Common global challenges: Day one at the Ciett Conference
15 May 2013
Delegates have been pouring into town from all four corners of the globe; the United Nations of recruitment is converging on downtown Toronto.
Wed, 15 May 2013 | By Tom Hadley, director of policy, Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC)Delegates have been pouring into town from all four corners of the globe; the United Nations of recruitment is converging on downtown Toronto.
This is the annual gathering of the International Confederation of Private Employment Agencies (Ciett) – the representative body for the worldwide recruitment industry. The event is a great platform for exchanging views with recruitment professionals and representative bodies from across the world and to pick up on the latest insights, innovations and market trends.
This year’s event is being hosted by the Association of Canadian Search, Employment & Staffing Services (ACSESS), who informed me that around 26 countries will be represented.
Initial discussions with fellow delegates have provided a timely reminder of why this annual coming-together is so important.
For example, Even Hagelien from the Norwegian Federation of Service Industries flagged the opportunity for a spot of high-energy “international networking” as the major benefit, and underlined the fact that “the recruitment industry across the word faces a number of common challenges”.
The aim of the Ciett conference is to come up with some common solutions. So what are some of the ‘common challenges’?
General consensus among most national delegations is that raising overall perception of the industry remains top of the list. Progress has been made over recent years but more needs to be done to promote the industry’s positive contribution to national labour markets and to position the sector as a force for good. The feeling is that winning this battle for hearts and minds will facilitate the development of the right regulatory frameworks, which in turn will help the industry to grow.
Conversations with individual recruitment agencies attending the conference – including some from the UK – have also confirmed an increasing interest in ‘cracking’ overseas markets and on picking up on the latest tools and trends that can provide a competitive edge in domestic as well as international markets.
Other hot topics include the development of a new generation of recruitment leaders, new supply models and latest best practice in client and candidate management. The mood here is upbeat despite a challenging few years for many recruiters.
The conference rooms, hotel lobbies and cocktail bars of downtown Toronto are set to resonate with the booming but harmonious voice of the global recruitment industry.
Tom Hadley will be providing daily dispatches from the Ciett World Employment Conference in Toronto. For live updates follow Tom on Twitter @HadleysComment
This is the annual gathering of the International Confederation of Private Employment Agencies (Ciett) – the representative body for the worldwide recruitment industry. The event is a great platform for exchanging views with recruitment professionals and representative bodies from across the world and to pick up on the latest insights, innovations and market trends.
This year’s event is being hosted by the Association of Canadian Search, Employment & Staffing Services (ACSESS), who informed me that around 26 countries will be represented.
Initial discussions with fellow delegates have provided a timely reminder of why this annual coming-together is so important.
For example, Even Hagelien from the Norwegian Federation of Service Industries flagged the opportunity for a spot of high-energy “international networking” as the major benefit, and underlined the fact that “the recruitment industry across the word faces a number of common challenges”.
The aim of the Ciett conference is to come up with some common solutions. So what are some of the ‘common challenges’?
General consensus among most national delegations is that raising overall perception of the industry remains top of the list. Progress has been made over recent years but more needs to be done to promote the industry’s positive contribution to national labour markets and to position the sector as a force for good. The feeling is that winning this battle for hearts and minds will facilitate the development of the right regulatory frameworks, which in turn will help the industry to grow.
Conversations with individual recruitment agencies attending the conference – including some from the UK – have also confirmed an increasing interest in ‘cracking’ overseas markets and on picking up on the latest tools and trends that can provide a competitive edge in domestic as well as international markets.
Other hot topics include the development of a new generation of recruitment leaders, new supply models and latest best practice in client and candidate management. The mood here is upbeat despite a challenging few years for many recruiters.
The conference rooms, hotel lobbies and cocktail bars of downtown Toronto are set to resonate with the booming but harmonious voice of the global recruitment industry.
Tom Hadley will be providing daily dispatches from the Ciett World Employment Conference in Toronto. For live updates follow Tom on Twitter @HadleysComment
- Click to look back to last year's World Employment Conference, hosted by Hadley and the REC in London.
