What are the top trends that will define our profession in the short and medium term?
Short: recruitment process moving completely online, partially driven by covid. Long: no need for physical presence in the same building of the workforce, so your new recruits could be living anywhere in the world.
What do recruitment managers need to invest in order to run a successful recruitment organisation?
Time to acquire basic (online) marketing skills as a recruiter becomes a marketeer looking for leads to apply to his vacancy.
What business needs are most affecting the recruitment profession today?
The need to push economic growth and the talent that is needed for that.
What are the potential pitfalls that recruitment professionals should be aware of?
- Focusing too much on blindly searching for what the hiring manager wants - you need to use your understanding of the market to challenge the briefing and make sure that you are not looking for impossible to find candidate.
- The big opportunity today is reaching passive candidates but you need to be present on social media to reach them efficiently.
How can recruitment be a strategic partner for management today?
In this growing economy, recruitment will be one of the biggest bottlenecks for ambitious growing companies (and even the economy in general). If recruiters can not provide the right talent, companies will stop growing so therefore the recruitment part is a unmissable element in the strategy of many companies. Company plans can not be made without a realistic understanding of the recruitment strategy.
If you could give one piece of advice to the recruitment profession, what would it be?
Don't outsource marketing to your agency or inhouse team but learn the basic of online marketing so you can design the plan at least.
Personally, what was the most challenging thing in the last year and what has been a positive surprise?
- Most challenging: keeping the focus in our team on what we need to do, even when we were working remotely for a large part
- Positive surprise: no matter how bad things look, it turns out that most of the times it will turn out better than before!
Thank you for the answers to Mark Herman, the Founder of sympl!
