Recruiters are taking on recruiters again but sector specialists and experienced consultants are in short supply, resulting in increased pressure on margins to secure top talent.

“Since the beginning of the year, the rec-to-rec sector has changed back to the way it was. Most recruitment companies are now recruiting and we are back to a very candidate-short market,” said Nick Bancroft, joint managing director at McCall.

According to Bancroft, many recruiters are now struggling to cope with an increased amount of business.

Jane Shuck, recruitment manager at Cody Recruitment, told Recruiter that increasing levels of business have meant that recruiters’ expectations need to be managed. “You might not be able to find someone who has two years’ solid experience of one company,” she said. “People might have changed jobs last year or were made redundant. You may need to look at people from different sectors rather than getting the candidate with market knowledge.”

For Samantha Woodland, senior HR business partner at Kelly Services, scientific experts are in short supply. “The demand for qualified scientific recruiters is always high,” she explained. “Our specialist recruitment brands are built upon each consultant having experience - be it industry or academic - of the industry they want to recruit for. The shortage of sales skills will always be a factor in the specialist recruitment sectors. For example, many scientists won’t have a sales background or training, so for us, it’s about recognising ability and providing the support needed to develop their skills to the right standard.”

She added that finding top scientific experts is always difficult, as recruitment is seldom their first choice career.

Sarah Toal, head of internal recruitment, Adecco UK & Ireland, said that candidates with strong transferable relationships are always highly prized. But she warned that recruiters that recruit in haste will repent at leisure. “It’s important that when competition is high, hiring processes remain tight. It can be easy to get into agency wars for talent and rush people through the process without carefully testing their capabilities first. This kind of ’tug of war’ between agencies can also push up salary expectations, so it’s ultimately detrimental to us all.”

Leesa Mather, group HR director, Ochre House, said the firm’s main concern since the turn of the year has been selling its employee brand: “It is imperative that we give candidates the best possible experience of Ochre House and that we present to them the right opportunity for their next career move. With so much choice, candidates have to buy in to who we are, what we do and how we can enhance their career.”

Bancroft said this intensifying war for talent had caused fees to rise. “Fees have increased since the beginning of the year. There was a downward pressure on fees last year when companies weren’t recruiting. They’re now recruiting and they want the best candidates on the market. Fees have gone up quite dramatically across all markets.”

But Shuck said margin fees were also currently dependent on sector demand. “Margins vary; it depends on the client’s expectations. Search firms or IT firms might be prepared to pay a higher fee to a temp’s organisation where they are being driven down on margins.”

Shuck predicted that 2010 is set to be an exciting year for the rec-to-rec sector. “The market is buoyant. There are lots of prospects on the horizon.”