recruiters reveal 3 of the biggest challenges facing the industry

Over the last few days I made it my goal to really find out what were the top three challenges effecting recruiters. Over 3 days I spoke with 100 directors, managers and senior recruiters with between 5 and 20 staff. While it wasn’t a major sample size it did give a very clear picture of what is keeping recruiters up at night. 

The top three challenges facing recruiters right now according to this quick phone survey are:

1. Quality Candidate Shortage (79%)

Quality being the key word here. It seems there are plenty of applicants out there however finding and enticing the top candidates seems to be the number one challenge. According to the Manpower Talent Shortage Survey 46% of employers in Australia agree that the difficulty in finding top talent is effecting their business.

2. Speed of Delivery (64%)

According to the recruiters who participated in the survey speed of delivery was a common theme. It seems the client’s expectations have shifted and they now expect results ASAP. The time frames given to recruiters to find the elusive top talent has reduced. One recruiter said “They expect us to have talent at our finger tips like contractor or labour hire agencies.”

3. Relevance (54%)

It seems the whole Recruitment Industry is in need of a revamp. According to those surveyed since the GFC purse strings have tightened. It has become more difficult to convince clients to outsource their recruiting needs outside of their HR and internal recruiting teams.

It’s my opinion and only my opinion that the opportunity in these three challenges lies in understanding Communication, Collaboration and Community.

1. Communication – Look at new ways to really engage with your niche. Start leading discussion on topics they care about. The leaders and top talent will be those who contribute to the discussions you start.

2. Collaboration – Let’s start building new partnerships and relationships. Richard Triggs pointed out that at a recent HR conference that catered to one of the recruitment industries top target audiences had representation of less than 1% from external recruitment agencies! What an opportunity!

 3. Community – Seth Godin talks about leading communities in a digital age in his book “Tribes”. If we are leading discussion and collaborating with industry leaders it opens up new opportunities to really build digital and real world communities where we can offer more services and products that complement recruitment.

Now this was a small sample size, if your experience is different then leave a comment. Let me know what you think are the three major issues facing recruiters. 

Cheers, 

Colin Grant

www.recruitmentpodcast.com