Terrible to waste a crisis

The role of recruiters post-recession should be to help companies to find the right staff for the right length of time and for the right reasons, the keynote speaker Larry Hochman told the forum.

“A crisis is a terrible thing to waste,” Hochman proclaimed. “You need to build customers for life - one-to-one relationships built up over weeks or months or even years. Only then will you have a unique value.

“What sets you apart from your competition and do you talk about it with your teams? What does your company do that simply can’t be googled?”

Hochman, a former European business speaker of the year, provided the audience of recruitment and resourcing professionals with an inspiring and thought-provoking talk on ’The Relationship Revolution’, which is also the title of his recently published book. His appearance was sponsored by RBS.

“You should be looking at building customers for life,” he urged. “What you do for people now might be remembered for the rest of their lives.”

Speaking to Recruiter after his talk, Hochman said “it was impossible not to understand the pressure people were under in the [recruitment] sector” and the change that has been forced upon them. “But recruitment will never be like it was pre-Lehman Brothers - it just won’t,” he emphasised. “Recruiters must come to terms with a different model. It’s essential that they, in consultation with their clients, consider how value can be added.”

Having worked in large corporates himself, including senior positions at British Airways and Airmiles, Hochman believes companies will now focus more on what makes employees stay with an organisation.

“Keeping the right people in the right jobs, for the right length of time and for the right reasons is crucial,” he explained. “Most HR departments don’t understand as much as recruitment consultants. These are opportunities recruiters should concentrate on.”

Aligning core values with those of the candidate was “the single most important component” in the post-recession business world, he said. “If the values don’t match, you can’t fake it.”

He reiterated his belief that any relationship, be it with a candidate or client, should be lifelong. “Now is the time to break out of the ’sales-driven’ idea of business. These relationships are more than a one-night stand,” he said.

Use language to reflect value of service

Never ask a client, ’Got any jobs today?’ And never say you’re going to ’check references’. Instead, said Jim Albert, president and managing director of IT/engineering recruitment firm Modis International, “say 'we validate past performance and ensure full compliance'.”

Albert contended that the language used by recruiters must change to truly reflect professionalism and the value of their services. “We do not ’send over CVs’ - we 'present candidates'.”

Because recruiters provide valuable services, they must consider the professional-to-client relationship as one of peer to peer instead of subordination, he explained. “It’s time to abandon such expressions as ’thank you for your time’,” he said. “Our time is valuable, too.”

RPOs: not the arch enemy

Collaboration and openness between agencies and recruitment process outsourcing organisations (RPOs) is crucial if the RPO model is to succeed on clients’ behalf.

Sue Brooks, managing director of talent management RPO firm Ochre House, told delegates in London that the relationship between RPOs and agencies should be driven by the needs of end users, who were no longer prepared to pay a 15-20% fee for what amounted to a ’black art’ they didn’t understand.

“Money is no longer made in ways that nobody else knows about. We have to be prepared to open up the business model,” said Brooks.

Brooks urged recruiters and RPOs to enter into an 'open kimono relationship'. “Clients would attach more value to resourcing firms who are prepared to open up their business models,” she said.

For example, she said clients wanted to know they were working with specialist recruiters who had a deep understanding of their market and who could enhance their employer brand. “Clients want to know exactly where their people are coming from. We are not arch enemies and we need each other’s expertise and strengths [for the benefit of the client].” However, she warned: “If recruiters and RPOs continue to see themselves as ’arch enemies’, we will become a very small industry in a short time.”

At the same time, Brooks said there were limits to this openness, especially if the relationship was one-sided. Where RPOs asked an agency too many questions about compliance, for example, and it became too invasive, it might be better for the recruiter to choose another business partner.
 
Service and solving

Recruiters should turn down business even it is profitable if they want to separate themselves from their competitors and build a business that will turn clients’ heads.

Roger Philby, founder and chief executive at The Chemistry Group, said that in the case of his own company, a decision to turn down a £45k fee was justified because the company was not in a position to provide a great service to that particular client.

Source: Recruiter

Posted by Recruiter