Who will be a "digital – first" recruiter?
So, the Guardian Media Group announced today that they’re to become a “digital – first” media organisation – placing digital at the heart of their business strategy.
"Guardian News & Media will move beyond the newspaper, shifting focus, effort and investment towards digital, because that is our future" Alan Rusbridger, Guardian Editor-in-Chief
The newspaper industry has been in well documented decline for two major reasons - advertising revenues have dried up while a shrinking audience are prepared to pay for the actual paper, both have moved online.
Recruitment has traditionally been one of the major advertising sectors for publications, but since the recession and now public sector budget cuts, newspapers have seen this revenue almost completely disappear. On a local media level, this is even more significant. Print is simply not a sustainable business model.
Media groups are brutally aware of the changing landscape and have tried many ways (such as free papers) to reverse the trends, but they’re fighting a losing battle. This decision by the Guardian is facing up to that and refocusing their strategy for future growth.
It can be argued that recruitment has been affected in a similar way. The two major sources of revenue – clients and candidates – have both migrated online. Clients can source candidates through numerous digital channels, while candidates can research and apply for these vacancies in the same way. Recruitment consultants act as an intermediary in the process, taking advantage of imperfect market information, yet often appearing to add little value to clients and candidates when everything happens on the web.
On a typical day a recruitment consultant will spend 40% of their time on business development – generating client leads and jobs to fill. A further 30% will then be spent advising and sourcing appropriate candidates. Around 25% of their time will be taken up with advertising, admin, invoicing and compliance. If they’re successful in matching the two parties, the remaining 5% will be spent negotiating a ‘deal’ to enable the placement to go through.
From analysing this breakdown, it’s clear that the 5% spent brokering the deal is the only component where there isn’t an obvious digital alternative, and where the real value of recruitment exists. Candidates want a higher salary, clients want to pay less.
Thinking about how football agents have exploited opportunities to negotiate pay deals, could we one day see a recruitment agency that offer a similar service to regular workers? Could that be a realistic future for traditional recruitment?
Likewise, will we see a recruitment agency that really understands the market trends and digital revolution? Will a mainstream recruitment business fundamentally shift their business model to place digital at the very core of everything they do?
My view is yes, we will, and it's just a matter of when.
"Guardian News & Media will move beyond the newspaper, shifting focus, effort and investment towards digital, because that is our future" Alan Rusbridger, Guardian Editor-in-Chief
The newspaper industry has been in well documented decline for two major reasons - advertising revenues have dried up while a shrinking audience are prepared to pay for the actual paper, both have moved online.
Recruitment has traditionally been one of the major advertising sectors for publications, but since the recession and now public sector budget cuts, newspapers have seen this revenue almost completely disappear. On a local media level, this is even more significant. Print is simply not a sustainable business model.
Media groups are brutally aware of the changing landscape and have tried many ways (such as free papers) to reverse the trends, but they’re fighting a losing battle. This decision by the Guardian is facing up to that and refocusing their strategy for future growth.
It can be argued that recruitment has been affected in a similar way. The two major sources of revenue – clients and candidates – have both migrated online. Clients can source candidates through numerous digital channels, while candidates can research and apply for these vacancies in the same way. Recruitment consultants act as an intermediary in the process, taking advantage of imperfect market information, yet often appearing to add little value to clients and candidates when everything happens on the web.
On a typical day a recruitment consultant will spend 40% of their time on business development – generating client leads and jobs to fill. A further 30% will then be spent advising and sourcing appropriate candidates. Around 25% of their time will be taken up with advertising, admin, invoicing and compliance. If they’re successful in matching the two parties, the remaining 5% will be spent negotiating a ‘deal’ to enable the placement to go through.
From analysing this breakdown, it’s clear that the 5% spent brokering the deal is the only component where there isn’t an obvious digital alternative, and where the real value of recruitment exists. Candidates want a higher salary, clients want to pay less.
Thinking about how football agents have exploited opportunities to negotiate pay deals, could we one day see a recruitment agency that offer a similar service to regular workers? Could that be a realistic future for traditional recruitment?
Likewise, will we see a recruitment agency that really understands the market trends and digital revolution? Will a mainstream recruitment business fundamentally shift their business model to place digital at the very core of everything they do?
My view is yes, we will, and it's just a matter of when.
Labels: business strategy, digital recruitment, online advertising, recruitment advertising
posted by Jon
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