10 months ago, a recruiter would walk through the doors and be greeted with a bustling sales floor full of atmosphere, as someone just closed their record deal and hit the gong. 5 months ago, that sales floor was empty. Even today, offices are still at limited capacity.

Recruitment leaders have had to make major changes to the way they run their businesses in 2020. Being in the service industry, thankfully shifting was possible but doing it successfully required strong leadership, a team of resilient recruiters and it didn’t come without its challenges.

Managers have had to find new ways to motivate the team and different ways to communicate. Recruiters have had to adapt to adverse market conditions, working harder than ever whilst earning a reduced income and recruiting at home with no human interaction.

During this period, we have observed a number of agencies shift to new technologies such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams, employees rotating in and out of offices, a preference for experienced business developers and a movement towards leaner structures.

As recruiters, we will all come out of COVID-19 stronger, but there is no doubt the pandemic will have a permanent impact on the industry and the way we do things in the future. What does this shift mean for the future of recruitment in a post-COVID-19 world? Will some agencies go totally remote or will we see a return to the hustle and bustle of the sales floor? 

In this article, we talk with 4 agency recruitment leaders in Singapore who share with us how they envision the future agency recruitment model.

Neil Dyball, General Manager at Hudson Singapore

Adapting and changes we made

At the time COVID-19 hit, I’d just joined Hudson a month prior to the start of the circuit breaker, which presented additional challenges in terms of building trust and rapport with a new team while working remotely.

Pre–circuit breaker, I remember setting up our first work from home trial day to see what worked, and I noticed straight away how strong our internal IT platforms were; everything we needed to shift to full work from home was already in place and working well (Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Bullhorn). Our initial challenge was how to adapt these systems to integrate with our new operating rhythm to keep our people engaged, motivated and productive.

Day one from home, our key focus was always to keep our people safe and connected with their teams. We knew not everyone had a family support structure in their immediate household and we were concerned about isolation. Once we understood everyone’s personal situation, we set either a daily check in or check out call via Zoom that went beyond the focus of daily work.

From the start this was an opportunity to challenge our mindset around what a normal day looked like for our people, and test the existing paradigms of a standard workday for recruitment consultants. 

We noticed quickly that our people were working longer days, as the line between work and home was now completely blurred.  As leaders, it was important to understand how we could help our people balance their day. We found it was completely different for each person based on their home environment. Once we understood this, we set only a few mandatory Zoom calls during the day or week that were team orientated. Outside of this, it was about trusting the team to manage their time effectively to get the job done.

Changes that are here for the long-term

On returning to the office after almost three months at home, our key focus was on helping the team reconnect in a safe working environment. Our goal was to maximise our efforts around why we needed to return to the office (development and information sharing) rather than just returning to the office for the sake of it. 

Currently, everyone works from home on Mondays – as our work day is mainly internally focused, we felt it was best holding these meetings over Zoom rather than running meetings wearing masks (nonverbal communication is missing with masks). We agreed that Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday would always be our key in-office days, while Fridays would be a personal choice to either work from the office or home.

While this flexible approach suits the majority of our people, I now also have a handful of our team working 100% from home and others who have asked to work full-time from the office. I can say both groups are truly exceeding expectations.

The future of agency recruitment in a post-COVID world

My view on the future of agency recruitment is simple. It’s now about leading by outcome rather than presence and trusting your people to do the right thing whether they are working from the office or home. It’s about understanding their daily environment and providing structure and guidance so they can achieve both personal and professional goals.

Tom Swain, Managing Director at Argyll Scott Singapore

Adapting and changes we made

At Argyll Scott, we already had a robust remote working platform in place, with our staff having all the tools they needed to hit the ground running, meaning our shift to home working was swift. Despite not being able to meet our clients and candidates in person, we were able to continue to build relationships, and, in fact, our closure rate of roles has remained high throughout. However, as a leader, that wasn’t my primary motivation – instead we put a lot of energy into making sure our people stayed connected and that their mental wellbeing was our focus. We organised a lot of online social events, from group yoga to baking to quizzes, and our culture has become stronger because of the way we have all supported each other.

Changes that are here for the long-term

Going forwards, flexible working will be here for the long-term, so we’re launching an internal initiative called ‘I Own My Time’ that gives staff full control over the way they use their time for work, to suit their lifestyle choices. As a global business, we’ve already seen that when people aren’t keeping strictly to their standard local office hours, communication and productivity between international locations has improved, so we’re keen to foster that universal teamwork. While we’ve been able to open up most of our offices again in a limited capacity, it remains to be seen how important that will actually be long term.

The future of agency recruitment in a post-COVID world

 In recruitment, it’s clear that the demand for talent is changing, with more interim and contract roles required as clients go through change and undertake transformation projects. Competition in our sector will be acute, and I believe that those agencies delivering a first-class customer experience for their clients and candidates will stand out from the crowd.

Samantha Soh, Regional Manager at Archer Recruitment Singapore

Adapting and changes we made

At Archer Recruitment, we – like the majority of agencies across the globe – have had to adapt to the new normal way of working from home. A major shift has been brought about as a result of COVID-19. Whilst we had already implemented some measures to enable a flexible work environment pre-pandemic, we have had to work towards streamlining our processes so that our consultants can do their jobs to the best of their abilities from home. This has meant embracing technology more than ever before, so that internal team catch ups as well as client and candidate meetings are still being conducted, but virtually as opposed to face to face. As a business, we have also reviewed company-wide targets and tweaked the KPIs to reflect the changing market conditions.

Changes that are here for the long-term

There are certainly some measures that will be implemented and practiced long term as we start to come out the other side of COVID-19. Work from home naturally will be built more deeply into our daily professional lives – our team is free to work from home several times a week. We have already proven that we can work remotely whilst remaining a high performing team. We are also going to continue running team activities and incentive prizes to keep consultants engaged and happy during what has been a very tough 2020.

The future of agency recruitment in a post-COVID world

To me, the future of agency recruitment is going to be heavily focussed on increased digital and social media engagement. High quality content – podcasts, articles, market updates –  is undoubtedly the way forward when it comes to connecting with clients and candidates alike, as we spend more and more time online. The core focus should be on ensuring that content being pushed out is topical, fresh and relevant. The future of agency recruitment will continue to thrive by undertaking a relationship-driven approach. Continue to build your network during the downturn and never stop connecting. Always have a pipeline so you are prepared and front of mind when the market starts to pick up. I also see us innovating our recruitment solutions to offer additional services such as outplacement for those restructuring and RPO or exclusive engagements to improve the customer experience.

James Miles, Managing Director at RGF Executive Search Singapore

Adapting and changes we made

Our way of doing business development has shifted, our sales techniques needed to become more effective remotely and – in some cases – even more effective than they were pre-COVID-19. We achieved this by improving the way we connect with potential clients, either through social media or by the content we share with them. Based on Worldata’s analysis during the pandemic, they noted that there was an overall decrease in standard email open rates, but a 41% increase in emails containing content related to the pandemic. This showed us that there was an appetite from prospects for relevant content, and that clients desired a more consultative approach to relationship building rather than the industry-standard transactional tactic. Based on this, our Regional Marketing team increased their own organic market content tenfold, thus equipping the RGF Consultants with more knowledge and data to help advise clients on how to best manage their own hiring strategies. Sales techniques will need to be more focussed on quality rather than quantity, and Consultants will need to get used to connecting with clients via their mobile phones or social media, as standard desk lines will cease to exist.

Changes that are here for the long-term

 Clients overall hiring budgets have declined and will be impacted for some time until market confidence returns. Businesses will continue to focus on cost cutting measures, so in many cases will choose to do any recruitment themselves versus use a recruitment agency. Based on that, it is about focussing on the deals you can win, and nurturing the relationships you have. Sales cycles will continue to be longer than they were pre-COVID-19, so those who take advantage of the opportunities available right now will be the most likely to thrive and survive during and after this crisis.

The future of agency recruitment in a post-COVID world

Recruitment agencies need to sharpen their sales savviness, and understand that every pitch will be to a CFO or will be heavily scrutinised by the businesses Financial leadership team due to market uncertainty, making sure they are only spending money where absolutely necessary. Consultants will need to explain and educate clients on the potential ROI their service and candidate will bring to the business, rather than the typical direct sales model. There must be a bigger focus on learning and development, and upskilling Consultants as the abundance of jobflow from large corporate accounts or PSL’s will not be as consistent moving forward.

A special thanks to Neil Dyball, Tom Swain, Samantha Soh and James Miles for taking time out of their schedules to share their thoughts with the recruitment community as we prepare for the recovery.

Stick with us for next week as we’ve asked 4 MD’s in Hong Kong about their vision of recruitment in a post-COVID world. Subscribe or follow us on LinkedIn to be the first to see it when it’s released.