This is the message that Neil Carberry, CEO at the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC), gave to an audience of recruiters this morning [10 June 2025] at the REC’s major annual conference RECLive25.

In his opening keynote address, Carberry acknowledged the challenging conditions that most sectors in the UK industry have faced during “two years of treacle” since 2023, saying: “There is no hiding that we have faced perhaps not the worst markets we have ever seen, but one of the longest runs of challenging weather ever. REC data suggests that it has now been two years of treacle for most sectors.

“We know that some of this is cyclical; the market will bounce back. Indeed, both member anecdote and our data have gently improved over the spring,” he said. “But some of it – frankly – hasn’t. There are more changes afoot.”

While expressing his optimism about the recruitment industry and current trends, he challenged his audience to up their professional game in the years to come. “I believe that all of the trends we are seeing now – all the noise in the system – are going to make trusted talent advice and fulfilment more essential to clients in the years to come,” he said.

“But we will need to change to seize that opportunity.”

He downplayed the role of technology in his talk and emphasised the need for clients and regulators alike to “do the ‘people stuff’ well” in order to get a handle on the lack of productivity that has plagued the UK. At the core of his advocacy work with government and clients is, Carberry said, the principle that value is not created “just by running a machine-like process”. He went on to say: “The people you place are not components. They are as individual as are the problems your clients face.”

Carberry continued: “There is no doubt that the scale of technological and demographic change we face over the next couple of decades is as great as any we have seen before.

“And where do you go in the world where we have returned to a picture of more risk?... Who do you trust? The specialists. In the labour market, us. The talent people. We know.

“But we need to step up to that; the ‘same old’ won’t do.”

Carberry urged the recruiter audience to explain the value they deliver and to “resist commoditised views of what we do, whether from clients chasing undeliverable things or from public officials who don’t understand the diversity of our sector”.

The latter remark echoed his earlier criticism of government health leaders who last week blasted the recruitment industry in a challenge to NHS trusts to cut back further and even “eradicate” spend on recruiters operating in the healthcare sector. Today, Carberry referred to health ministers’ comments as “last week’s disgraceful and ill-founded attack on NHS staffing partners”.

Ending his speech, Carberry reminded the audience that even in the volatile world environment and over the coming decade, “specialism and service matter. We are not deliverers of a basic process but of the most complex one of all. Matching people and client solutions… to client problems”.

“This is something to be proud of. And trusted partners will matter more in the future – not less.

“The future for all of us is in being that trusted partner. We will need to change – to evolve. But the prize is there.”

• Comment below on this story. Or let us know what you think by emailing us at [email protected] or tweet us to tell us your thoughts or share this story with a friend.