Prufrock "connects" with LinkedIn in the Sunday Times

Don’t know about you, but I generally like a quick scan of Prufrock at the back of The Sunday Times Business section. It doesn’t take itself too seriously and isn’t afraid to poke a little fun at one or two people who are filling the columns in the broadsheets. Today’s cartoon for example has a lovely caricature of Dragons Den’s Theo Paphitis. I did have a quiet chuckle to myself when Prufrock suggested that one or two of the Dragons Den crew may be taking themselves (and their screen personas) a little too seriously!

There is also a small article on how the current banking crisis is having an effect on LinkedIn new profile stats. It claims that “twice the usual number of bankers have signed up over the past 15 days. There has also been a 10% increase in invitations sent out by existing members of which there are nearly 2m in Britain.” Bearing in mind LinkedIn is a networking platform as opposed to a job board, this strikes me as a great example of how online characteristics have and are continuing to change.

Clearly the banking sector sits at the epicentre of the current economic woes that are circling at the moment. If there is one group of people that is likely to show how the level of uncertainty (or certainty in cases like Lehman’s) is affecting candidate behaviour its these guys.

It all comes down to the different levels of motivation - if you’re in a good, secure job your motivation to look is minimal - and you need to be “tempted” by great prospects. The internet (ideally in conjunction with a good, or great, recruiter) is ideal for this. In this set of circumstance its about getting the right opportunity in front of a top quality candidate. If you’ve got the mix right in terms of your attraction strategy as well as a great recruiter handling the assignment then you’ve got a chance of at least engaging with this type of individual. The online recruitment market has, so far, been all about this sort of scenario. Tempting people onto the market in a job rich, candidate short market. In a market like that, recruitment consultancies thrive. Employers need more of a scarce resource and are willing to pay accordingly.

When the market turns, and we see a real drop in the number of vacancies coupled with an increase in supply of candidates - things get trickier for recruitment companies. The most basic of economics will tell you that there is pressure on their pricing and that there is much more competition for each assignment. To cut a long(ish) story short, employers are in a much stronger bargaining position and can choose who they work with. In a very candidate short market he who has the most suitable candidate(s) is holding the cards. So far so gloomy for recruiters? Sure, if the rest of the market follows suit with FS then it ain’t going to be easy, but (and its a big but) recruiters and recruitment firms with a good reputation and great client relationships have got opportunities in front of them in a tighter market. If their clients consistently choose them to work with them, and they maintain their infrastructure thru the “down” market then when the worm turns (again) they will be in a great position to mop up market share from competitors who have not fared quite so well. Think about it. In a buoyant market, the biggest constraint on growth for recruitment firms is how many good recruiters they employ. If your firm maintains and develops its own internal talent pool then when the upturn comes, you’re in the box seat to get a far bigger chunk of the upturn pie. Firms in that position aren’t in that position by chance, I suspect many of them will be planning for just this set of circumstances.

So what about online then?

You could argue that online has almost mirrored the recruitment consultant market over the buoyant market in the last few years. Its been about tempting those candidates onto the market so both online and agency recruiters have been in the same boat. The market is much more mature - and like any mature market there are examples of the good, the bad and the ugly. My view is that there are now more examples of the “good” than there ever has been. Online is now the norm.

Just as the good recruiters will be looking at how they adapt their approach to suit the current and emerging market conditions, I suspect firms evaluating their online approach will be doing the same. Employer brand has been on the tip of many tongues in the last few years, and so far its been about promoting the business as an “employer of choice” (bet whoever coined that phrase wishes they had patented it) In a competitive market for talent, finding a route to promote your business and the opportunities within it is key. What happens if instead of tempting applications, there is an oversupply of job seekers?

I think this employer brand aspect is an example of where perhaps employers (and dare I say it, online marketeers) could learn a trick or two from some of the recruitment consultancies who will fare well if we do indeed go into an acutely job short market. Senior management within these firms have worked thru tough markets before and no doubt they will be working to juggle the commercial reality of fewer assignments with the requirement to ensure that jobseekers, perhaps in particular the candidates that are not likely to be easily placed, do get a good quality of service. When the market turns again, the client who was ignored as a job seeker has a long memory. On the flipside, if that same person received good quality advice and guidance on how they can make the best of their search, despite the tougher market, it is more than likely that individual is going to become an advocate of that recruiter when the boot is on the other foot.

The internet has resulted in a much more fragmented market for employers, job seekers and recruiters alike. Those that have made the most of the opportunities are more than aware of this. The change in market conditions changes the status quo. Think of the amount of ways a job seeker can connect/ contact a recruiter or employer these days. I received a LinkedIn connection from a very pro active (and from the looks of his profile a very high calibre jobseeker) in Australia. Newly available, and not willing to let the market come to him. What does he do? A search on LinkedIn for anyone with a recruitment background in the countries he’d consider working. I did get in touch with him to see if he’d be willing to share his “jobseeker experience” on the blog, sadly he declined - the reason? I’m working all out to secure my next role. I’m sure there’s quite a lot more in his job search mix than LinkedIn. Quite right too… Currently this approch is the exception as opposed to the rule with online jobseekers. If you take a sec to consider the impact on candidate registration of characteristics like this, the amount of people on sites like LinkedIn as well as the stats offered at the top of this post by Prufrock I suspect you’ll see I’m finally cutting to the chase on this long post!

So is it yet more grey areas in the online market for recruiters and employers?

No.

As much as job seeker characteristics are changing and are likely to continue to do so til there’s a market upturn, what is happening is just the same as what has happened in every previous downturn. People, when they are faced with uncertainties about their jobs, work far harder to find opportunities. Their motivation level is easy to understand. This is not news. When they don’t (or can’t) find what they are looking for then they look for help and advice. Good recruiters give good advice, and over the course of the downturn no doubt there will be some very familiar conversations taking place in interview rooms. People want to hear about how they can best position themselves, what sort of tips they can get from a professional, how best to present their CV, where the best sites are to find jobs and to network etc.

There is real scope in this for recruiters to integrate more of this type of content into their online presence. For employers, many of whom who have invested in chasing the employer of choice badge, a careful examination of process may be timely. After all, employer of choice is about much more than being able to see some profiles of current employees - its about the experience that job seeker had when they visited the career site, and what happened post application.

Supplying service to job seekers when they need it most has given a number of recruitment firms a real competitive edge over the economic ups and downs. I just wonder if this time round, the firms that include this type of content (or arguably “conversation”) to their online presence may benefit more….