It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster ride for the staffing sector since the 2019 pandemic began. We went from an almost complete recruitment freeze during lockdowns, to hiring highs during the Great Resignation, and then back into a slump last year as economic troubles hit confidence in the market. But it would appear that recruitment businesses are gearing up for a more prosperous end to 2024.

Firms Planning for Growth

At Apsco, we are constantly monitoring the latest trends in the sector, but it’s not only vacancy data that provides an insight into the strength of the market. Over the last few months we’ve seen a real increase in recruiters investing in staff training, and the areas they are focusing on suggest that many are preparing for an uptick in hiring demand in the latter months of the year.

A Focus on Sales

There has been a notable uptick in staffing companies investing in sales training for their consultants which is likely being driven by two core factors. As most firms will attest, during the post-pandemic hiring spike, demand for recruitment solutions was such that recruiters themselves had to quickly scale up their resources.

However, the role that these new hires played was primarily delivery, rather than sales focused, which served the right purpose at the time. Now, though, staffing firms need sales skills, and many of their newer staff simply haven’t had the training, development or experience to be able to build core relationships and nurture new business.

Added to this challenge is the simple fact that how recruiters sell today is vastly different to just a few years ago. End clients want more from recruiters today. They want strategic and consultative advice, not just a list of candidates for a job role. They value relationships more than ever and will turn to businesses they deem to be trusted advisors. But while they expect more from staffing companies, they also want to pay less.

Navigating this more difficult sales landscape is a new challenge that staffing firms are clearly preparing for ahead of an expected uptick in hiring activity. This also means that even seasoned recruiters are in need of retraining to ensure they are equipped with the skills to sell and successfully boost business development in the new world of work.

Investing in Strong Leaders

We’re also seeing increased interest from members in upskilling their recruitment leaders. Again, this is a sign of the times. Management skills are tested when the economic climate is tough. You can be a great leader when the market is strong, but it’s when the cards are down that your management abilities can either shine, or reveal weaknesses.

Far too often consultants are promoted into leadership positions because they are performing exceptionally well with sales. But top billers don’t always make the best managers. These individuals need to be equipped with the training, structure and tools to be able to have difficult conversations, nurture talent, manage underperformance appropriately and be able to support teams through the good times and the bad.

This focus on training that we’re seeing is in line with the changing nature of recruitment itself, but it is also indicative of firms strengthening their own workforces as optimism grows. Equipping leaders to best support teams regardless of the economic climate and ensuring consultants — new and old — are equipped with the right sales skills to thrive will be crucial to the future growth prospects of firms. (In fact, we’re offering our members a 10% discount on open courses in August to help them prepare for the coming months.)

Clearly while some may be using the summer lull to take a break themselves, savvy staffing firms are leveraging the opportunity to train and develop their people to boost sales from September onwards. Firms need to ask themselves which category they fall into.