Ok last blog of the year. Often a time of reflection, looking back and thinking about what the future will bring. My blog has always been biased towards my work and the industry I feel a part of. I will make some predictions but this year I left that until January so will do the same. That and I’m not as sure about things as I was.

I am putting my blog into a book as we speak (no not you know a ‘book’ where you buy it, but a book that you can hold and touch – more of that next week) which has given me the chance to re-read some of what I have written, both good and bad but also do some of that reflection I mentioned.

In summary I can see that my blog are starting to follow a bit of a pattern…

Clients… you could do better

Recruitment consultants… you could definitely do better

The industry… we could all do better.

I can only change the way my clients feel about what I do directly and potentially at least inform them about what others are doing but the scope is limited. Through my work with REC I can influence a small percentage of recruitment consultants but have next to no leverage when confronted by a transactional shark infested world. That and there are hundreds of blogs, pundits, opinion laden recruitment consultants that can keep plugging away at how amazed they are at how bad recruitment consultants are… well that’s not for me.

This leaves the industry as a whole. It is broad and complex ranging from volume temping agencies to high brow retained search with an amble of into in-house and rpo. So this is the place my focus will be, at least for a chunk of time.

So is this the industry we really want to be in? Is this as good as it gets?

We have a crappy reputation… and yes that is all of us… even those operating in-house. You are very quick to jump on external agencies and their poor communication but from my recent experiences as a potential candidate things aren’t that great in-house either. Worse still our crappy reputation extends in two directions. Our employers/clients paint us with the same brush and candidates see us as an unnecessary blocker in their quest to find a job.

But what is the answer. I mean really what is the answer, what would google do, what would Don Draper do and just as important to me what would Martin Dangerfield do? Bad news is I haven’t worked it out but I do know this. What we have now is not good. We all talk about it being something better, chasing out the cowboys etc.etc. but we spend too much time infighting rather than doing something.

I have talked about collaboration as some form of alien concept in recruitment but maybe it’s the only way forward, that we truly work together to create something different, large corporate through to single person owner. 2011 could be the year of collaboration, where the best of all the various strands of our industry come together to create a new business model, deliver excellent recruitment experiences delivered in a commercially viable way.

Collaboration, collaboration, collaboration. You heard it here 1^st (actually again) let’s see what I can do to deliver a message we can do something with.

Here’s to 2011, a new year for doing something a little different.

You should follow me on twitter here.

about mckinley|resource® and Martin Dangerfield

mckinley|resource® is an innovative recruitment practice providing executive search, recruitment, talent advisory and project resourcing services. Delivering full UK and European coverage, we focus on identifying and engaging talented individuals within the IT services, IT outsourcing, management consultancy and technology marketplaces.

We can deploy for a day, a week, a month or longer. This means we can support your recruitment peaks, deliver spot advice or have an ongoing engagement. All we need is a desk in your office and a brief that we have agreed and signed up to. We won’t ask you to sign any long term contracts either. 

We have already proven to be a great success for our clients and are happy to work completely autonomous or alongside your current HR team / recruitment agency. Not only can we help free up the process to help find great new people but help you to look after the great people you already have.

To learn more about our approach give Martin Dangerfield (email, linkedin) a call on +44161.955.3647.