No help for HR recruiters in down economy
HR Survey results, TalentDrive, InterActive Applicant and more
TalentDrive, a slick HR technology and service provider, has been busy lately with some interesting surveys. In one survey of 7500 staffing firms and independent recruiters, they discovered that:
- 52% are investing in increased marketing efforts and a sales force increase as the number one strategic effort for business development - 58% are implementing new services and re-positioning their company to attract new clientele - 57% predict the staffing downturn will lighten by Q3 2009 - 65% of staffing firms find the overabundance and quality issues of resumes the number one concern for 2009
Recruiters though are having a tougher time right now as:
- deal flow is lighter because of the economic malaise - the volume of resumes/applicants they must sift through has mushroomed
That fact I have no trouble believing as I am aware of dozens of friends and colleagues who are newly pounding the pavement looking for work. They are responding to anything and everything that might possibly help them make ends meet. They are adding to the resume glut and they’re also frustrated with the low levels of employer interest, unreturned calls and emails to recruiters, etc.
In essence, recruiters are looking through more and more resumes to fill ever fewer positions. That has to be destroying recruiter productivity these days.
Another TalentDrive survey found that 66% of respondents are not upgrading their recruiting technology to cope with this new demanding, economic environment. In all likelihood, this lack of technology upgrade activity is due to capital constraints and freezes on new IT projects. Some new technologies could really help in this situation and hopefully the most needed recruiters will get it.
TalentDrive also found out that about two-thirds of firms are upgrading their talent pool in this down economy. This also isn’t a surprise as a lot of great talent is available. I know a great former Accenture partner who suddenly became available as of last week (I could too for the right opportunity). Smart firms use these economic swings to strengthen their bench and position themselves for rapid success when the economy turns around. Shouldn’t your firm?
Several months ago, I caught Darryn Severyn, CEO of InterActive Applicant, at the Fall HR Technology show in Chicago. His firm has a nice toolset that allows job applicants to respond to job interviews via a webcam. The process speeds up the review time of applicants by recruiters. I’ve hung onto my notes and the information Darryn gave me but never did get around to writing it up. Well, now it seems that TalentDrive and InterActive Applicant have reached an alliance with each other. Sean Bisceglia, the CEO of TalentDrive (and someone who asked me to be on his advisory board for a time) had this to say about the alliance:
"This partnership is like bread and butter-a truly integrated solution for recruiters. We are now able to offer clients a technology that yields a pre-screened interview without one phone call by leveraging advanced searching, scoring, ranking and video animation. The partnership of these two advanced technologies is revolutionary and will change the dynamics of sourcing candidates and the overall recruiting landscape," Sean Bisceglia, CEO TalentDrive.