A Specialist Recruiter - Why?

It will really depend on who is reading this on whether or not you agree. When a company has a vacancy it tends to go through HR who use a select list of suppliers for all of their recruitment matters. Which is obviously great for them when they need to manage a certain amount of contracts, agreements, constant phone calls and emails from recruiters - but sometimes not so good for a hiring manager looking for a technical person with niche skills!

The agencies on preferred supplier lists for these companies tend to be the large corporate recruiters who have teams of recruiters working on various accounts with no real knowledge of specific technologies that end up working various jobs throughout a week - Fine.

However when it comes to a niche or 'specialist' technology it's not as simple as placing an advert online or spamming out an email to a database of irrelevant candidates! This is where being a specialist recruiter comes into its own.

I have had clients tell me many times that their PSL has had a job open for over a month and nobody is interested! Within a couple of days they have interviewed and offered a perfect candidate which the PSL may never have been aware of - WHY?

Well its certainly not because I am some kind of miracle recruiter who has a magic formula that members of PSL's don’t have. I'm a member of a number of PSL's, however they are only relevant to the technologies I specialize in. By keeping your finger on the pulse and interacting with people in these areas on a daily basis you are much more likely to know who is available at any given time and who might be suitable for new openings! You will create a much more extensive database of candidates who will treat you with respect as they know you have knowledge of the work they perform day in day out - because they will inevitably have to contact you at some point when they are back on the job market.

So I urge any managers who have a requirement and don’t know where to turn when their PSL hasn't supplied the goods - contact the specialist recruiter who sent you an email in the last month introducing themselves to you!

Social Media Recruitment Results - does it work?

Twitter, Linkedin and Blogger are a great way of gaining new contacts and candidates for a Recruiter. However the percentages of placements from Social Media compared to online job boards and networking the old fashion way via the phone still lead the way at the moment.

This might be because I am limited to the amount of people I have contact with through Social Media. With job boards and databases I have access to candidates as soon as they decide to look for work and have all the information I need at my finger tips - location, skillsets, salary or rate expectations etc etc etc. Social Media is another way of advertising requirements and generating interest in your clients needs.

Linkedin profiles are a great way of headhunting decent candidates that may not be actively looking to move on - which I suppose is the whole challenge of headhunting anyway, it just makes it easier.

I have made sure my profiles on Linkedin, Twitter and Blogger are all connected and that it clearly displays I specialise in ECM - this has definitely improved the quantity of traffic coming past these profiles and the amount of people wanting to connect with me due to my industry specialism.

In my mind the people connecting with me today will be the candidates of tommorow. I hope it will make my job easier and I have already started to reap the rewards of a decent Social Media setup. Its all about making an effort and I think people appreciate that in this game...

Possible Hays takeover - that will be costly!

Interesting article in Recruiter Magazine today with analyst suggesting that a Hays takeover bid could be possible from Adecco, Manpower or Ranstad. Im pretty sure I read about this every year and nothing ever comes of it - it is 'possible' but highly unlikely in my mind.

They aren't considered the force they once were, but I would hardly say they are vunerable? Adecco would probably be considered front runners especially after their acquisition of Spring. I'll be keeping a watchful eye on this - http://www.recruiter.co.uk/hays-takeover-unlikely-but-‘not-impossible’-say-analysts/1006841.article

Is there a need for a Recruitment Consultant blogging about ECM?

I dont know, maybe not. However I think it's best to present yourself in the best possible way nowadays via the wonder that is Social Media. Im currently using LinkedIn as the most powerful way to contact professionals in ECM as well as Twitter. However neither of these give me an opportunity to really talk about what I do and who I want to speak with, so I thought a blog might work!

So here is my first entry, im busy this week looking for Alfresco Developers in the UK for various contracts I have available. It seems there is nobody looking at my adverts or replying to my Linkedin posts - surely there are experienced Alfresco Developers out there?

Maybe this is why I have so many clients looking for these guys - anyway im going to continue my efforts and will update you on the results. Any suggestions on where I may have more success is always welcome - send me a message.