“Change is Inevitable. Progress is Optional” ~ Tony Robbins A lot can change in ten years. If I look at my own life of being at the beginning of my career as an IT Recruitment Consultant in 2005 to today working for LinkedIn, my career has changed quite a bit.

In a few weeks I’ll be experiencing one of the biggest changes to come yet, the arrival of my first child. In preparation for the arrival of who we refer to as “Baby Mac” my wife set me the task of going through boxes I have had stored in a cupboard since god knows when. While taking a rather enjoyable trip down memory lane (I found my old Nintendo Game Boy) I came across some notes from the Carman White Training I did while at CCS Technology Recruiters (now Clicks IT).

For many Recruiters who cut their teeth in the mid-2000’s, training from David Carman and John White was a standard experience when learning the recruitment trade. I’m sure a fair few of you reading this would still have binders full of colourful pages of notes from these courses. From a training session in 2005 I found some notes I had made on the current market and the implications it had for our business.

In the Recruitment industry most of us would agree that not much has changed in ten years when it comes to these trends. Recruiters are constantly on the search for good candidates and in a consolidating market the importance of brand and reputation is greater than ever. Thinking broadly though a lot has changed in 10 years. As a society we are more connected than ever.

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• Over 60% of all internet traffic in Australia is on mobile devices, which is never more evident than on the commute to and from work where most people have their heads down over their phones or tablets.

 

• In 2005 the newspaper was still king and “The Age” was still a broadsheet. Now most of us consume our news online or through a number of apps and blogs.

 

• We also make decisions differently. Ten years ago I would call my travel agent to book a holiday. Today I will almost certainly search Trip Advisor and other social platforms to gain the information I need to book a holiday or even choose a place for dinner.

The question I started pondering, as an industry how much have we changed our methods and approach to align with changes in society?

Speak to any Recruiter and they will tell you that top talent is hard to find. With the advancement of technology candidates also have many more options they can either identify through their own networks or with employers directly. Yet a large part of the industry still relies primarily on talent finding them through adverts on Job Boards and their website.

In today’s connected world, should a core part of any Recruitment strategy really be hoping for top talent to find the job we posted, put together a CV and apply? Every Recruitment firm works tirelessly to demonstrate as best they can why they should be the recruiter of choice, but how have Recruitment firms changed the way they tell this story?

I’ve heard from many Recruitment firms this year that 2015 is the year they will be redesigning their website. An engaging corporate website is as important today as it was in 2005 but what else are firms doing to reach their audience besides waiting for people to check out their website? There’s no silver bullet to success and I’m sure firms& have used a mix of strategies to keep themselves at the top over the last decade. As an example, we recently had Lincoln Benbow from Halcyon Knights speak at an event in our office and he said one of the first things he and his business partner did was hire a Marketing Manager to build their brand as marketing was not something either of them had experience in. If you look back at the last ten years what are some of the things you have you done to find the best talent and make your business the number 1 choice for your industry?