My Name Is Trevor And I Work In Database Entry

My name is Trevor and I work in database entry.

You may know me as Trevor Vas-designer of conferences and deliverer of consulting, but these days I’m just Trevor, the database guy. For the past two weeks (or four thousand eight hundred hours; not that I’m counting) I have been segmenting, and by default updating, our database of 30K internal and agency recruitment staff. This data segmentation has become critical if you want to provide the most relevant content to the right audience.
Apart from allowing me to catch up on my daydreams, this time has given me insight into the trends in the recruitment market. So, without further ado I present-
Recruitment market observations from a data entry monkey*:
The average tenure in a mid-sized internal recruitment and leadership position seems to be 18-24 monthsSpeculationThis seems light, in that it takes 3-6 months to understand what needs to be done and planned, as well as a further 12 months to implement innovation. Perhaps this represents the maturity of recruitment or a lack of career paths.
Both Perth and Brisbane seem to have much more movement in internal recruitment than Melbourne and Sydney. Also these seem to be the only markets where internal recruiters are moving back to agencies, or take horizontal moves to other internal recruitment functions. Speculation– This is expected due to the reliance on mining, oil, gas and engineering as well as the boom and bust nature of these industries. This is symptomatic of the size of the market and number of opportunities.
Some recruitment agencies have a hell of a lot more turnover than others. I will not mention names, but when you look at our bounced email list you can see that some recruitment agents have had a a lot more turnover and shed a great deal of staff.SpeculationI would always prefer to work with agents with stable staff that are dedicated to vertical industries.
Government positions in all states have less movement or volatility than non-government positions. Additionally, the government’s movement of staff tends to be more internal, with recruiters moving into other areas of HR. Speculation- This may be the result of internal recruiters in government being less attractive hires to non-government functions. This may be due to their experiences being viewed as less relevant.
Career paths are interesting:

  • Agency recruiters seem to move into RPO positions as a stepping stone into internal recruitment
  • Internal recruiters tend to move to larger internal recruitment functions
  • Agency recruiters with specialisation in certain industries can move more easily into internal positions than generalist recruiters

The LinkedIn profiles of internal and agency recruiters are both quite complete and accomplishment based. Government LinkedIn profiles are not as complete and more a statement of recordSpeculation– I guess if you’re not as interested in mobility then this makes sense.
The LinkedIn profiles of internal or agency recruiters, tell a story of what the recruiter has donenot about the services they provide, nor who they can help.Speculation-The profiles are written to market the recruiter.
There seems to be a blurring of lines between procurement and recruitment positions in the contingent space. The number of internal contingent or contract management staff from both recruitment and procurement managing contingent vendors seems to be increasing. Speculation -Maybe this is something I am seeing, as we are running a Contingent Workforce Conference.
Despite the trend to talent management, the number of internal recruiters with accomplishments in this field is negligible. Despite this, there is a growing number of recruiters turning into digital marketers, whatever that means.
Lastly, I have noticed that I have become quite biased against recruiters who do not have a professional picture (there are a couple of great wedding shots), a complete profile, 500 connections and at least two to four recommendations. Speculation- I automatically assume they don’t understand the industry and are probably not great recruiters.
I’d be interested to hear what trends you’re seeing in the market. For now, I must return to tending my database, they don’t remove my chains until at least 5pm.
*this is in no way meant as a derogatory comment towards monkeys nor those working full time in data entry jobs, only that I enjoy bananas and feel like one of a million monkeys working at a million typewriters. Standby for the complete works of Shakespeare.
 
 Trevor is being released from database duties to facilitate the World Cafe at #CWF2014. This session provides an open forum for delegates to have their say, share their ideas and gain a practical understanding of the subject matter via a series of intimate round table discussions.  You can find out more about this year’s agenda, here. If you wish to participate in a discussion on diversity and contingent, please let us know.

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2 Responses to “My Name Is Trevor And I Work In Database Entry”

  1. Excellent Trevor, I had a chuckle and was also interested in your comments and observations, most of which I agree with and/or have witnessed myself.

    Reply
  2. Excellent Trevor, I had a chuckle and was also interested in your comments and observations, most of which I agree with and/or have witnessed myself.

    Reply

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