What is Trending In Recruiting?

Blog on SGA TalentWhat is Trending In Recruiting?

The latest game changers in recruiting are Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and many will say these resources or as I call them tools have revolutionized recruiting! So what lies ahead? “What Is Trending In Recruiting?” It may only be for the moment, the day, the month and may or may not make the list next time.

Years ago there were limited options when it came to recruiting talent. Today there are many choices and resources so try to make it a point to explore the different choices and choose the ones that best fit our needs.

So, what is Trending in Recruiting now? Yes literally right now? Because Times They are a-Changin. Click on it, Bob Dylan’s YouTube Song….

So what Is Trending In Recruiting?

1. Corporate internal recruiting functions are growing. These teams are often led by seasoned, ex-Executive Search professionals. Year over year these teams are becoming more sophisticated, efficient and cost-effective.

2. Executive Search firms are experiencing a year-on-year fall in revenues of a -6% from Q2 2011 to Q2 2012, the quarter-on-quarter data highlighted an upward trend (+8.6%) for the first time since June last year.

3. Recruiting from the competition is stronger than ever. Stealth research is needed to do this. Many agree that although social networks have proven to be great resources, a limitation is their ability to show a complete picture of the potential talent pool without further investigation. Traditional research is mostly used for this method of identifying the players at the competition.

4. Passive Candidates Only Need Apply! Still rearing its ugly head.

5. Transactional recruiting is on the rise. Can hires honestly be made without the human touch?

6. Debates over the effectiveness of social networking recruiting continues and how ROI can be measured for such resources. LinkedIn is very very effective but the jury is still out with regards to Twitter and Facebook.

7. Not sure if the current corporate recruiting process can handle the upcoming demand.

8. The use of social media as part of the recruiting process will continue to be a trend for some time. Recruiters and hiring managers use these tools for recruiting, researching, networking and verifying.

9. Too much data! Too many tools! When the demand for talent heats up will some of the social media tools survive? Ask yourself do the use of these tools actually help a lot, so-so or very little. Rate them now!

What are the trends you are seeing? We would be very interested.

Happy Hunting!

Sheila Greco

sgreco@sheilagreco.com

Comment by Rob on September 28, 2012 at 5:40am: Hi Bill, I do take your points. I think the best method I've found is go with the other internal recruiters are not. For example, yes they can cold call and use linkedin but they can't be at conferences and networking as much as we can. This is where you'll find your A* candidates and referrals. Observe the masses and do the opposite. Maybe if you can't win at their game, change the game you're playing.

Comment by bill josephson on September 28, 2012 at 7:49am: Hi Rob,

That's what I always thought I was doing by directly cold calling and networking into company's competitors finding passive/invisible candidates working in a away they wouldn't/couldn't superior to those they'd uncover on their own.

My numerous clients have for different reasons ceased working with me....no needs, no 3rd party budget, finding candidates on their own, etc.... This happens in a poor economy as we have where good candidates are more accessible due to factors outside their control such as company takeovers or downsizing.

But in attempting to replace those clients with others, after presenting my presentation about benefit of working with me I'm hearing that my business model approach is no different from theirs. They are calling directly into competitors and networking, something they'd been reluctant to do for the 30+ years I've been a recruiter. They've hired a core of ex third party recruiters engaged in the same activities I am, thus able to uncover the same or similar quality candidates.

So my questions are part business experience specific, and part rhetorical. The experience piece tells me it appears my services are being required less with more resistance to being utilized as companies are more self-sufficient, at least able to be in this poor economy/jobs market.

Rhetorically the future appears to be more constricted. Jerry suggests working with smaller companies, a good suggestion which I'd encorporated seeking new business. But the room for opportunity seems to be getting smaller. Fewer high percentage jobs to work on, fewer jobs to work on, and in smaller companies you might get 1-2 assignments a year they simply can't fill as Amy Ala has pointed out--and she doesn't know if they're even fillable.

My point is trying to keep my head up with perspective ensuring recruiting still has market relevance, if so what that service benefit relevance is I'm providing corporate internal recruiting isn't/can't, or find my recruiting services obsolete.

I do know almost all of my sharpest competitors over the decades are gone, or internal contract recruiters.

Few remain outside.

Comment by Jerry Albright on September 28, 2012 at 7:52am: What market/discipline are you in Bill? IT, Engineering, Manufacturing are all areas we work in - and they are all hot. As I read your comments here I just keep asking myself why you're having a difficult time finding reasonable situations to make something happen.

Perhaps your market is dying? - not the 3rd party agency model. Just a thought.

Comment by bill josephson on September 28, 2012 at 8:00am: @Brigadier, sounds like India now has more supply than demand if resources are being "commoditized." Took us 20 years of high tech/computer information technology boom to become commoditized as we went from a 750,000 techie shortage in 1999 to a 2 million surplus by 2003.

India seems to have had around a 10 year growth window, half the time of ours. Likely the jobs will leave India soon for cheaper destinations, perhaps Vietnam, obviously China, and other destinations having intelligent/cheap labor I'm not aware of.

Comment by Sylvia Dahlby on September 28, 2012 at 8:42pm: 2 hot trends we're seeing with our clients are 1) use of Video on their career sites, interviewing, etc; and 2) Mobile - with apps for candidates, hiring managers and recruiters

Comment by sheila Greco on September 29, 2012 at 12:53pm: Thanks for sharing this with us Brigadier. I always like to hear what others are seeing outside the United States. Thanks again.

Comment by sheila Greco on September 29, 2012 at 12:55pm: Sylvia very true. Which interviewing video services do you like?

Comment by Sylvia Dahlby on September 29, 2012 at 3:27pm: my product SmartSearch ATS integrates with http://greenjobinterview.com/ we like them a lot

Comment