Online job boards take the lead over recruitment agencies according to market research survey

research undertaken by Bond International Software highlights that only 25% of candidates would use Social Media for job search


72% of respondents have looked for a job within the last three years
Of office workers that have looked for a job in the last year:
- 81% have used an online job site
- 51% have used a recruitment agency
- 25% have used social media

62% of office workers said that they would prefer to use an industry or skill specific job board
Only 31% of respondents believe that a recruitment agency will have the most up to date jobs
New independent market research, carried out by industry analyst Opinionography on behalf of Bond International Software, worldwide provider of staffing and recruitment software solutions, has revealed the surprising trend in tools candidates are using when looking for jobs and the profound impact that this is having on recruiters. In fact, the survey has revealed that 81% have used online job sites compared to only 25% who have used social media when looking for a job in the last year.

The research that surveyed 1,000 UK based office workers set out to discover the current state of the recruitment market – from candidates’ preferences in job search tools, to the way that individuals now address change in career. After years of workplace stagnation, increased economic confidence over the past couple of years has encouraged individuals to make a change, with over a quarter of office workers looking for a job in the last six months, and a massive 72% having looked for a job in the last three years.

A clear message from the research is the online job site is still the number one preferred starting point for candidates, with 68% of respondents saying that they found it the most helpful in comparison to just 38% who found recruitment agencies of most help. In fact, given past experience, if searching for a job today 94% stated that they would be likely to use an online job site. This identifies a misconception by the candidate in terms of recruitment agency vs job board, since the majority of roles on job boards actually come from recruitment agencies directly. This demonstrates a clear need for recruiters to be actively following up on candidates when they receive an application directly via a job board.

Of the two thirds of respondents using a recruitment agency in the past to help with job search, a huge 58% found the agency via online search. These stats identify a clear recruitment trend and highlight that the recruitment agency must ensure that it is using all tools to its advantage.  As well as ensuring that job boards are regularly updated, agencies need solid SEO strategies that are actively monitored and adjusted to reflect market and sector activity, while keywords must be optimised to match certain skill searches. With so many ways to reach the candidate, monitoring the value of each strategy will be key to the success of the agency.

While just a few years ago social media was expected to prompt change in recruitment strategy, the reality is very different. As the research reveals, just 25% have used social media to find a job and of these, just 14% found it helpful. But it isn’t just attitudes to job search that is surprising in attitudes to social media. Of course there are varying attitudes between demographics, but the gap is clearer between management and non-management roles rather than age groups. In fact, 46% of  C-level executives and 50% of Executive Directors would be very likely to use LinkedIn to search for vacancies compared to just 15% of those earning less than £25k.

The research also found that while 42% of office workers use LinkedIn for work related purposes, when it comes to searching for a job one in ten candidates would never use social media, and a further 40% would be unlikely or very unlikely to use social media.

Toby Conibear, European Business Development Director, Bond International Software, comments, “The research commissioned by Bond has highlighted some surprising results regarding how candidates are searching for jobs. In particular the lack of social media use, revealing that only 25% have used social media to find a role, and a tiny 14% found this helpful.  In a society that is increasingly dominated by social media, and the growth of LinkedIn, that is a shocking result that has very real implications for the way in which recruiters contact and attract candidates,”

Conibear continues, “Another surprising result which arose from the research was the preference for online job sites over the use of recruitment agencies. With 46% of respondents believing that online job sites offer the most up to date jobs, in comparison to 31% believing recruitment agencies will be up to date, there is clearly a perception issue between candidate and recruiter. Furthermore, with 63% believing that recruiters put the needs of the employer first, recruiters demonstrating more consideration for the candidate would provide a more positive outcome for all parties.”

Conibear concludes, “It is clear from the research that market specialism rather than social media is set to have the biggest impact on the market over the next few years. From the lack of social media use, to the rise of industry specific job boards, there is a clear need for recruiters to get specialist. Those recruiters that harness and improve candidate relationships, offer industry specific advice, and can provide end-to-end excellence in recruitment processes will be the ones to win over the competition.”

Unregulated recruitment-agency sector raises employer concerns

B.C.’s hot job market is making it tougher for employers to find staff and while that should be good news for recruitment companies, many executives are doing the hiring in-house because of bad experiences with headhunters.


The province leads the country with year-over-year employment growth hitting 3% and its 5.9% unemployment rate is the lowest in the country. B.C. was the only province to post job growth in June.

Recruiters say that Metro Vancouver is fast becoming an employee’s market after about a decade of being an employer’s market.

Despite warnings from recruiters that hiring through word-of-mouth and internal vetting is dangerous and comes with the expensive risk of making the wrong hire, some business owners are so frustrated with the unregulated recruitment industry that they are willing to take their chances.

Vancouver Litigation Support Services principal Eileen Finnegan told Business in Vancouver that she paid a recruitment agency a fee to find an employee and when the hire was made, the person did not show up for work on the first day.


She had to phone the agency to find out what happened and was told that the employee had decided to take a different job. Finnegan said she was still on the hook for the upfront recruitment fee even though no employee actually started work.

“One horror story I had was when we hired a bookkeeper using a recruitment agency,” added Rising Tide Consultants owner Bert Hick.

“Within a year, we found out that she was forging my signature on cheques. She wrote cheques to herself and did creative bookkeeping, so we fired her.”

He filed a police report, but the evidence was insufficient for the Crown to recommend charges.

However, after he fired the employee, he checked her employee file and found glowing reference letters. Hick phoned one of the people who vouched for the employee in a letter and the person told Hick that he had had “challenges” with the employee.

A second reference was from a company for which Hick could find no record and, to this day, doubts that it exists.

“Having known [the employee], I recognized the language in the letter – the verbiage, dialogue and way it was written – it was exactly as my employee wrote,” Hick said.

“So, she forged her own reference letter.”

A representative of the employment agency that Hick had hired admitted that no one at the agency had checked references, so Hick was refunded the $10,000 to $15,000 that he had paid as an upfront fee.

Miles Employment Group president Sandra Miles was not involved in Hick’s situation, but she defended her industry by saying how hard it can be to confirm an employee’s capabilities by relying on references.


(Miles Employment Group president Sandra Miles' agency is licensed by the B.C. government's Employment Standards Branch  to confirm that its practices adhere to privacy and labour laws | Miles Employment)

“People don’t respond to reference requests a lot of the time and, sometimes, the references that are given aren’t valid,” she said. “References can be co-workers and not a direct report.”

But Hick has other beefs with the recruitment sector.

For example, he’s critical of the way recruitment agencies charge upfront fees before searching for suitable candidates and then poach workers that they have already placed at other firms.

Hick added that when a recruitment company convinces a worker it has placed at one firm to change jobs, it ensures it gets more business because the first employer suddenly needs to find another new employee.

“We now run our own ads on Craigslist to see if we can find people that way,” he said. “Or we hire based on word of mouth.”

Miles said employees are free to seek other work and that hiring someone always comes with the risk that the employee will leave.

“I would never [poach] workers,” said Miles, who has been in the industry for decades and has owned her firm for the past 13 years.

“It’s important for clients to know who they are dealing with and to do their own due diligence. There are a lot of recruitment agencies out there that aren’t licensed. They’re working out of their homes. They haven’t built up a database, and they haven’t invested in resources to properly deliver on recruitment methodologies.”

No external agency regulates the sector, and the province’s Human Resources Management Association’s role is education and advocacy.

The B.C. government’s Employment Standards Branch licenses recruitment agencies, which pay annual fees and are interviewed each year to confirm that operations adhere to privacy and labour laws.

2,926 new recruitment agencies launched in 2016

2,926 new recruitment agencies launched in the first half of 2016: a 10% increase on the number of agencies launched in the same period in 2015, according to research from leading recruitment finance provider, Sonovate.

The data, taken from Companies House, suggests that despite recent economic uncertainty, the recruitment industry is in good health. During the first and second quarter of 2016, the number of new recruitment agencies increased by 10% and 7% respectively compared to the same periods last year. In 2015, a total of 5,110 new recruitment agencies launched in the UK: a 144 % increase on the 2,092 agencies launched in 2010.

Richard Prime, Sonovate co-founder and co-CEO comments, “The UK recruitment sector is thriving, and the industry’s rapid growth is showing no sign of slowing. This is good news for the economy, especially during the current climate of uncertainty following the Brexit vote.”

A number of factors are responsible for the sector’s success. Last year saw the UK employment rate rise to the highest level since 1971, according to the Office of National Statistics, and APSCo data shows that vacancies in core sectors are growing year on year.

Prime continues: “Record employment levels present challenges for employers to retain staff as confidence amongst job seekers grows. As wage growth continues upwards, and the war for talent intensifies, skilled recruitment professionals are able to use their industry experience and networks to source the best talent."

An increase in contract recruitment, which is often the result of businesses having to take on extra staff to fulfil demand for expanding workloads, is also responsible for the sector’s growth.

In 2015, 90% of the industry’s £31.5bn turnover came from temporary or contract business. However, agencies looking to launch a contract division face significant obstacles, the biggest one being cash flow. Both new and established recruitment companies are being held back by inflexible and outdated finance products.

Using traditional invoice finance, it can take companies up to 5 years to access the finance required to fund contractors, whilst with an alternative finance provider it can take 3 to 4 years. With Sonovate, flexible finance, industry leading contractor management technology and expert support means companies can start running contractors from day one.

5 recruitment trends HR leaders are expecting in 2017

It’s never too early to start planning 2017's recruitment strategy. In the coming year, the competition for skilled talent will continue to heat up, a new wave of college grads will be seeking career opportunities, and recruiters will be tasked with connecting to more quality candidates using the best technology and social marketing efforts available.

There are a lot of recruitment professionals talking about what to expect and how to approach things. Here’s a rundown of the top recruitment trends HR leaders are facing for 2017 and beyond.

Talent acquisition will finally take their seat at the executive table

For years, recruiters and other HR officers have worked in the background of their organizations, quietly sourcing a supply of talent to meet corporate objectives. This was a reactive role rather than a proactive part of the decision-making process that takes place in every corporate boardroom. In recent years, talent pros instead sought — and earned — a place at the executive table.

The LinkedIn Global Recruiting Trends Report for 2017 advises that “Talent leaders feel confident that their department is helping define the future of their company. Over 83% of them say talent is the number one priority in their organization.” Therefore, with this shift in mindset, more HR leaders are speaking up to become the key decision makers in talent management as it relates to the further development of their corporate growth.

The ability to win over and convert talent will be critical

In the next year, the transition of recruiters focusing on attracting talent to those who are working on converting talent will be complete. Tony Restell, director of social media marketing for Social-Hire.com, told HR Dive that his predictions for 2017 revolve around "technologies and approaches that help recruiters be more effective at converting candidates."

He added that among the most useful technologies are LiveChat and ChatBot tools, which consumers are increasingly using to interact with companies in real-time and are shown to drive up conversion rates.

“There are companies now developing variants of these tools specifically geared to improving the candidate experience as they navigate the careers pages of potential employers,” Restell said.

Coaching will increase the personalized approach to recruitment

A few decades ago, cookie-cutter candidates were expected to fit into companies like a cog in a wheel. Their experience, whether good or bad, wasn’t really that important to companies, which created alienation in most cases. Over the years, this has changed some, but there are still overwhelming numbers of employees who are disengaged from their organizations.

In 2017, this will continue to change as the use of coaching in the initial phases of recruitment all the way to the career development aspects of each person as an individual will take center stage.

Barry Kayton, CEO of Cognician Inc., told HR Dive that “today’s millennial candidate expects to be treated as an individual with values that align with the corporate culture.” Being able to convey the corporate mission through the way the company cares for candidates, clients and the community are all part of the ideals of millennials.

"There is a clear connection between coaching and recruitment in that candidates are looking for a hyper-personalized experience,” Kayton said. He added that he has personally heard from candidates how this has been a life-changing encounter for many.

“Having the opportunity to self-reflect, freely express their ideas and career goals during the recruitment process gives candidates a new way to express their concerns,” Kayton said. Encouraging these open discussions makes the recruitment process a much more productive and pleasant experience for everyone.

Diversity in recruitment will continue to be a primary focus.

In 2017, organizations across all industries are expected to ramp up initiatives to improve diversity in hiring. Entelo's 2017 Annual Recruiting Trends Report, which was just released, indicated that “67.4% of talent acquisition pros are reporting management either supports or strongly supports workplace diversity.” The survey also indicates that large companies are 2.5 times more likely to already have a diversity program in place and they believe almost half of the time that they are successful.

Companies continue to be challenged in their diversity recruiting efforts, but recruiting technology has improved to help organizations improve in this area.

A larger investment in social marketing recruitment efforts.

Both Restell and Kayton agreed that marketing will continue to play a large role in the recruitment world going into 2017. Marketing teams are increasingly expected to align with recruitment teams in creating the best corporate brands that attract candidates. Restell says he "expects 2017 to be the year when both in-house recruitment teams and external recruitment agencies decide to invest much more heavily in social media."

Kayton advised much the same, saying, "Marketing teams and recruitment teams will continue to overlap because they realize they must market to candidates more strategically." Social media is a powerful medium for sharing the unique corporate cultures of each organization and it's finally getting credit for improving recruitment efforts.

We will be watching these trends in recruitment very carefully heading into 2017, and will report updates with our experts in upcoming coverage.

Recruitment agencies are 'worse than football agents'

The boss of a fast-growing software company has compared some recruitment agencies to football agents and pledged to stop trying to use them.

Andy Kent is the CEO of Liverpool-based Angel Solutions, which has grown its workforce by a third in 2016 to 35 to meet demand.

The entrepreneur wants to make at least three more additions to his team before the end of the year but intends to do it without using expensive recruiters.

Kent said: “The tech sector is thriving at the moment and that’s made it a target of some unscrupulous recruitment agents.

“I’m not tarring the whole sector with the same brush but some are acting like football agents who are looking to ‘transfer’ their clients to other employers to make money themselves.

“It can’t be right that a recruiter will place a candidate into your business for between £5,000-10,000 only to phone them up two years later to get them to apply for other jobs, where they would get more commission. Where’s the loyalty?

“We’ve had examples of recruiters playing us off against rivals to create a bidding war. It’s a bit like going to a restaurant and being hit with a 10 per cent service charge for a shoddy experience.

"That’s why I’ll avoid using recruitment agencies in future because I’d rather spend the money on staff training."

Kent says the award-winning Angel Solutions has been a victim of its own success, which saw it win the prestigious Liverpool Echo Business of the Year Award (for up to 50 employees) earlier this year.

The company, which started in 1999, specialises in creating web applications for the education sector and its products are used by every local authority in England.

Turnover is expected to increase by 50 per cent to £3m this year, with profits predicted to rise to £750,000 -  more than double the £340,000 figure from 2015.

Kent said the company preferred to use “word of mouth” to fill their current vacancies, which include software developers and a support technician.

"Junior roles are fairly straightforward to fill but the more senior roles, which require experience, continue to be a challenge,” he said.

Kent said the company’s reputation for converting their Mount Pleasant office into a circus, complete with ball pit, big top circus tent, gypsy caravan, popcorn machine and hundreds of balloons, is a big plus when recruiting.

“It certainly sways decisions,” admitted Kent, who describes himself as the 'chief executive and ring master’ on the firm's website.

“We have had people come for interview who have subsequently turned down other interviews to choose to come to us. It gets people thinking more creatively about their applications.”

Kent said Angel Solutions was sharing some of its success by sponsoring North West-based girls football team Academy Juniors U14s.

“Businesses need to step up and play an active role in impacting their community,” he said. “It shouldn’t all be about the money. We love supporting organisations or people that may not always attract high-profile funding.

"We also believe it’s important to cultivate aspirations at an early age and foster a sense of innovation and creativity early on.”

Talent Management Software Can Help Managers to Recognize and Retain Talented Employees!

Talent Management is about identifying a person's natural skills, talent, personality and traits, so that he or she can be retained in the same company for years. This ultimately proves beneficial for the company in the long run as they do not have to waste time recruiting new people frequently or lose out on talented employees. Talent management software is therefore and important prerequisite that each organization should adopt, whether big or small. Each person has a certain talent suited to a specific job profile, and it is the duty of the HR department to identify that talent and put it to the best possible use to benefit the company as well as offer work satisfaction to the employee. Good management is not an inbuilt skill or a natural talent managers or HR personnel possess by default. It has to be learn and practiced with time to become adept in recognizing and appraising deserving candidates. This also includes career and succession planning for employees that can benefit both the company and the staff members.

With the help of a professional talent management suite HR personnel can strategically follow career and succession planning for employees.These professional service providers help organizations to effectively identify successors for crucial and demanding positions that further help the organization to develop and retain talent. Critical talent is recognized on time that ensures the retention of highly qualified staff not just for present needs, but for years to come. These career and succession plans provided by a talent management software company includes every possible step that can help organizations to understand and identify significant positions and staff as well as guides employees to develop and manage their individual career plans. Such systems are very beneficial for controlling the existing workforce as well as prepare plans for the future.

Career and succession planning also helps increase employee satisfaction and productivity and even includes time to time learning recommendations. This solution is a perfect way to support and enhance the career of individual employees as well as make them understand the need to strictly follow the organization's goal and vision. In fact service providers offering a comprehensive talent management suite to companies also help staff members to take charge of their career through appropriate career planning. It allows employees to browse career paths, compare skill requirements for targeted roles against current skills, and identify learning and development opportunities to prepare for a new role. They can measure their progress, improve their performance and then make themselves capable and fit enough to apply for a certain internal promotion.This strategy of offering integrated talent management software by performance management system providers has largely benefit organizations to retain their talented workforce, save time and money and increase productivity.

Talent Management - Engineering Your Future

In the last year, an increasing number of clients have asked us about Talent Management. Their motivation is varied, but it always comes down to similar issues:

How do I retain my existing Talent?
What can I do to attract the right Talent into my business?
What can I do to ensure that I develop Talent from within?
The question I usually ask them in return is, "is this a business survival issue for you, or just something motivated by HR?" When organisations are serious about talent management, then we can do something about it.

The reality is that despite the economic crisis hitting most businesses, Talent is a major global issue. Surveys conducted in countries all over the world report:

Attracting and retaining talent is a pressing priority. Most industrial countries including India and China are flagging shortages of skilled labour.
Acute talent shortages are being experienced in growth markets, specialised skills, and business leadership. High percentages of companies are identifying talent shortages across the organisation.
In South Africa, despite the fact that young people are returning to our country in droves, we are feeling real shortages of skill in most professional arenas, including such specialities as actuarial, accounting, auditing, programme management, business analysts, engineers, medicine, etc.

The right talent is the issue

Given the intense focus on the linkage between talent and an organisation's business challenges and strategies, if you are to achieve effective strategy execution, you will require:

The right people
with the right skills, knowledge and attitude,
in the right roles
at the right time.
There is no single definition of right - what is right for one organisation will be different from another. Each organisation has its own unique style and culture, different strategic focus areas and priorities.

There is no standard global best practice to follow. It is the effectiveness of talent management in your organisation, as an outcome, which drives evaluation as world-class. What is clear though is that you cannot view Talent Management as an intervention, or programme, that you embark upon in isolation.

What is Talent Management?

Talent management is a proactive and integrated series of management actions designed to ensure that an organisation has a supply of best-fit, highly productive individuals in the right job, at the right time.

It is a continuous process aimed at ensuring you have the talent capacity to meet your current and future business needs. It integrates previously independent functions such as recruiting, retention, workforce planning, employment branding, metrics, orientation and redeployment into a seamless process.

Talent Management requires a mindset that goes beyond just talk, and moves towards a holistic and integrated approach to leveraging the greatest competitive advantage from your people. It is about those thoughts and actions that, consistently, over time, become organisational culture.

A Process

One way of viewing talent management that we worked on for a client of ours, is illustrated by a circular process diagram of - Develop - Attract - Retain - Engage; it is a process that an organisation needs to continuously work with. Talent management is the fundamental approach to the way you deal with your people. You need to create a business mindset that fully embraces the concept that people are critical resources.

You cannot shift the responsibility for managing talent to your HR practitioners. It is a fundamental accountability of every line manager. The question is "how do you go about creating this mindset, and equip your managers with the skills they need to engage in the process of talent management?"

Unpack the talent target for your organisational strategy - your ultimate business aim must be to increase overall productivity, effectiveness and competitiveness through the improved attraction, retention, and utilisation of talent.
Pay attention to the organisation culture that will attract the talent that you need. Why would exceptional talent want to work for you? What do you offer that other organisations do not?
Equip managers to create the reality that will allow real talent management to flourish.
Other questions that you need to explore include:

What talent do you need?

Where can you source the talent you need?

How will you ensure that you select the right people?

Once you get the right individual into your organisation - how will you engage with him/her to maximise contribution?

What do you need to do to develop and grow talent from within?