Wanted: individual members for the Recruitment and Employment Confederation.

REC officials say that an “historic decline” in individual memberships for the UK recruitment industry trade body has been halted – but recruiters still are not joining the organisation, the eighth largest such body in the UK proportional to industry size.

Speaking at a dinner for long-time members, REC managing director Gareth Osborne called on the organisation’s fellows to help recruit professionals new to the industry, to better match the REC’s success in attracting corporate members. More than 80% of major UK players belong to the REC, representing more than 74% of the total industry by turnover, Osborne said.

An estimated 71,000 client-facing consultants and owner/operators work in recruitment, of which 5,000 hold individual memberships. Sixteen thousand hold REC professional qualifications, according to the REC.

In the last two years, Osborne said, the REC has evolved into a “dynamic, high-growth, customer-focused” body after a period of being “out of touch… bureaucratic, and loss making.”