Recruiters’ candidates databases are no longer their greatest asset, an audience of recruiters and resourcing professionals at the Global Recruitment Conference in Amsterdam has heard.

John Nurthen, director of eBusiness & corporate affairs at Randstad Holdings,  said that “the whole world now has its CV on line, everyone can be a headhunter” and so recruiters’ databases “were no longer unique”.  This  information was now available “everywhere”, he said, for example on job boards and other Web 2.0 platforms. “Our biggest asset used to be our database, but now it’s our ability to mine data,” he added.

Nurthern said that while this didn’t undermine Randstad’s  business model, it meant the company “just has to be good at using alternative channels”.  He said that Randstad already used social network working sites, such as LinkedIn and  MySpace.

Nurthen told the audience that Google was winning the battle with job boards, despite not making recruitment a priority. “If Google decided to take a real interest in recruitment, we can all pack up and go home.”

Colin Cottell reporting from Amsterdam.