Every year for the past four years, Top Echelon has conducted a survey of more than 20,000 recruitment professionals in the United States and Canada. We designed this survey to gauge the professionals’ opinions regarding a wide range of recruiting and hiring topics.
And also every year for the past four years, we’ve published our annual State of the Recruiting Industry Report. I bring this up because, yes, as you might have guessed from many of the posts in the Top Echelon Blog, we have published our State of the Recruiting Industry Report for 2019.
The reason is simple: we want to know what independent, third-party recruiters, search consultants, and agency owners think about the current state of the recruitment industry. After all, who better to ask than the people who are “in the trenches” of the employment marketplace on a daily basis?
To be clear, while this survey and this report involves third-party recruiting agencies, the information contained within them is still valuable to others who work in the employment marketplace. Not just those who work in the recruitment industry. These others include the following:
- Internal recruiters
- Corporate recruiters
- Human Resources personnel
- Hiring managers
- Even candidates!
Ideally, you’ve been following our blog and all of the posts that we’ve written regarding Top Echelon’s 2019 State of the Recruiting Industry Report. And ideally, you’ve already downloaded the full report. But if you have not, that’s okay. Because we’re giving you one last chance to do it! (That’s just, as our bowling team is fond of saying, how we roll.)
Not only that, but we also feel compelled to provide you with a nifty synopsis of both the survey and the report. In other words, we’ll provide a “free sample” of the data, so that you know what you’re missing. Then you can download the report—once again, for FREE.
Recruitment industry optimism
The results of our State of the Recruiting Industry Report Survey during the last few years have all indicated that market conditions are favorable for recruiters, and our current survey was no exception. Sure, plenty of challenges exist for recruiters, but that’s always going to be the case. No matter how good the conditions, there will always be challenges.
Thankfully, a lot of recruiters were willing to share their thoughts. The good news: the overwhelming majority of those responses were positive and optimistic in nature. Despite whatever uncertainties that might exist in the global financial markets or the fact that the current bull market in this country has to end sometime, recruiters are certainly looking on the bright side of life.
- The candidate-driven market is continuing to roll on unabated.
- Grade-A candidates are in exceedingly short supply within most industries.
- Candidates are “ghosting” with alarming frequency, they’re making more demands of employers, and they’re turning down offers with regularity.
- Overall, hiring managers and employers are not savvy regarding current market conditions, and as a result, they’re not moving quickly enough to secure the services of top talent.
- LinkedIn continues to be a factor within the profession, but recruiters have a love-hate relationship with the social media platform.
- Recruiters are outright annoyed by some of their colleagues, to the point where they question whether or not these colleagues belong in the profession.
- The majority of recruiters do not believe that a recession will happen this year or that there is any real threat to the profession.
Recruitment industry fundamentals
But what is the biggest takeaway from this report? Perhaps more than anything else, this report and the survey that spawned it emphasizes how important the fundamentals of recruiting really are. This includes:
- Making phone calls (cold or otherwise)
- Leveraging the power of referrals
- Building relationships with both candidates and clients
- Relying more on actual recruiting skills than the perceived power of technology and/or social media
The bottom line is that despite all of the changes and challenges, old-school recruiting is the still one of the best ways to enjoy success in the profession. In fact, it might just be the best way.
This doesn’t mean, though, that old-school recruiters are not embracing change or technology. Quite the contrary. They’re not only embracing it, but they’re also incorporating it into their daily routine for the purpose of maximizing their results.
That’s because the best recruiters keep doing what works, they stop doing what doesn’t, and they always know the difference between the two. Like, for instance, this recruiter:
“I’m optimistic that we will be in the driver’s seat for several years to come. With proper training, technology, and dedication, we will continue to add value to clients and candidates! Win-win!”
Your final, FINAL chance to download it!
This is it . . . your final, FINAL chance to download Top Echelon’s 2019 State of the Recruiting Industry Report. C’mon . . . you know you want to. This report contains a ridiculous amount of information, including the following:
- Recruiters’ top priorities for 2019
- Most popular recruitment marketing strategies for search consultants
- Recruiters’ biggest problems with clients
- The top complaints clients have about candidates
- Recruiters’ biggest problems with candidates
- Where to advertise your jobs to reach the most candidates
Download the 2019 State of the Recruiting Industry Report!
And don’t forget, Top Echelon also offers one of the most affordable recruiting software packages on the market. The price is just $59.50 per user per month under the annual plan. Click here for a FREE 15-day trial of the software.