iSiD - IT Solution Innovator

Employer's Voice (English version)

AsiaX Vol. 195 (released 22 Aug 2011)

 IT industry expectations of recruitment agencies

ISI-Dentsu South East Asia, a regional office of Information Services International – Dentsu, Inc. of Japan which is a group company of Dentsu Japan that specializes in IT, was established in 1992. For the past 19 years, we have focused on supporting the Japanese companies locally by providing services such as system implementation, operation support and etc.

 Within the 19 years, not only the political and economic environment of Asia, the IT industry has also experienced dramatic changes, for example, the increasing popularity of the internet, mobile phones, smart phones, and new social media such as Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter. To support these new developments, IT industry is facing different challenges everyday. Hence, the skilled resources required have also become more specialized and diverse.

 The recruitment of IT resources that have specialized and intensive experience has become more common. Even a lot of interviews were conducted, it is not necessary for the hiring company to be able to find the required candidate in a short period of time. From the perspective of recruitment agency, it may no longer be an easy transaction. On the other hand, for IT and as well as non IT companies, there are more and more channels of recruitment apart from engaging recruiting agencies. For example, hiring companies can advertise via their web sites, search for candidates via social media such as Facebook and Linkedin or engage online recruitment agencies. As the companies can now reach out to more candidates, the search process has become more efficient and more companies are now using these channels.

On the other hand, when companies engage recruitment agencies, they have high expectations of the experience of the recruitment consultants and their handling of the recruiting process. For example, this applies to situations such as hiring important positions, or companies want to attract even candidates that are not currently looking for jobs. Companies expect consultants to be capable to handle the high confidential situation of approaching potential candidates that are not looking out, and positions that are not openly advertised.

 In such situation, as a hiring company, I would like to share few points on the expectations of the recruitment agencies and areas that they can improve on.

•  Expansion of the candidate database
  

This is relevant to any industry as hiring companies hope to reach out to more candidates who match the requirements. In order to expand the database, recruitment agencies can no longer just count on their in-house database but have to utilize the different channels like social media and model adopted by online agencies effectively. Recruitment agencies can also share job advertisements with candidates that possess relevant skill and experience and request them to recommend contacts that they have. By doing this, companies can reach out to a larger network and find the best-fit candidate. Even if companies have to pay a referral fee for the introduction, companies can now provide better value by having access to a larger candidate database.

•  Improvement of the quality of the database
  

However, a larger database is not necessarily better. It may become inefficient if the database consists of huge number of candidates that are not looking for job change, or candidates that are currently not residing locally. In order to maintain the quality of the database, it is important to keep regular communications with the candidates. Their status, strength and career requirements should be constantly updated.

 However, resources, more often than not, scarce, are necessary in order to improve the quantity and quality of the database. It is hence important to decide on a system that is based on rules to automate the process. It is also important to have a system that will ensure fast and effective communications with clients, proposal preparation and follow-up. By having the system, companies are able to meet the clients’ needs and allocate more resources for client-facing activities.

 ISI-Dentsu is -a hiring company, and in the meantime, provides system development for recruitment agencies. The above mentioned improvement points are shared based on our experience thus far. In order to level up the important support of the business of Nikkei companies locally, we hope to see recruitment agencies start looking at improvement plans in handling the new challenges.