Recruitment agencies are becoming more customer-focused as a result of the recession, HR managers have told Recruiter.

Agencies are more willing to invest time to get to know the culture of an organisation in a bid to win business, participants at a roundtable discussion said.

“The recession has forced recruiters to be much more customer-focused and more responsive as well,” said Rachel Woolf, HR director at the University of West London.

“Before the recession started, I was emailed about 100 times a day and they just bombarded you with CVs. Now, because it’s more competitive, it’s forced a lot more of them to give you added value – whether it’s pre-screening or more focused CVs.”

Holly Franklin, HR director, Europe, Middle East and Africa for fashion brand New Era Cap Company, said more recruiters were willing to invest time to understand their clients’ needs. “I see them being more willing to understand the culture of the business and understand the fit, because they are basically based on results.”

Jos Barnett, HR director at online advertising firm Struq, said that there were 15,000 recruitment agencies in London alone, illustrating the depth of competition. 

The event, in Central London on 16 November, brought together HR professionals from the fashion, telecoms, further education, media and online personalised advertising sectors. It was chaired by Recruiter editor DeeDee Doke and sponsored by Balance Recruitment.