This post is from guest blogger Scott King of Kings Resources in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Scott is a longtime member of NPAworldwide and is currently serving on our board of directors. Kings Resources is a boutique recruitment firm that specializes in the placement of contract and direct-hire information technology professionals.
I was fortunate to recently attend one of NPAworldwide’s many global conferences this year. This one was a networking meeting in Porto, Portugal and it was attended by many experienced recruitment professionals from Europe, the United Kingdom, Canada, USA, Australia and Asia.
The key speaker at this event was Kevin Green of Whats Next Consultancy. Kevin is the former recruitment director of the Royal Mail in the UK and he was also the CEO of REC for 10 years. His areas of specialism include global labour markets, competitive people strategy, how to create high performing cultures and what great leaders do.
Over the course of his presentation, Kevin provided a great overview of the job market globally, how mid-level roles are shrinking and how specialisation/high level skill sets are the direction for many companies.
An example he used was an analogy of the automotive industry a few years ago and the return on human capital within that industry. A 100,000-plus employee firm would generate about $130,000 of market cap per employee, versus our current large social media corporations employing less than 30,000 employees but a much higher market cap of over $20 million per employee.
Kevin then spoke about how we as recruiters should remain relevant as environments change with new technology, different pricing and products and how we must ensure our value perception within the market. It will become even more important to add value to your service by offering executive assessment, coaching, engagement and retention and helping your clients grow their teams.
He spoke about how our recruitment companies should be focused on being “Inch Wide – Mile Deep” organisations. We should be looking to provide heaps of depth of capability within a very defined or specialised skill set. This means adopting a candidate-centric model that effectively uses content and social media to attract candidates. It means knowing where the candidates are within your niche and having global reach, and where you are truly a consultant to your clients.
Check out Kevin’s TEDx presentation, Why Our Jobs Matter More Than Ever Before, for more enlightening information.