With ever evolving artificial intelligence and increasing in house recruitment teams …..Will recruitment agencies become obsolete?

By Victoria Shirley, Founder of Isabelle Williams, Recruiting Recruiters

Given I have recently opened a Rec to Rec agency you won’t need to wait until the end of this blog to know my answer on this one!

We can’t deny that recruitment has changed significantly in recent years, the emergence of recruitment websites and social media have made it easier for businesses to make direct contact with candidates without the need of an agent.

However, a quick look for recruitment jobs on google shows that agencies are crying out for recruitment consultants so what is going on here?!

Firstly, this is testament to a reasonably good economy, although 2019 has been a tougher year in recruitment than previous years, UK businesses have shown remarkable resilience, considering we’ve had three years of Brexit uncertainty.

In-house Recruitment teams have been growing at such a pace, some becoming exceptionally savvy and, of course, this has reduced the need for recruitment agencies. However most in-house recruiters still use agencies in some way shape or form.  Recruitment businesses have had to identify where the need is and adapt, those that do this successfully are still able to thrive.

Personally, I feel there will always be a need for a third party and the value of this should never be under-estimated, especially when working with a good experienced recruiter. Of course, I have seen first-hand the importance of this role, especially the difference this can make in securing the desired applicant and supporting them through the offer process and their notice period.

There are many reasons why an applicant may not feel comfortable approaching a business directly and want to work with a trusted recruitment consultant who can tentatively test the water anonymously on their behalf before they make a formal application. Our lives are only getting busier and let’s face it, it’s the rare few that have time to make multiple applications when a recruiter can do this for you.

In five years time we are likely to be dealing with a completely different landscape again in terms of the technology that will be available to us, and no-one knows what the future may hold.  Who knows, it may even be that the tide will turn and there may be a move against the use of internal recruiters and back to recruiting via agencies.  These decisions are likely to be driven by cost; internal recruiters demand good salaries, job boards are currently not cheap and given many companies are still spending on recruitment agencies, for some businesses a move back to sole agency use may even be deemed more cost effective, especially as there is no fee until a candidate has been successfully placed.

Do you work in recruitment?  It maybe you are not actively looking for a new job, however, would be open to hearing details of opportunities with a role or package. We would welcome you making contact to Victoria on 07515 944390 in complete confidence. 

Who do you know in recruitment?  We offer a fantastic referral scheme of £250 should we place your referral. All approaches treated in the strictest of confidence.