The evolving Pan European online recruitment market

The Pan European online recruitment market is evolving, and companies are finding which strategies of overcoming the numerous hurdles involved are most successful. As we reported last year, despite the undisputed advantages of the internet, with the problems of language barriers, visas, different recognised qualifications and cultural differences to overcome, it was never going to be plain sailing. We found out moreÖ.

Rob Brouwer, CEO of Monster UK and Ireland says that two aspects have been critical for the online recruitment industry over the last year: ìFirstly broadband penetration across the Europe has increased dramatically from 64,737 million broadband households in 2006 to a projected 75,575 million in 2007 (Screen Digest 2006). This has meant that there are many new job seekers looking online than ever before. Secondly, the accession countries joining the EU have increased the number of companies and candidates turning to online recruitment. There is more competition in the market and more newspapers are developing online recruitment classified sections. Online is an efficient way of posting jobs and searching for candidates and many companies are starting to realise the benefits. The newspaper industry is being forced to join in or be left behind, as an increasing number of people are abandoning the more traditional methods of recruitment.î

Choice of sites for jobseekers
Recruiters can use one site, such as Monster, or a site which has partnerships with sites in other countries e.g. The Network, or select their own combination of sites from each countries according to their needs. Rob Brouwer says that: ìMonsterís global search facility enables job seekers to search for jobs across a wide range of industries throughout different markets. In addition, they have a sophisticated search engine and filtering capability to help employers find the most suitable candidates. New benefits such as searching by postcode or zipcode, area or region in other countries enable both job seekers and employers to find the right jobs and candidates. With the new EU accession countries open to the Europe and the shortage of certain skill sets in the UK, a dedicated pan- European site gives companies access to this new group of potential candidates.î

The Network has partners in other countries and says it has access to talent pools of candidates domiciled in 54 countries, so can help source quality jobseekers from Spain to Dubai. This way they say recruiters can benefit from local expertise and a complete understanding of jobseeker behaviour on a country by country basis. Steven Lewis, Managing Director of The Network (totaljobs.com) explains ìEnsuring we have the right partners in the right country is a must. The Network is now a legal entity where we can vote in new partners and vote out ones that arenít performing. By having a bottom up, top down approach, we are able to make swift decisions to ensure we always have the best partner in place in each country.î He says the Networkís reach now expands across ASIA-PAC, EMEA and the USA; giving international or expanding companies access to hires across the globe, and because of the structure of The Network reinforcing a global employer brand position without compromising national recruitment, best practice is easily accomplished. Piet Derriks, Managing Director of The Network (StepStone) adds ìAs The Network has enabled small recruitment networks to form alliances, the market has evolved so that recruiters can benefit from this local knowledge. This follows through as a localised approach to jobseeker segmentation providing a level of expertise that is not necessarily present in a single global recruitment organisation.î

David Ray, an independant recruitment consultant told Onrec that he considered that there is still no service that offers uniform, quality results in all regions, but believed that Monster was still the only one with the makings of a genuine offering. He says that: ìAs most of the recruitment market is in its nature either very local or national, cross national recruitment remains far more applicable to some markets than others. For example, investment banking where sites such as the new euromoneyiiJobs network and eFinancialCareers are very much international in their nature. This may also be linked to the changing nature of the market, with niches becoming more predominant at the moment.î

In terms of predictions, David Ray believes that ìMore people will continue to use e-recruitment pan-nationally but itís a slow and patchy evolution, rather than anything of revolution for the foreseeable future.î The rewards are definitely out there for the sites that can get it right- so watch this space!

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