Recruiters risk falling behind as client companies harness technology

A leading expert in recruitment technology has warned the staffing industry that it risks falling behind clients in the drive to harness the power of IT to reach candidates.

Raymond Pennie, who is Commercial Director of IT outsourcing specialists Kamanchi as well as Co-Chair of APSCoís Technology Forum, says that recruitment clients are investing in technology to build their own candidate databases. With end-users able to source their own candidates, the consequences for the staffing sector could be severe.

ìWe are seeing moves by end-users of recruitment services, particularly large corporations, to develop their own technology to build candidate networks,î says Raymond.

ìWe know of a number of multi-national companies which will refuse to pay a fee to staffing firms if the recruiter puts forward a candidate who the firm already has in their database.î

Clients are using a sophisticated combination of social networking sites, job boards and their corporate website to reach potential employees, building data networks which could help them to hire staff without working with their recruitment partners.

ìLarge companies using technology to build candidate databases and their own in-house recruitment teams bring the real threat of disintermediation for recruitment firms,î Raymond warns.

ìIn order to make sure that they can continue to provide a service for their clients, recruiters need to invest in the latest technology, ensuring that they have access to the candidates who their clients will want to speak to but who will not be on the client database.î

ìWithout continued investment in technology, recruitment firms risk falling behind their clients in their ability to find candidates. This could present a very serious problem for the staffing sector going forward but recruitment firms who act now will be well-placed to react to the changing environment.î