If the start of a new year offers the perennial Ichance for transformation, trade body ATSCo (the Association of Technology Staffing Companies) is getting a head start.

During the last days of 2008, ATSCo will become APSCo (the Association of Professional Staffing Companies), a change signifying more than just an altered name. The trade body, which limited membership to recruitment companies operating in the IT, technology and engineering arenas, is now opening its arms to a much wider audience, while drawing a sharp distinction between ‘high street’ and ‘professional’ recruitment.

The needs of candidates in the two markets differ — as do the commercial and legislative realities of doing business in each, contends Ann Swain, chief executive of ATSCo, soon to be APSCo. For instance, legislation such as the Temporary (Agency) Workers Directive, which calls for agency workers to receive equal treatment to staff once they have been in a given job for 12 weeks, has highlighted the differences between ‘vulnerable’ workers and professionals who call the shots in their careers.

And in the collective view of ATSCo decision makers, the time has come to recognise what Swain calls this “natural divide”, and bring together under the APSCo umbrella firms that specialise in the recruitment of professionals. “That’s not suggesting the [high-street] companies are less professional — we’re talking about the ‘employees’ or the candidates,” Swain is quick to explain.

“We see ourselves very much working in the business and professional space — it’s as simple as that,” explains Phil Clarke, a director at Radius Recruitment and a member of ATSCo’s executive committee. “It’s not a competition, it’s not a race. It’s very simply so that our members and the people we work on behalf of could have a much broader offering and give us a louder voice.

“It’s not just about the lobbying,” Clarke adds, “it’s also about the business development opportunities we create. We’re able to lend a much bigger voice to that if we have a bigger party.”

The mood was celebratory and pride was high at a recent ATSCo executive committee meeting as members discussed the upcoming expansion. Basic points include:

• a new City of London office will open at 14-16 Dowgate Hill and the existing South London office will remain

• the number of membership bands, which determine fees, will increase from three to six (companies with turnover of up to £5m, £5-20m, £20-50m, £50-100m, £100-150m and above £150m)

• executive committee elections, usually held in December each year, will be delayed this time until March 2009 to include the election of representatives from newly joined sectors

• the number of paid staff will increase from the current five.

Obviously, ATSCo hopes to, and no doubt will, increase its membership from the current 150 corporate and affiliate members through its new strategy. However, the organisation is launching its growth bid from a position of strength. One of its undeniable branding features is its ‘touch’, through creating a welcoming and convivial environment for members where even the most intense competitors could share knowledge and offer advice. One executive committee member jokingly compares it to “swimming safely with sharks”.

“We’ve had our best year ever this year, if you look at the growth of new members,” says committee member Roland Sheehan, divisional managing director, IT, of Penta Consulting. “It’s recession time, and people are having a lot of doubts — but next year, we’ve got

more people looking to join. So what does that tell you about us as an organisation?”

The concept of expansion had been in the wind for some time, it was agreed. No one could quite put his or her finger on how or when the decision to expand had taken root, although the controversy over equal treatment for agency workers and the potential impact on self-employed professionals clearly galvanised thought in that direction.

“I don’t think there was a ‘eureka’ moment,” says Richard Herring, the committee’s deputy chairman and European staffing services director for Volt Europe. “I do think that the weight of legislation that has occurred within the staffing industry generally in the last few years has meant that ATSCo has had to put a lot of energies in to that area. To ‘sing with a broader church’, if you like, the voice will be louder and there will be more influence, and we can potentially achieve more.”

Mo Hussain, committee member and also a director at Radius Recruitment, adds: “With the Temporary Workers Directive, that’s when we were fighting for professional services, not just IT professional services, and I think that was the big turning around.”

“The legislation has demanded different treatment for different people. Legislation is separating these two markets,” says Swain. However, she believes that the professional and high street elements of recruitment are also split by how they grow.

“Specialist recruitment companies will generally expand by actually adding other specialisations and geographical spreads,” she says. “I think that if you’re in a non-specialist market … then your expansion is through branch offices and to further encompass a bigger group.”

The idea of two separate recruitment industry constituencies that require bespoke representation begs at least one big question: where does the all-sector Recruitment and Employment Confederation fit into the new world order? “I think it’s awfully hard to be all things to all people, and that’s something ATSCo is not trying to do — and APSCo will not try to do,” Swain says. “The REC has a very difficult job, and to represent nanny agencies in the same way as they do the top-end businesses is a very difficult thing. In fact, I think it is an impossible thing.”

Expansion may bring the new APSCo a higher profile and also, its members hope, greater influence among employers. Growth can also mean a loss of control and relinquishing the characteristics and qualities that made an organisation unique. However, Swain is adamant that the famed ‘touch’ will remain intact.

“One of the most important things in starting ATSCo, and without question it will be the main focus for APSCo, is that our members are the centre of our universe,” she says.

“The UK recruitment industry adds fantastic value to UK plc,” she continues, “and I think it’s about time that a trade association stands up to be counted as being very proud of the industry that it serves.

“If we can drive this thing forward,” she says, “I think it can achieve so much for our industry. And I think our industry deserves it.”

Spotlight on new APSCO ambassador

One of UK recruitment’s most colourful dealmakers will lead the charge to bring new members onboard. Graham Palfery-Smith, former chief executive of the FiveTen Group, will serve in an “ambassadorial” capacity “to actively lobby organisations to get involved, to have their say and also to bring new ideas” to the expanded group.

“I don’t tend to join clubs and get involved with committees and things like that, but in this case, I’m very happy to make an exception because I think it does great work,” Palfery-Smith tells Recruiter. “And it could  benefit the industry significantly.”

He is also looking abroad for additional opportunities for APSCo to plant a flag of sorts. “I think there are organisations operating in other countries or jurisdictions that could benefit hugely from the sort of energy, knowledge and experience ATSCo has,” he says.

A question of whether Palfery-Smith would be paid for his efforts drew uproarious laughter from both the new ambassador and his fellow executive committee members. It will be a voluntary role, he confirms.