Candidate sourcing for recruitment agencies

In the UK the winning recruitment agencies are usually those best at sourcing candidates as UK recruitment is generally candidate and not vacancy lead. There are so many different ways to generate candidates, although technology is advancing the possibilities all the time. Here are some of the most common ways of finding candidates in the UK recruitment market.

Headhunting. Often coined as 'search' this is the act of pro actively looking for people who fit the specification for a given role and approach them directly, often without them having expressed an interest in moving. There are many advantages here. Apart from the obvious one, that being that you approach people who already hit the specification, the other big advantage is in finding people not otherwise 'on the market' and registered with recruitment agencies. This hugely increases your chances of making a placement if you get something on the go. The down side here is the conflict of interest. Clients will (sometimes quite rightly) be concerned that you will simply come back one day to headhunt their placement to put them elsewhere. Consequently, headhunters generally avoid pulling anyone from their client companies.

Using general jobs boards. There are a number of well know jobs boards out there now which are quite simply enormous. They receive exceptionally high traffic reaching a very wide audience and generate huge numbers of applicants. The draw back is if you are in a niche sector, you may receive a very large irrelevant response, generating much work in the process. In addition, if using their CV databases, a consultant may find their candidates dealing with 10 other recruitment agencies. This can result in effort invested in candidates who eventually get placed by someone else.

Magazines and paper advertising. This seems to be on the way out. Relatively speaking it is far more expensive than the internet and far less effective. Where it does still score points is for the profile of the advertiser. There is still an associated prestige in having your recruitment agencies branding all over a glossy magazine. Given the costs of internet advertising I would think paper adverts may have to come down in price, although production costs may prevent this.

Industry specific job web sites. This has almost become a craze with seemingly anyone with an interest setting up a jobs board relating to it. In theory, both advertisers and candidates would far rather deal with a board in their own sector. However, there are so many now which simply aren't serious business propositions that it is possible to sign up to a site without any real presence in the market.

Resourcing service agencies. These are companies who subscribe to large numbers of Cv databases, often base over seas, and they offer to carry out the first part of the recruitment process in generating a short list for you. Recruitment agencies provide a brief and in return expect a qualified short list. In theory great. In practise, problematic if the resource doesn't understand your sector it's seriously limited.

Watch in the next few years, technology is likely to leap forwards again. Perhaps with the price of fuel and streaming technology, all interviews will be conducted remotely by web cam? There are already jobs boards offering candidates an opportunity to upload some digital footage with their CV.

The recruitment agencies who will come out best will be those who adapt first!