Recruitment firms are looking to add value to the selection process. Alex Turner reports

FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE did not often comment on the labour market, but his oft-quoted thought “what does not kill me, makes me stronger” could be adopted as the motto of recruitment agencies.

Those that are still operating anyway.

The recession saw off the firms that were not on a firm footing at the end of 2007 – often small, young operations which had sought to benefit from the fluid job market of five years ago.

“How did other companies cope? They didn’t. There were a lot of construction-related recruitment companies which went out of business,” said Mark Parish, managing director of St Helens agency GPW Recruitment.

“Recruitment is very much a sales industry. Four or five years ago, it was quite easy for someone with commercial acumen to set up as long as they had a sales ability. They could find work as long as work was there.

“Two years ago, when the recession kicked in, it wasn’t as easy to do that.”

GPW called on its experience over four decades as well as its size – it had a turnover of more than £20m going into the downturn – to get through the lean times.

It also had solid relationships within niche markets, such as Rolls-Royce, Getrag Ford and Goodrich, within manufacturing, and Galliford Try and Carillion in the construction sector.

Mr Parish said: “Construction was one of the hardest-hit sectors, as was manufacturing, especially automotive.

“It was down to the relationship we had with our clients. We have strong relationships with the clients, there’s always one skill-set they can’t get hold of.

“They need a very quick turnaround when they have a job on the site. They can’t fill it themselves quickly.

“We deal with both permanent and contract recruitment. Back of 2008, into 2009, the permanent work almost came to a dead end – but other divisions managed to flourish.

“We were very pleased that we continued to be profitable. That was a result of our market focus.

“For example, the power generation sector will never be hit by recession. We focused our attention on those key sectors to weather the recession.

“The hardest-hit sector was the commercial division. No-one wanted to recruit the support staff, the admin staff. It just went completely dead. It’s just started to improve now.”

Ceri Hoult, business manager at Reed, in Liverpool city centre, believes they benefited from the company’s stability and diversity.

She said: “We noticed a lot of competitors fall by the wayside. We are a large company, a cash-rich company. A lot of other companies really felt the hit.

“We have got five different specialisms in Liverpool and more than 30 across our branches.

“A lot of our specialisms are completely untouched by other agencies, because they don’t have the resources to do that.

“It’s a massive advantage.”

The agencies that have survived have widened their offer – adding areas of specialism or adding services, and sometimes both.

“The terminology ‘recruitment consultant’ is more suitable now,” said Helen Cornah, operations manager of Birkenhead agency Red Rocks.

“In the past, it was more about finding the person, now it is more of a consultative process.

“We can manage the process for them. As a seamless extension of their HR department, we have to look at their business plan.

“Five years ago, recruitment was very candidate-led. There were a lot of jobs out there. The clients were a little more flexible.

“Now the clients expect the job specification to be matched because the job market is so open.

“Clients want best value for money and they want added services, like testing candidates or maybe doing inductions for them.”

Ms Hoult, from Reed, agrees that the role of a recruitment agency has changed over the last few years.

“It’s a lot more consultative then it has ever been before,” she said. “The quality of service is crucial. We try and differentiate ourselves on our service.

“People think we are huge, but we operate on a local level. We all know the area and the local market. Our services, our consultative services, are different to any other agency.”

She is encouraged by the continued demand from companies who keep using the agency.

“Ultimately, companies see the benefits of using us,” she added.

“They are being inundated with hundreds of CVs, sifting them, checking their eligibility to work.

“It’s not only just about selecting the candidates and the interview process, eligibility to work is a huge issue for clients as well as verifying accreditation.

“We do offer an in-depth selection process. We do face-to-face interviews twice before we send them to interview.

“It’s quite a lot of work if you don’t use an agency.”

The latest monthly update of unemployment figures will be published today, which will show the extent to which the private sector has been able to absorb the increasing numbers of people leaving public sector roles.

The agencies are seeing more businesses recruiting and progressing plans to recruit in the next few months.

Ms Cornah, from Red Rocks, said: “From a branch point of view, we are seeing a more positive outlook, with companies looking to hire.

“My consultants are working with about 30 companies at a time that are looking to recruit in the next three months.

“In the FMCG, construction and pharmaceutical industries, it’s starting to move now – especially since April with the start of the financial year.

GPW’s Mr Parish is seeing similar changes – although there is evidence of companies looking to take advantage of the candidate-rich market – and is getting his company ready for a sustained improvement.

He said: “The commercial side is starting to come back, but because the local government have shed so many staff there’s an influx of candidates. A lot of companies are trying to do it themselves and looking at the local papers; there are definitely more vacancies coming through.

“We are looking to expand over the next 2-3 months. We are looking to recruit five apprentices from the St Helens Chamber scheme and four recruitment consultants, in our technical, construction and manufacturing divisions.

“The outlook for the next 12 months is better. We are in good shape. We have got a strategic plan and we are looking for decent growth this year.”

Reed is also starting to position itself for increased private sector demand.

Ms Hoult said: “We are probably still slightly below 2006/07, especially 2007. But, at the same time, we are growing in terms of our client base.

“Public sector has taken a huge hit but private sector is increasing massively.

“We have no expectations for our public sector clients, and we supply to one of Merseyside’s biggest public sector clients, Merseyside Police.

“But private sector is growing in all areas, especially within IT, scientific and HR.

“By the end of the year, we are hoping to have more clients on our database than we have ever had, and we will soon be expanding the office.”