While actual revenues within the recruitment sector have only seen a gradual
increase throughout the first 9 months of 2010, demand from existing and
prospective clients of recruitment firm ASC Connections has increased by 30%
for the quarter ending September 2010 compared with the previous quarter. This
statistic is calculated based on the number of job vacancy details taken and
the volume of companies looking to recruit.
With organisations within the public sector applying recruitment
freezes with pending news of redundancies, the private sector continues to show
growth with demand for business critical personnel at its highest for 3 years.
Managing Director of ASC Connections, Neil McNally, commented “the last 3
months have taken us by surprise especially with August historically being one
of our quieter months. I know we`re not alone with receiving this type of
increase in demand. A number of our competitors within the engineering
and technology sectors are experiencing much of the same”.
With the shortage of experienced recruitment consultants left within the
industry after the recession, ASC has chosen to respond to this demand with the
decision to recruit 4 entry level consultants that are now undertaking a 6
month structured training program. Neil McNally highlighted, “this is an
absolute necessity if we are to increase our market share and directly compliments
our recruitment drive to recruit experienced professionals. I would never of
dreamed 12 months ago that we would be in a position to take on
inexperienced recruiters that I believe will add value to our service
delivery process very quickly.”
Apart from introducing and developing new staff into the recruitment sector,
ASC is very aware of the importance of the continuous professional development
of its existing staff and has recently re-introduced a regular training
schedule designed to up-skill and refresh those recruiters that want to stay
ahead of the competition. Operations Director at ASC Connections, Jane Storer,
commented “the responsibility and expectation of recruiters within this
industry is very high. Owners and managers of recruitment agencies expect their
recruiters to be great sales
people, effective negotiaters, excellent interviewers, organised
administrators, computer literate, have good HR
type skills and good relationship builders, so the least we can do is to coach
and train them in all the relevant areas. The need for recruiters to be true
business consultants has never been so high with the diversity of requirements
from our clients.”
