Exceptional recruitment managers are needed in difficult times to attract the best people and reduce costs, whether they be in-house or working for recruitment providers on behalf of the company, according to speakers at a conference in London yesterday.

More than 60 delegates at the second annual ‘Recruitment process outsourcing and e-recruitment forum’, organised by Symposium Events, heard the cases for in-house recruiting and recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) from the various speakers.

Topics discussed included the financial case for using RPO, reducing recruiting costs without RPO, having a strong employer branding, using e-recruitment and digital media in recruitment and measuring and evaluating the actual recruitment process.

Speakers included Marie Pavelka, recruitment manager – Europe for manufacturing firm Cummins; Julia Robertson, managing director of Carlisle Managed Solutions; Isabelle Hung, head of resourcing at Harrods; and Nicky Ivory, head of resourcing at McDonalds. Rosaleen Blair, founder of Alexander Mann Solutions, chaired the one-day event.