Most are in agreement that the recovery will be slow, but for some markets, the recovery will be faster than others.  One area which looks set to keep growing with momenutm is the Online Recruitment Industry. Although there may be fewer jobs throughout the UK than in 2008, new budgets that have been calculated on 2009 incomes are forcing companies to look at ALL their recruitment options for 2010.  Great news for suppliers who offer cost effective recruitment solutions!
As one of the leading suppliers in the online recruitment market there is quite a buzz in our office for this year. In addition, the HR Connexions “On Demand, E-Recruitment Solution“ is entering it’s 5th year anniversary in 2010. So, lets take a look back before we predict the future:
THE PAST
When we first invented the On Demand Fixed Fee Recruitment model, many hiring companies we spoke to did not know what a job board was, only 40% of job seekers were online, social media hadn’t been given much thought to and ATS systems were only available for the very large corporates.Â
THE PRESENT
How things have changed in the last few years! Now, employers and HR departments are now much better educated, low cost solutions widely available and over 90% of applicants are looking for jobs online.
For the small business, the Flat Fee model is an ideal solution to get the best candidate at the lowest cost with potentially very little effort on the employers part.  As increasing amounts of new suppliers enter the market, employers now have a great opportunity to shop around and find the right Flat Fee provider to suit their business.
In principle the Flat Fee approach is simply an upfront, low cost & fixed fee service that allows the employer to use a third party to attract applicants over the internet. However, if you look between the lines of the providers you will see variances in the service that each supplier offers.  As we get deeper into 2010 and employers try new processes, in particular the flat fee method, service & support will be a key selling tool to wining and keeping business.
THE FUTURE
When you compare the immediate cost savings the flat fee approach can offer (especially if an organisation has previously been using recruitment agencies) a couple of hundred pounds between one flat fee provider and another is neither here or there. The busy HR Manager will be more interested in time saved, the level of support, the medium to long term solutions and how best the supplier understands their market and business.
As more SME’s gain confidence and start hiring in 2010 and increasingly more new flat fee providers enter the market, there will be a steady growth of Flat Fee Recruitment and it will probably create an industry all of it’s own.  I also suspect we will see a more transparant balance between price and service as the employer continues to get better educated through experience and in turn becomes more demanding of service with increased expectations.
But adopting the right online recruitment strategy will become more important for the medium & large companies. Already, we have seen an increase in the number of medium sized companies employing ex-Recruitment Consultants over HR Advisers, many job boards have changed their sales strategy from recruitment agencies to end user clients, social recruiting is gaining momentum and Online Recruitment Software and ATS’s are now very affordable (if not free).
HR Connexions are in a really unique position; being able to offer the solutions and do-the-doing, no matter the size of the business. Whether it is our On Demand, Flat Fee E-Recruitment Solution or our “On Going E-Recruitment Solution” for the volume recruiter, exciting times lay ahead not only for ourselves but the whole online recruitment market. Here is to a prosperous 2010 for all!
January 7th, 2010 at 1:50 pm
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January 11th, 2010 at 1:49 pm
What a fantastic article! I thoroughly enjoyed reading this! Working for a SMB this is exactly what we have done for the past 18 months in using recruiters that work on a model of Flat Fee Recruitment such as Recruitment Revolution. Not only do these mirror our limited recruitment budgets, but some will only require payment when the vacancy is successfully filled, keeping even more cashflow moving! We’re a big fan of the model!