The Rising Need for Niche Recruiters
As the demand for recruitment agencies continues to grow so their role continues to evolve. A recent presentation by Nick Holmes of The Job Post revisited some interesting statistics.
PERMANENT UK HIRES VIA RECRUITMENT AGENCIES
2011/12 – 550,448
2014/15 – 633,992
This in turn has led to an increase in recruitment start-ups – from 1,489 in 2013 to 6,780 in 2016.
Looking a little deeper into the stats we see that most of these are working in a very specific niche. Alli – I’ve made that up but this is what I’d like to include?
This reflects some interesting trends in recruitment. In a world of constant communications, and highly demanding candidates (see article…), the world of recruitment has had to refine its own skills and offering.
Mass recruitment still works well with the big agencies, but when recruiting for very specific roles, niche recruitment agencies are the route of choice. That makes sense – a specialist senior vacancy, requires a specific approach and an understanding of the organisation and candidate, as well as knowledge of the wider industry and current context.
This shift is already playing out in practice. As Nick Holmes pointed out,
50% Employers unable to fill specialist roles through the PSL
34% Employers moving away from a rigid PSL because it doesn’t work
An analysis from Bersin (who’s this?) by Deloitte in 2014 offers further insights. They define recruitment as operating at 4 levels. At level 1, known as Reactive Tactical Recruiting, positions are posted when a vacancy arises and the recruitment is handled locally by HR generalists. This accounts for the majority of non-specialist hires
At the other end of the spectrum, level 4 – Optimized Talent Acquisition – companies choose to work with partners that can access a niche market and have a proven specialism in the area. This now accounts for 13% of hires….
For many jobs, the shift to specialist recruiters – sometimes referred to as those offering ‘an inch wide/ mile deep service’- has begun (can we put this higher up as I’ve changed the title and it’s the main point of the piece?). For understandable reasons. it’s no longer the short term tactic of recruiters being able to quickly fill a post. It’s about them being able to connect with the people who have the power to transform organisations and contribute to its longer term strategy.
An analysis from Bersin (who’s this?) by Deloitte in 2014 offers further insights. They define recruitment as operating at 4 levels. At level 1, known as Reactive Tactical Recruiting, positions are posted when a vacancy arises and the recruitment is handled locally by HR generalists. This accounts for the majority of non-specialist hires
At the other end of the spectrum, level 4 – Optimized Talent Acquisition – companies choose to work with partners that can access a niche market and have a proven specialism in the area. This now accounts for 13% of hires….
(Soph – I assume you want to include this? Can you explain Level 4. Also is there a shift to level 4?. Let’s discuss – Alli – I’ve made an addition? Hopefully that helps?)
For many jobs, the shift to specialist recruiters – sometimes referred to as those offering ‘an inch wide/ mile deep service’- has begun (can we put this higher up as I’ve changed the title and it’s the main point of the piece?). For understandable reasons. it’s no longer the short term tactic of recruiters being able to quickly fill a post. It’s about them being able to connect with the people who have the power to transform organisations and contribute to its longer term strategy.
