22 Feb 2006

Supply Chain Recruitment - Who’s pulling the strings?

Recent experience at MVP has mirrored the recruitment industry at large and leads us to the conclusion that candidates are far less passive in the selection process than several years ago more so to the detriment of the larger and multi-national companies. It is these companies that are generally slow to react to changes in the marketplace and assume that their name and image alone will make candidates want to join them.

But we are finding that candidates are now turning down the larger companies in favour of smaller, more flexible organisations who can make quick decisions, tailor their salary packages and offer more opportunities for advancement.

The fact is that most of our client companies are after ‘the top talent’, there is not enough to go around and the ‘top talent’ has more choice. But these candidates can ill afford several day trips to the other end of the country for one company. They don’t enjoy waiting for an assessment centre date, and they react negatively to the company who reschedules interviews at the drop of a hat. In short a placement now fails more often because the larger company mis-handles the interview process.

To compound the problem the larger company tends to be far less flexible in ‘reeling in’ the selected candidate because of a rigid pay and benefits package or an attitude of ‘let’s get the best candidate at the lowest cost’. We see the larger company offers less of a salary increase at job offer stage and more candidates are declining these offers. Often this is about basic salary but also it revolves around issues such as relocation package.

As recruiters, therefore our role is now more about keeping the candidate happy and this represents a major and relatively sudden shift. In the past it was the client company who held sway, but now these companies must learn to compete in a new marketplace.