The latest Recruitment Index figures from Deloitte and APSCo make positive reading for recruiters. If you’d like to read the full report you can download it here, but here is a brief overview:

– 69% of recruitment companies are reporting an increase in net fee income over the last twelve months.

– 30% of consultancies who are currently UK based plan to expand and open more offices, with half of these being overseas.

– Approximately 40% of those companies questioned are actively thinking about mergers and acquisitions.

From these figures, it’s clear that the recruitment industry is in rude health, but the report also highlights the challenges that these recruitment companies are facing. One is of particular interest:

– 59% see growing their headcount as a challenge in the coming year.

Clearly this means that if you are a career focused recruitment consultant, then there are going to be more and more opportunities for you. Firms will need to fight harder for talent as the competition for employees intensifies. However, with these opportunities we would add a note of caution. Faced with numerous opportunities, it is easy to follow the money and go for the highest paid roles. However, as specialist Rec2Rec recruiters, we would advise you to consider the following factors to ensure that you secure the right job for you.

Start preparing NOW

Although there is going to be more opportunities for consultants, that doesn’t mean that there isn’t going to be stiff competition for the more popular vacancies on offer. Start preparing your brag file, ensure your interview technique is up-to-scratch and your CV is clear and concise as well as being up-to-date. It could be several months before  you secure a new role so make a concerted effort in your current job to maximise your revenue. Being able to report recent outstanding figures will mark you out as a recruiter at the top of their game.

Get specialist advice

You know the great service that you provide to candidates? Well why wouldn’t you insist you get the same with your career? You know your industry inside out but do you know which agencies are the ones that are expected to grow the most? Which are the ones that will fit your skillset best? Instructing a specialist Rec2Rec recruiter will ensure that you are not wasting your time and will ensure that you know exactly what the best employers are looking for.

Be realistic

When there is a growth of opportunities, one of the tactics that companies will use to attract candidates is salary. It’s important not to get too focussed on this though when securing the right opportunity for you. The earning potential of any role is not just about the basic salary and rate of commission. Ensuring that you are working for a company that you feel at home in will see you earning far more than working for an agency that pays a fantastic salary but doesn’t match your aims, beliefs or expectations. Being in harmony with your employer will see you more driven, motivated and far more effective as a recruiter.

Make the most out of the opportunities out there by following our advice and 2015 will be your best ever year in recruitment.

Till next time,

Cheryl

 
As one of the leading Rec2Rec agencies in London, we get a significant number of consultants contacting us every week looking for our help to develop their career. Many are disappointed that despite a good start as a trainee and now enjoying experience as a recruiter, they are struggling to make the next step into a senior role. As ironic as it sounds, one of the main issues we come across in these situations is that many of the consultants (even some of the most successful) don’t have a plan for where they want their career to go and how they are going to get there.

As consultants ourselves, we understand that there can be various reasons for this, the main one being time. Recruitment is a job done at breakneck speed, balancing numerous tasks at once whilst keeping both clients and candidates happy.

Whilst you may have little opportunity to focus on your own career, it is something you should make time for. Whether you are happy in your current role or are looking for an imminent move, we’ve got three factors for you to consider when assessing where you are in your recruiting career, and where you want to be.

Always be preparing for your next role

Even if you’re satisfied in your current job, will you still be in one year, five years or ten years? A good consultant should always have their eye on the future, whether you think that rests at the company where you are now or elsewhere. Every year there is an influx of fresh new talent to the industry, hungry for success. If you don’t take control of your career, you could see yourself being overshadowed by less experienced consultants. Ask yourself where you want to be in the future and what you need to do to get there. It may be that you need to broaden your skills by attending relevant courses or by taking on extra responsibilities. Wherever you want your career to be in the future, you must start preparing now.

Map out your career path

As a recruitment consultant, you’ll understand the usefulness and power of billing targets. As well as being a driver for you to bring in as much revenue you as you can, they’re also a marker of your personal success. Why not apply the same reasoning to your own career? Map out how you want to move forward and drive your progress by giving yourself targets on the way.

For example, this may be having completed a certain amount of training by six months, to have started applying for senior consultant roles within nine months and to have secured a role within a year. Mapping it out like this with targets ensures you are always keeping focussed on your own career.

Focus on culture fit, not just money

Recruitment is a career that many people come to because the financial rewards for high achievers are excellent. However, if you want to develop, it’s important to focus not just on money, but on culture fit. When looking at different consultancies, do their aims and ethos match your own? Do you think that you’ll fit in with the corporate and staff culture there? Can they facilitate your ambitions? You’ll be happier and actually earn more money at a company that feels ‘right’ for you than at a higher paying agency that doesn’t quite feel the correct match for your skills, aims and ideals.

Focus on these three key factors and you’ll take control of your career and progress to a senior consultant, prepared and faster than you realise.

Until next time,

Cheryl

If you’re an experienced recruiter, you know how competitive the industry is and understand that you’re never going to be able to retain 100% of your clients. However, if you’ve started to notice more clients choosing to go elsewhere, it’s time to take action and ensure you put a stop to it. Here are three tactics to ensure you retain them:

1. Sourcing

In many sectors there is a skills shortage, therefore the ability to source capable candidates in this economic environment can be the difference between success and failure. Are you too reliant on your current candidate list and your usual job boards?

Being a successful recruiter is about keeping up with current trends and always asking ‘Can I be doing this better?’, so it’s time to start opening up to the possibilities of sourcing candidates elsewhere. If you’re not already using social media as part of your recruitment strategy then you should be as it is an effective channel that can be exploited. Other strategies include networking at relevant industry events and writing articles on recruitment for specialist industry publications. These are both ways of connecting with well-qualified ‘passive candidates’ who may not actively be looking for a job but would consider a move if the right role is presented to them.

2. Client care and communication

With the continuing focus on getting new clients, it’s possible to lose sight of what is happening with your long standing clients. There’s an old phrase ‘a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush’ and this sentiment still ring’s true today. Your current clients are of more value to you right now than a potential client, no matter how lucrative their business could be; consequently plan your day accordingly.

Still spend lots of time prospecting for new business but set aside part of everyday to call some of your current clients for a chat, or even better, schedule a visit. Not only will they appreciate the attention you’re giving them, you’ll occasionally uncover a new vacancy or lead which will help you grow the account.

3. What are your competition doing?

Keeping an eye on the competition isn’t just useful, it’s essential. In any one week, your client could receive over thirty phone calls from rival agencies trying to get their business. Each one of those phone calls will be promising them exceptional candidates and the highest standards of service.

If you’re keeping in touch with your client and providing them with this superior level of service then they won’t risk using a new consultant.

However, if you’ve let standards slip, they may take the chance and dispense with you for a rival. Keeping on top of what your rivals are doing by monitoring their social media channels and website will enable you to see if they are offering any extra value added services and you can amend your offerings to ensure you are offering the same, or even better, more.

Take care of your current clients and you’ll ring fence them and ensure your competition aren’t in the position to take them away from you. You’ll then have a firm foundation from which to secure new clients and grow your desk.

Until next time,

Cheryl

We’ve written previously about how the latest Recruitment Index figures from Deloitte and APSCo indicate that the recruitment industry is in good health. But with many firms looking to expand, 59% of them are still expecting challenges in being able to grow their headcount due to the competition for talent.

In terms of salaries, this should be good news for candidates.

If you’re looking to progress your career this year and hope to secure the right job for you, don’t just accept the salary offered without carefully considering what you think you are actually worth. Negotiate for more if you feel you need to.

Here are four key areas to focus on when negotiating your starting salary in your new job.

Know your personal financial situation

Knowing exactly how much you need to live on and how much you want to be able to save is vital when negotiating your salary. This is because you may be offered other forms of compensation. This could include shares, bonuses, training, life and disability insurance. You can often negotiate an overall package that is worth more than the company’s original offer by sacrificing immediate gain (cash) for these benefits in kind.

Know what the salary range is

Many companies post their salary range within their job description, but if not, if you’re using a specialist Rec2Rec recruiter, they will be able to tell you their salary range, and what you can realistically hope to achieve in your negotiations. If you think their salary offer is too low on their scale, it’s easier to discuss if you’re aware of the boundaries.

Ask at the right time

Wait until you have a definite offer of the role with full details of remuneration before attempting to negotiate the finer details of your salary. Throughout the process make sure you SELL YOUR VALUE, this makes it easier for your hiring manager to then justify, in his or her mind, what they are willing to pay you.

Doing so any time before is presumptuous and without having a definite salary offer on the table, you may even negotiate yourself a lower salary than you were due to be offered.

How confident are you in your own abilities?

As recruitment remuneration is based on a combination of salary and commission, you can often negotiate an attractive package if you are confident in your own abilities as a recruiter. Offering to take a drop in salary in return for a more lucrative commission structure is a ‘win-win’ situation for you and your new employer. Your earning capacity is increased considerably, and your employer benefits too as you now have even more reason to smash your targets.

Don’t be flattered by any job offer and assume the salary is what you’re worth. Do your research and exploit the growing competition for talent and push for a package that you think truly reflects your skills and experience.

Till next time,

Cheryl

The modern recruitment consultant has a variety of powerful tools at his or her disposal to make recruiting the right candidates both more efficient and cost-effective. From online job boards to a range of social media platforms, these tools have made it easier for recruiters to focus on high quality applicants, manage the entire process and eventually successfully place candidates.

But are you becoming too reliant on this technology? Are you using it as effectively as you can? We take a look at three areas of recruitment where reassessing your use of technology can help you become a better recruiter.

Are you fishing where the fish are?

Do you use Linkedin? If you’re like most recruiters it’s probably the social network you use most to look for candidates. However, are you using your time effectively? According to a survey by leading recruitment website Jobvite, while 94% of recruiters are active on Linkedin, only 36% of jobseekers are . We’re certainly not saying discount Linkedin altogether but maybe you should start to incorporate other platforms too. Facebook is the obvious place to start with 83% of job seekers active on there, but Google+ is worth considering as the number of active users increases in the UK. With only 18% of recruiters active, you could find a rich seam of candidates that your rivals aren’t even aware of.

Skype and Google Hangouts

Do you use Skype or Google Hangouts to talk to candidates? They’re useful and effective and could be a part of your armoury. But if you are using them too much at the expense of talking to candidates face-to-face, then you may not be being as effective as you should be. Useful for exploratory discussions with potential candidates, they should never be seen as a replacement for meeting in person. The ultimate goal is to screen candidates initially making that face to face interaction of higher value.

Due diligence

You may be using social media to search for candidates, but are you using it to do background checks on them? A candidate that has all the required skills and experience may not be all they seem to be, even if their references have come back unblemished. You’ll be surprised at what some people will put on their social media pages! Checking their Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and Google+ profiles can be an illuminating experience and can save you the embarrassment of placing an unsuitable candidate.

Whilst technology can be at the heart of a recruiter’s job these days, it’s important that you continually reassess your use of the various platforms and ensure it is working effectively for you. Remember that recruitment is an art and not a science, and ultimately your success will come down to your experience, skills and wisdom. Utilise technology well and you it will help you along the path to being the best recruiter you can be.

Till next time,

Cheryl

If I asked you to think of social media platforms, chances are Google+ wasn’t one of the ones you thought of. As a recruiter, you will make daily use of Linkedin, and probably use Twitter and Facebook, even if only socially. So where does Google+ fit in? It doesn’t if you ask most recruiters, but if you take the time to engage with the platform then you will begin to realise the awesome power that Google+ has to offer you.

Here are four reasons why you need to start engaging with Google+

It’s more popular than you think

Google+ has over have a billion users across the globe, making it the world’s second biggest social network after Facebook. There are no specific figures for the UK, but the global figures would suggest there are at least several million users in the UK.

Search Engine Optimisation

If you’re a director of a recruitment company then you will understand the importance of being as high up as you can on the first page of Google for your search terms. With 75% of internet searchers never going past page one, if you’re not there, then clients aren’t going to find you are they? Google+ enables you to have a company page which will increase your SEO value, but more importantly it will also enable you to show up in its ‘local’ listings which you see when searching for terms with a geographical location, e.g. ‘HR jobs in London’.

Curate a targeted audience

Modern recruiters should be moving away from candidate lists and building talent communities. Google+ is perfect for this. Growing one on Google+ may take hard work, but it is simple to do. Use Google’s powerful search to find relevant users for you to follow and you will find more often than not that they will follow you back. You can then place them in one of your ‘Circles’.  Then you can begin to engage with your community by sharing relevant content with them. The best thing about Circles is that you can have as many as you like. That means an IT recruiter for example could have Circles for PHP programmers, Java programmers and system administrators, enabling very specific and relevant engagement with these groups.

Hangouts

A good way of differentiating yourself as a recruiter is to become an influencer in your chosen field, and there’s no better way of doing that than sharing your knowledge with them. Have you thought about giving live video lectures?  With Google+’s Hangouts feature, you can chat directly with 10 other users and have an unlimited amount of people watching live. Even if you don’t want to present live on Hangouts, it’s a powerful tool just to use within your company, especially if you want to talk live with other branches.

Whether you’re a fan of social media or not, give Google+ a go and you should begin to realise that it’s a powerful tool if used correctly. And with only 18% of recruiters active on network, it could get you ahead of the game.

Source: http://web.jobvite.com/rs/jobvite/images/2014%20Job%20Seeker%20Survey.pdf

Till next time,

Cheryl

An interesting discussion occurred in the office this week, and we thought it would make a great subject for a blog. We were discussing our first roles in recruitment, and how for some of us, we went into it with our eyes wide open, and for others the reality of the industry came as a bit of a shock! We’re obviously doing something right though, and we all love working in recruitment. But it got us to thinking, what do you wish you’d have been taught on your first day? We came up with lots of ideas, and we discuss three of them below. Hopefully, any potential trainee recruitment consultants reading this will find them useful!

 1. Recruitment is tough. Get over it.

If you think that a job in recruitment is one of the more cushy graduate jobs, you couldn’t be further from the truth. Recruitment is tough, and it takes a special kind of person to succeed. There will be days that you will face constant rejection, months where you will have to constantly battle just too even hit target and however good your degree is from whichever top university, recruitment is all about results. These are ultimately what you will be judged on. Nothing else.

 2. Know your numbers

It is vital as a recruitment that you keep a record and carefully monitor your numbers. Record as much as you can. This should include (but certainly not limited to):

– Number of sales calls made

– Number of client meetings arranged

– Number of candidates met

– Number of CVs sent

– Number of placements made

After a while these figures can be of the utmost value. For example, you can work out how many sales calls it takes on average to get a vacancy. If you want 25% more vacancies next quarter, then you know you have to ramp up your call rate by 25%. The figures can also be used to help you highlight areas you need to improve on. If you’re finding you are sending an average of 15 CVs over before you secure a placement, you may want to spend more time on candidate selection and reduce this number. You will ultimately be judged on your figures as a recruiter, so know your numbers and use their power, and you’ll be a better recruiter for it.

3. Don’t be intimidated about asking candidates ‘difficult’ questions

Thoroughness is one of the hallmarks of a good recruiter. Nothing is ever straightforward, and things aren’t always what they seem. This means that sometimes you have to ask candidates some difficult questions. It may be asking them about a gap in their work history, asking them to explain why they left a particular job, or why they have chosen not to put a certain employer as one of their references. Some of the people you’ll be interviewing may be very senior executives, very powerful individuals who may be of a much greater age. You cannot let this intimidate you, and your client expects you to provide the best candidates you can, which means you need to be thorough and ask the ‘difficult’ questions if required.

We’d love to know what you wished have learnt on your first day in recruitment, let us know by leaving a comment below.

Till next time,

Cheryl

We’ve talked previously about how 25% of people are actively looking for a new job, and a huge 60% are open to new opportunities and are willing to talk to recruiters. However, most consultants don’t seem to be aware of this, and simply recruit from recent candidates and applications. If you want to provide your client with the very best talent, then you need to start exploiting the large pool of passive candidates. Here are three ideas to get you started.

Network

If you recruit in a particular niche, such as accountancy, IT or professional services, then networking is one of the most powerful tools that you have at your disposal. Attending relevant events, get-togethers and roadshows are a great way to increase your knowledge of the sector, but also to meet great candidates. Most of the people you meet won’t be there with the intention of looking for a new job, but talk to people, take their business card and make a few notes on it when you get chance about what they do and what their skills are.

Once you’re back in the office, you can add them as a ‘potential passive candidate’ to your CRM or a spreadsheet. When you’re struggling for candidates for a particular vacancy, they might just be the perfect fit for the role, and you can refer back to your meeting when calling them. According to the Linkedin study referred to in our previous blog, statistically there’s only a 15% chance they won’t be interested in talking about the role.

Mine your candidate database

Are you making best use of your candidate database? When you get a vacancy, along with the applications you get from the job boards, how far back do you go when looking at people you already on the books? Of course, the more recent the registration, the more chance they are still in the market for a new job. If you’re struggling to fill a vacancy though, it is worth going back as long as you have to, to find someone with the right skillset. You might have had no contact for several years, but recruitment is about conversations, and as mentioned previously, according to the Linkedin statistic quoted in our previous blog, they should be open to talking about the vacancy.

As a side note, calling old candidates and getting updates as to what they are doing now is a great task for your office junior or apprentice. As well as giving them great experience on the phone, it’s amazing what opportunities can be uncovered. That trainee you spoke to 5 years ago might just be about to start their own business…

Make the most of Linkedin

Linkedin is amazing for recruiting passive candidates. As well as joining and engaging with relevant Linkedin groups, you really should get a Linkedin Premium package. Their Recruiter Lite solution is a great place to start and will enable you to contact candidates directly with InMail. You get 25 each month and you can use these to send messages to candidates that you aren’t connected with. Recruiter Lite also gives you access to eight search filters that are exclusive to Linkedin Premium members, thus enabling you to hone in on the candidates with exactly the right skillset that you require.

We’d love to hear your experiences of recruiting passive candidates, why not leave a comment below?

Till next time,

Cheryl

Many recruiters will have been in the position where they feel there is a severe lack of good candidates for a role. But what they’re probably overlooking is the ‘passive talent pool’. We take a look at what passive candidates are and assess how recruiters are currently dealing with this rich talent market.

Active and passive candidates: a definition.

If you’re not sure what the difference between an active and passive candidate is, it really is quite simple:

Active candidate

– Actively looking for a job, or

– Casually searching for a job a few times a week

 Passive candidate

– Talking to their friends, colleagues and network about possible new opportunities, or

– Open to talking to a recruiter.

Active and passive candidates: the numbers

Linkedin’s Talent Trend Survey 2014  asked fully employed professionals to describe their current status in terms of job seeking. The results make remarkable reading:

12%: actively looking on a daily basis

13%: casually looking several times a week

15%: talking to their personal network

45%: open to talking to a recruiter

15%: completely satisfied and do not want to move jobs

These results show us that a mere 15% of professionals are not in the market for a new job, and 25% of people are actively looking for a new job. The most interesting findings however are the percentage of people we would class as passive candidates, those that are considering or are open to a new job, a huge 60%.

Are recruiters making the most of the passive talent pool?

With the knowledge that 75% of the workforce are either active or passive candidates, Linkedin’s latest survey, their Global Recruiting Trends Report makes essential reading. Looking in detail at passive candidate recruiting, their survey, which covers the responses of over 4000 recruiters in 31 countries shows that globally, just 61% of companies are recruiting passive candidates, whilst in the UK it’s just 57%.

What does this mean for UK recruiters?

Quite simply, it means that recruiters need to take a good look at their recruitment processes and assess where they are actively sourcing their candidates from. Where do you look for your candidates? If you are solely recruiting on direct applications and those sourced on job boards, then you are missing out on a huge number of very good candidates who are open to talking about a new job.

In our next blog, we’ll take a look at how recruiters can capitalise on the passive candidate pool, which will not only enable you to source a greater number of well-qualified and suitable candidates, but you’ll undoubtedly be putting yourself ahead of the game in terms of your competitors.

Are you making the most of passive candidates? We’d love to hear your experiences, let us know in the comments box below.

Till next time,

Cheryl