Hadley’s Eight: Key messages from the Ciett Conference
21 May 2013
Last week's Ciett World Employment Conference 2013 in Toronto brought together industry representatives from over 30 countries. The annual gathering of the global recruitment clan produced a number of key messages and outcomes:
Tue, 21 May 2013 | By Tom Hadley, director of policy, Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC)Last week's Ciett World Employment Conference 2013 in Toronto brought together industry representatives from over 30 countries. The annual gathering of the global recruitment clan produced a number of key messages and outcomes:
New markets are starting to boom: There are huge growth opportunities in the Asian market, with positive developments flagged in China, Vietnam, Japan and India. Turkey and Mexico will be powerful economic forces over coming years and growth in the Russian market will accelerate following the recent implementation of a new regulatory framework.
The industry remains under political pressure: There continues to be real pressure on agency work as a concept in countries like South Africa and Russia. Lifting restrictions and enhancing industry perceptions is a priority. One aim of the conference was to exchange views on achieving this ‘tipping point’.
Use of social media continues to evolve: The big trend in North America is measuring the effectiveness of social media. Its overall importance for candidate attraction and as part of a co-ordinated marketing campaign was not disputed - “the ROI of social media is that your business will be around in five years”.
We are not alone! As well as global industry trends, the conference touched on specific areas that are of direct relevance to UK recruiters – including procurement, compliance procedures and new approaches to client and candidate management. One of the benefits of this type of international event is the realisation that ‘hey, we are not alone!’
Demographic changes are of direct relevance for our industry: The echo of the baby-boom generation is the main cause of youth unemployment in many countries. Demographic changes also determine the services and products that will be required in different countries, which in turn will impact on the sectors where staff will be needed.
The temp market is gravitating towards the high end: The need for highly skilled flexible staff, in particular as a response to skills shortages, is a key trend in North America and Europe, as well as in emerging markets like Russia.
Bringing new talent into the industry is key: A core theme of one of the other panel sessions the REC took part in was the need for a step-change in the way the industry attracts, retains and develops staff. The ‘hunt for top recruitment talent’ is a priority for agencies in most of the countries represented at the conference.
‘Recruitment is cool’: Although the priority is to raise perceptions through actions rather than words, the industry also needs to ‘talk itself up’. One of the Canadian speakers summed things up nicely: "recruitment is cool, we just need to get better at communicating it".
Bringing the global recruitment industry together under the Ciett banner at the World Employment Conference provides a great opportunity for taking stock and agreeing common solutions to industry wide challenges such as raising perceptions and driving industry growth. We look forward to seeing you in Brussels for next year’s conference.
Thanks to Tom Hadley and the REC for his daily dispatches from the Ciett World Employment Conference in Toronto.
New markets are starting to boom: There are huge growth opportunities in the Asian market, with positive developments flagged in China, Vietnam, Japan and India. Turkey and Mexico will be powerful economic forces over coming years and growth in the Russian market will accelerate following the recent implementation of a new regulatory framework.
The industry remains under political pressure: There continues to be real pressure on agency work as a concept in countries like South Africa and Russia. Lifting restrictions and enhancing industry perceptions is a priority. One aim of the conference was to exchange views on achieving this ‘tipping point’.
Use of social media continues to evolve: The big trend in North America is measuring the effectiveness of social media. Its overall importance for candidate attraction and as part of a co-ordinated marketing campaign was not disputed - “the ROI of social media is that your business will be around in five years”.
We are not alone! As well as global industry trends, the conference touched on specific areas that are of direct relevance to UK recruiters – including procurement, compliance procedures and new approaches to client and candidate management. One of the benefits of this type of international event is the realisation that ‘hey, we are not alone!’
Demographic changes are of direct relevance for our industry: The echo of the baby-boom generation is the main cause of youth unemployment in many countries. Demographic changes also determine the services and products that will be required in different countries, which in turn will impact on the sectors where staff will be needed.
The temp market is gravitating towards the high end: The need for highly skilled flexible staff, in particular as a response to skills shortages, is a key trend in North America and Europe, as well as in emerging markets like Russia.
Bringing new talent into the industry is key: A core theme of one of the other panel sessions the REC took part in was the need for a step-change in the way the industry attracts, retains and develops staff. The ‘hunt for top recruitment talent’ is a priority for agencies in most of the countries represented at the conference.
‘Recruitment is cool’: Although the priority is to raise perceptions through actions rather than words, the industry also needs to ‘talk itself up’. One of the Canadian speakers summed things up nicely: "recruitment is cool, we just need to get better at communicating it".
Bringing the global recruitment industry together under the Ciett banner at the World Employment Conference provides a great opportunity for taking stock and agreeing common solutions to industry wide challenges such as raising perceptions and driving industry growth. We look forward to seeing you in Brussels for next year’s conference.
Thanks to Tom Hadley and the REC for his daily dispatches from the Ciett World Employment Conference in Toronto.
