To say that the last year has been a disruptive one for the recruitment market is perhaps an understatement. While at Apsco our focus is to support our members and bring stability to the professional staffing market, we also want to disrupt and challenge the norm to drive better recruitment practices across the sector.

That’s why we launched our Apsco Disrupt sessions, bringing together leaders to discuss how we can — and should — reshape hiring. In one of my 2024 columns, I shared the results of one such event where the question of commission structures and their relevance in the modern world of work was raised.

Since then, we’ve held sessions on multiple topics. Here are some of the key takeaways that I believe will be crucial for staffing firms as we head into 2025.

People, Productivity and Processes

In one of our final Disrupt sessions this year, the hot topic was naturally the current recruitment market and how firms are navigating the complexity and uncertainty that has been prolific in recent months. What was widely recognized is that during the highs of 2022, some staffing firms — perhaps rather naively — over-hired themselves in the belief that these peaks of recruitment activity would be sustained longer term. That has created two core challenges. First and foremost, many are now overstaffed, which is hitting productivity levels and bottom-line figures. Secondly, a large proportion of these hires were inexperienced and haven’t since been trained to deliver results in the constantly evolving market conditions that we’re experiencing.

In this landscape, firms are looking into streamlining business activities, with the likes of technology, automation and AI all cited as a core focus for recruitment companies in the year ahead. However, it’s not just processes that will drive efficiency. Staffing firms that are to truly excel will need to reinvent their people, equipping them with the right sales, marketing and technological skills to deliver what the company, its clients and candidates really need.

Marketing Is Going to Become More Critical

Another topic that emerged in recent Disrupt sessions was transformative marketing and how it will drive growth in the modern world. As I said at the beginning of the pandemic, we all need to communicate our way out of a crisis. The staffing firm that goes quiet in an uncertain or difficult market will be the hardest hit longer term.

In the UK in particular, the recruitment market is so highly saturated that businesses need to work harder to stand out. In today’s world, that requires more than your traditional marketing that’s centered on email campaigns and social media posts. Consumer expectations are far higher than they’ve ever been. We are all accustomed to more personalized communication from brands. We want Netflix and Amazon to use data-driven insights to give us tailor-made suggestions.

The same goes for recruitment. Candidates and end-hires have set standards far higher (particularly Gen Z and other younger generations that have grown up with hyper-personalized content). But of course, we can’t expect consultants to send a personalized message to every applicant, at least not in a cost or time effective manner.

Technology is enabling this, as was evident in the conversations at our recent Marketing Forum event where discussions focused on the tools that can be used to enable everyone to do more with less time and budgets. However, as seasoned recruiters well know, you can’t replace the connection you get from human interaction with technology.

Staffing firms are going to have to work harder for business for the year ahead as the UK market continues to struggle amid political upheaval and increasing costs. But we are starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel. Now is the time to streamline resources, focus on boosting efficiencies of people and processes, and truly create the best foundation to support a recruitment bounce back in 2025 and beyond.