Recruitment consultancies must evolve into strategic talent management partners if they are to remain applicable to client demands, according to the Rethink Group.
The specialist recruitment and talent management firm has argued that the predominant existing model where agencies largely focus on meeting immediate hiring requirements is not sustainable as client needs have now become much more comprehensive. Businesses now want to achieve a better balance with a larger number of hires are managed internally, reducing the reliance on external suppliers.
While there will always be demand for specialist agencies, Rethink says that the next step in the evolutionary cycle of recruitment – or Recruitment 2.0 – is to provide a more holistic service that would see an agency more heavily involved in business and talent planning.
This would include helping develop employee brand and attraction strategies, pipelining and pooling talent, identifying and addressing existing and potential skills gaps, and developing retention strategies. The result would be a greater partnership that would see agencies working in a more consultative and advisory capacity with a business on a longer-term basis than is currently the norm.
It’s for this reason that the company has taken steps to provide a more all-encompassing talent management service over the last few years, as Michael Bennett, Managing Director, explains:
“The world of recruitment has changed for numerous reasons – from the rise of social media to the growth of in-house hiring teams. But the key thing this has led to is a change in requirements from clients. A growing number no longer just want a supplier they can outsource immediate hiring solutions to. Instead, what clients really want is a talent partner.”
“Recruitment 2.0 doesn’t require a complete revamp of what an agency does, it’s instead a logical extension of existing services. However, it does require a different approach to people solutions. As this change in demand has evolved, the Rethink Group has adapted and expanded its talent management offering to meet these new requirements. Throughout 2015 our focus will be on continuing to drive the delivery of a more holistic service throughout the whole talent cycle – from attraction to retention.”
In order to support this evolving nature of hiring, the Rethink Group has also argued that more needs to be done to boost recruitment as a career of choice and encourage individuals into the profession. Bennett explains:
“Any change in service delivery will obviously require an upskilling of the workforce, but in recruitment in particular there is also a need to make the sector an attractive area to work in. There has historically been a trend for high staff turnover rates and it has arguably been an arena that is very much financially motivated, with insufficient thought placed on the development of staff. This, however, needs to change if we are to deliver this new service effectively.”
“As a business we have revamped our career structure and development programme to ensure our staff and new employees have access to the training they need to grow as professionals and provide the high quality talent solutions now expected of them.”
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