It seems that economists and brokers are disappointed by financial performance within the recruitment sector, despite a 20-30 per cent uplift in sales and profitability, something that most companies would be overjoyed with, writes Clive Jefferys, JMA Network.
This attitude highlights a fundamental failure by so-called experts to understand how the recruitment sector is reshaping itself after the recession. The crux of the matter is how the recruitment process has totally, and perhaps permanently, swung in favour of the candidate.
In the olden days if you wanted a new job the first and often biggest challenge was simply where to look. There were no Internet job boards to show you new jobs in real time. There weren't websites to show companies that used the skills you possess. There wasn't a LinkedIn to give you the name and contact details of the manager that might want to hire you.
Never before has any company had so much opportunity to announce its market presence and staff requirements. Has this helped? In the end - no!
Over the last five year of recession I was constantly told by friends and contacts that my biggest challenge must be finding job vacancies. They still say it to me today. Trouble is they have it completely wrong. Jobs in telecoms we have aplenty. We always have. We'd be lousy specialist recruiters if we didn't.
Our challenge has always been to find suitably qualified candidates that wanted to move job today. Fortunately that's the bit we are best at. The good news is that more and more people are ready to make a career change and that's why our business is on the up.
Back to those economic experts: They think the big recruitment PLCs are market barometers, that they should be placing twice as many people. Because they are not, they have concluded that the recovery is weaker than expected.
Sorry guys, you just don't get it.
The economy is rebounding strongly with a forecast three per cent growth in UK GDP, and half of this is coming from business investment. Candidates are better educated, savvier and more focused than they were 20 years ago. They don't jump at the first job they see, they wait until they find exactly the right one.
So where is the recruitment industry heading?
The answer i; an ever closer partnership between candidate, agency and hirer. At long last, everyone in the equation is starting to realise just how much they need each other.