THE FUTURE’S BRIGHT…THE FUTURE’S GENUIS!
CEO of Recruitment Genius, Geoff Newman, shares his insight with the Recruitment Society
On Tuesday 14th September the Recruitment Society reprised its popular Question Time style panel debate. Geoff Newman, CEO of Recruitment Genius was joined by Wade Burgess the UK Director of Sales for LinkedIn; Martin Cerullo, Director of Resourcing Communications & Innovation for Alexander Mann Solutions; Jon Hull, Head of Resourcing for RS Components; Jon Porter, Managing Director for TMP Worldwide; and Thomas Prince, Client Director, Enhance Media.
Geoff’s presentation, entitled Recruitment Futurology, reviewed the recruitment landscape discussing elements such as Social Media and the ‘real’ role it has to play in recruitment. As with any new ‘hype’ social media was billed as the next big thing but, in reality, has remained the domain of the more technically minded. Whilst organisations such as Microsoft, Dell and Cisco are actively using such tools, Geoff believes it still has a long way to go before it plays a key role in the recruitment of generalist jobs, for example.
The exciting area, with significant potential is referral recruitment. As with social media, referral recruitment is all about communities. It relies on an understanding of where those relevant communities ‘hang out’ and engaging with them. As this area continues to attract attention and with more tailored tools, such as LinkedIn Recruiter, being developed this is definitely an area to label ‘watch this space’. Wade Burgess from LinkedIn commented “LinkedIn give you more certainty of making the right decision as you can validate the experiences and reputation of a potential candidate.”
Another topic of discussion was job boards. Whilst they have been driving online recruitment, Geoff believes they are likely to become a victim of their own success. With over 2000 available in the UK, all claiming to be the panacea for all recruitment woes, the reality is a huge amount of confusion. Confusion, however, which can be cured by consolidation. This is where Recruitment Genius comes in providing a solution which enables clients to come to a single source whilst being able to access the most relevant and beneficial job boards.
Using Recruitment Genius as the model for the future Geoff described how he (and the clients which have adopted this new approach) believe this to be a better way of working which has been born out of an understanding of the challenges which come with recruitment. Essentially, this hybrid model can save time, requires minimum effort on the part of the client, is far more cost effective (with the maximum fee being £199 with many examples of clients recruiting for as little as £5 per head) and delivers super-fast results.
In conclusion Geoff reflected on how the recruitment landscape is changing. Candidates are ever savvier going direct to the organisations they wish to work for; regardless of whether a job is even being advertised. In line with this clients are being ever more resourceful. They no longer see the benefit of paying recruitment agencies large fees and are actively turning the tables. In partnership with sites such as Gatzu.com clients are redrafting the rules, and the associated fees. This new horizon requires a new way of working and, according to Recruitment Genius, its new model represents just that.
So it is an exciting time in the recruitment arena. Essentially the industry is at an ‘adapt or die’ crossroads. However, some might say the future is already decided…and it’s Genius.
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