Recruitment – it has a bit of a bad rep, doesn’t it? We’ve heard some real horror stories about awful recruitment (and awful recruiters) which genuinely make us cringe. To some, recruiters are up there with traffic wardens, tax collectors and lawyers… Awkward!
But, recruitment exists for a reason – people need to work, and employers need to find those people. Great recruiters are kind of like the matchmakers – only instead of finding you love, we’re finding you an awesome opportunity to progress your career. We’re pretty proud of that, in all honesty.
It did get us thinking, though – what would the world be like without us? If no-one had ever invented recruitment? We realised – it’d change more than you might think…
The economy would be hit
Naturally, a healthy economy relies on a motivated and skilled workforce, doing the right work in the right places – so a lack of good recruitment would set this in turmoil! But the recruitment industry itself also massively contributes to the economy – in 2018, the UK recruitment industry saw a total revenue of £35.7 billion… yes, billion! You might be surprised to know, too, that 86% of that figure was generated through temporary and contract recruitment, not permanent placements.
100,000’s of people would be out of a job
According to Companies House, the UK alone has 115,000 people employed in the recruitment industry – and that’s not just recruiters, it’s marketers, accountants, HR advisors, IT support, administration staff, and many more!
Job boards and recruitment advertising wouldn’t exist
Looking for a job? Well imagine all those places that make it so easy to look – job boards, LinkedIn, recruitment pages in the newspaper, even careers pages on company websites – didn’t exist. It would be quite a bit harder, wouldn’t it?
Thanks to the recruitment industry, it’s easier than ever to look for a job – in fact, nowadays you can just upload your CV to the internet and wait for a recruiter to find you. But all the technology we rely on for this would probably never have been invested in without the backing of the recruitment industry – so you’d be stuck hoping a friend or family member could help instead!
Wages would be lower
A big part of a recruitment consultant’s job is understanding a candidate’s worth, and where necessary, pushing for them to be compensated as such. Sometimes this will come from a simple negotiation on salary, but it can also be about making the employer understand the true value of their candidate’s skills, and how they will benefit the organisation. Having a recruiter on your side is a fantastic way to both understand and negotiate your true value in the world of work. Without them – you’d be left to negotiate on your own, which is a tough ask! Not all of us are good at negotiating (or feel able to) but for an impartial recruiter, it’s part of their job.
Free career advice? Forget it
The internet is full of all kinds of helpful content when you’re job hunting – CV and cover letter templates, interview tips, general career advice… most (if not all) of it is written and posted by recruiters. Some of it is part of their marketing strategy, and some of it is just to share the knowledge; but much of it is genuinely very helpful! Without recruiters investing in content marketing, and indeed no-one having a reason to research and build knowledge in this area – you can kiss goodbye to all that free job hunting advice you’re used to!
Finding a career mentor would be nigh on impossible
Many people choose to find a mentor – especially those early in their career – who can help support them through the tough times and give them advice on where to go next. Some of us are lucky enough to find them at work in the form of a manager, but if you’re not, you can leverage LinkedIn to find one instead. Without recruitment, LinkedIn probably wouldn’t exist, so unless you know someone in your current job who has the time, skill and motivation to mentor you, you’re a bit on your own!
If you don’t feel you need a mentor, good recruiters will also give you impartial career advice – what you’re qualified for, where you could go next, and what you should aim for. This is second nature to them, so thanks to recruitment, they’ll happily spare you some time for free.
We hope you’ll agree – the world is better off with recruitment!
If you’d like to work with an honest, helpful and supportive recruitment agency – give us a bell on 0115 911 1222 or email us at people@protocol.co.uk. We’d love to talk to you!
