Revival forecast in paper-based recruitment advertising

A revival in ëpaper-basedí recruitment advertising in the IT sector was predicted at last weekís June meeting of the Association of Technology Staffing Companies (ATSCo).

The meeting, which was attended by CEOs and Marketing Directors of ATSCo members, reached a consensus that there was increasing awareness among clients of the brand-building values of more traditional advertising media.

Panel members ñ Chris Skinner, Client Services Director of Barkers, Robert Brighouse, Managing Director of Reed Business Information and Dan McGuire, Director of Broadbean ñ agreed that corporates were increasingly recognising the need for improving their image as employers and that they needed to adopt a variety of routes to achieve this.

The web will lose its dominance, said Brighouse, and Skinner emphasised that his clients were investing in PR, editorial, ambient and online, not just traditional forms of promotion, because they needed to work at word of mouth recommendation.

The meeting also discussed the trend among a few employers to place advertisements direct on the Internet, hoping to reduce their recruitment agency spend. The success of these advertisements varied enormously because the copy was often ëdireí and overlooked the massive administration problems and, therefore, the total cost of the recruitment process.

Ann Swain, Chief Executive of ATSCo, concluded that ATSCo members had nothing to fear from this tactic longer-term, so long as they continued to improve the quality and depth of their service to clients.

The long predicted disintermediation of recruitment has simply not materialised. Recruiters add value to the whole process, including taking luke warm advertising response and connecting it to well informed, highly motivated candidates who are prepared to compromise their demands for the ’right’ role.

With the resurgence of paper-based adverts, recruitment businesses and direct clients have numerous media to choose from, each with its own specific benefits.