Adding value through consultancy

The recruitment industry has been through many challenges and the current world economic climate is perhaps the biggest we have ever faced. In order to survive companies must step beyond the “business as usual” philosophy. It is not enough to look at the typical metrics of number of calls, CVs, time to fill. and the simple measure of client satisfaction measured by questionnaires.

We need to fundamentally rethink our service offering, go beyond the boundaries we have defined and provide a better service to our clients and contractors. Typically we have provided interim staff, selected by the recruitment company and managed by the client. We have played little part in what the staff, we provide, deliver. Satisfaction has been measured as a function of process adherence. While the importance of process is still important, trade association membership and ISO 9001 certification means it is not a differentiator. If we are to differentiate our services we need to take some ownership of what is delivered and ensure our contractors are performing to industry best practice.

We need to look at our delivery model and take a page from the consultancy industry. We need to provide a greater support infrastructure for our contractors so that they have the correct tools, are aware of industry best practice, have a support mechanism and a means of peer review/support. We also need to expand the measure of client satisfaction to incorporate delivery and the method of delivery.
Steve Gallucci, Managing Director, s·com Group Ltd.

Add comment

Interesting. But what happens when the consultancy "industry" have had their day?

I agree that the industry must make some difficult changes. A new delivery model would certainly help.

I agree, I have many friends who contract and they are still finding it tough