Time flies by when you’re having fun!
It’s our 8th anniversary here at Talent Hive, and a lot has happened since we started out.
Not only has the recruitment industry changed, but Talent Hive and the way that we operate has changed, too – technology, the pandemic, and wider workforce changes are all impacting the face of recruitment.
Let’s take a look at our eight greatest learnings of the last eight years, with advice from our Managing Director, William Gennard, who established Talent Hive back in 2014!
1. Recruitment is changing… for the better
Remember fax machines?
Using Tipp-Ex to go over mistakes on CVs?
To say that recruitment has changed in the last fifteen years would be an understatement, particularly when taking into account how saturated recruitment and the methods of communication are now.
However, this also means that there are, in Will’s words, a lot more techniques for getting candidates than there used to be.
Whilst websites such as Caterer.com and huge databases used to be the first port of call, there are now a whole host of methods to get candidates, with platforms such as LinkedIn becoming more prominent in recruitment.
Not only are these methods more efficient, but they are also indicative of a wider talent pool than there was previously due to accessibility.
Overall, the methods used in recruitment are changing the sector for the better.
2. The career path in recruitment hasn’t changed
After more than seven years as a chef recruiter at James Webber recruitment, and now eight years as Managing Director of Talent Hive, Will doesn’t think that the career path of a recruiter has changed much.
One thing that remains true is that recruitment, he says, isn’t for everyone – some will leave after five months or five years in recruitment once they’ve hit a wall, and others will thrive.
In his own words, “You’re either going to do it like me for fifteen years, or do it for five and realise there’s probably more to life than recruiting, but I’m one of those weirdos who enjoys it!”
Importantly, he notes that there is a huge career path people can go down within recruitment if that is their desired destination.
Whilst recruitment might not be for everyone, there’s a lot of potential in the career – whether that’s five months or fifteen years.
3. Change is good
Recruitment can often be perceived as very cut and dry, yet just prior to the pandemic, Talent Hive shifted from its original methods of recruitment.
Rather than sticking with the traditional 360 recruitment – for every hire made, one would work out and two would fail – Will shifted the focus of the business.
Generally, those starting out in recruitment will be focusing on nurturing a lead all the way to invoicing, which comes with around 40 different tasks to learn from day one.
Now, a new model is implemented, in which account managers and talent scouts will have to learn less to suit their role. For example, if someone is brought in as a talent scout, they only need to learn 20 things, as they are purely candidate-facing.
Everybody has more space to do what they do best!
4. Learning through observation is the best way to learn
When you’re sat at recruitment desks in a recruitment office, you can do as many training sessions as possible, Will says, but there’s nothing better than sitting next to a good recruiter.
From his own experience, Will learned by sitting next to his old boss who was extremely skilled at recruiting – and learning by observation stuck.
Beginning a recruitment career as a talent scout is a great entry point, and most of what you’ll learn at this stage is through observing those around you, which is something that is a natural progression for account managers as they naturally are embedded into an environment in which they’ll pick things up as they go along.
5. Recruitment bounces back
The main aim for recruitment agencies back in March 2020 was survival.
Talent Hive didn’t necessarily undergo a huge, elaborate plan during the pandemic so much as they focused on surviving as a business.
By the third lockdown in January 2021, described as the final straw by Will (and undoubtedly by businesses everywhere), redundancies were made… only for recruitment to bounce back by March 2021.
Recruitment has its peaks and troughs, but it will always be resilient.
6. Uncertainty will delay recovery
Though recruitment is resilient, the pandemic has undoubtedly impacted hospitality more significantly than most other industries.
The huge debts incurred to survive and make up for lost time combined with continuous uncertainty around lack of decisions have led to many leaving hospitality.
In Will’s opinion, this is down to the heavy repercussions incurred by hesitancy from the Government and a lack of clarity. Footfall had risen to 60% only to fall back down to 20% when restrictions were outlined again, leaving many hospitality businesses struggling once more.
For hospitality to recover, there will need to be more certainty.
7. People are returning to hospitality… slowly
Some hospitality employees have been through as many as three different redundancy processes from different businesses. Unsurprisingly, this has meant that many have chosen to enter other industries instead.
That’s not the case for some of the candidates that Will has been reaching out to, though, with many joking about when they might be coming back.
Understandably, there is a sense of nervousness around hospitality right now, yet more and more people are beginning to consider returning as the industry powers through its recovery, which will hopefully, Will believes, be in full swing by spring.
8. Old trends become new again
Old recruitment processes might seem archaic, yet they always come back in the end.
One of Will’s favourite trends from his early days in recruitment – direct mail marketing that was posted out every Tuesday on A4 paper with ‘candidates of the week’ – is making its return.
This type of interaction is occurring both in email and direct mail for those who are looking to give a more personal touch in a digital age of overconnectivity.
Get in touch
There’s a lot of lessons that can be learned over eight years, but we hope that some of Will’s pearls of wisdom are as useful to you as they have been to Talent Hive.
Since the beginning, Talent Hive has been driven by real people, not KPIs and micromanagement – in Will’s words, “the great thing about recruitment is that it’s pretty transparent, isn’t it?”
Get in touch with us today to find out more about how we can be your trusted partner in recruitment.