Recruiters struggling to adapt as hiring targets surge

Management consulting and IT consultancy recruiters are struggling to meet a surge in demand for new hires it was revealed this week. 90% of all recruiters in the sector believe the candidate market will be even tighter in 2006 than it was in 2005, leaving them with a candidate shortfall at a time when client demand is resurgent.

With recruiters from the likes of Accenture, Capgemini and IBM gathered in London this week for the industryís annual recruiter conference, it was clear that the War for Talent is back on the agenda. Difficulties in attracting sufficient talent into the sector were last an issue during the dot-com boom, when many consultants were lured to start-ups by the promise of internet riches and share option schemes. At the time consulting firms were forced to hike remuneration considerably, to prevent resourcing constraints from becoming a hindrance to growth.

Attendees at this weekís event confirmed that it is becoming increasingly difficult to attract candidate applications - with firms effectively all fighting over the same staff. Even once applications have been generated and candidates have gone through the interview process, the likelihood of a management consultancy candidate accepting an offer has plummeted. Multiple offers are now the norm, with candidates playing firms off against one another to bid up starting salaries and even secure ìgolden hellosî.

Another major problem revealed at this yearís conference is that corporate websites are now more likely to turn a candidate off an employer than encourage them to apply. The vast majority of corporate careers pages have been designed to minimise the workload of the HR team that processes the applications ñ making them highly time-consuming for candidates to use. Whilst a valid strategy for a recessionary market, in a boom market like 2006 it is critical that the candidate be made to feel highly valued and that they are sold to at every available opportunity. Recruiters are struggling to adapt their company websites accordingly and so are likely to see fewer and fewer applications through this their only source of free hires. Internet job boards, by comparison, are increasing their penetration and are highly likely to be used by candidates in their next job search.

The conference, organised by specialist recruitment website Top-Consultant.com, attracted over 700 registrations from recruiters compared with 250 this time last year. Revealed at the event were the findings from Top-Consultantís 2006 Recruitment Channel Survey, including awards for the best recruitment agency, newspaper and internet jobs board for sourcing management consultancy candidates. A copy of this report is available from: