Upturn is a golden opportunity for the recruitment market to drive up standards

A leading recruiter has told the industry that current economic conditions are a golden opportunity to raise standards in staffing and bring in new levels of professionalism to the market.

John OíSullivan was addressing delegates at Success in Tougher Times II: Preparing for the Upturn, an event hosted by two of the leading industry suppliers, IT specialists Kamanchi and online marketing consultancy 4MAT.

Non-Executive Director of pfj and The Rethink Group, John OíSullivan is also MD and owner of Elite Leaders, an organisation which specialises in fostering management talent in recruitment.

ìThere are now a lot of people in the job market. We have a choice of identifying talent or going back to the way we were. This is a real opportunity to professionalise, finding individuals with real account management skills who can engage in creative selling. We can raise the genepool by finding people who can do the job in all weathers rather than just succeeding in a booming market,î he said.

Ian Wolter, CEO of HB Human Capital, agreed with the analysis that an upturn is the ideal opportunity to strengthen recruitment businesses.

ìNow is the opportunity to staff up, everyone is available in this golden moment. Itís also important to start thinking about investment in training and development for both consultants and management,î he said.

The event was hosted by Jeff Grout, formerly UK MD of Robert Half and now a leading motivational speaker, author and performance coach.

It also featured James Howells of Redgrave Partners who stressed the importance of having a clear business plan as market conditions begin to change.