I’ve supported a number of companies this year with the “mother of all pivots” in permanent recruitment; moving from a client centric to a candidate driven methodology. Client delivery and experience are still integral components, but similar to so many other industries, we have put our product at the centre of our world.

 Unless you have genuine commitment from a client, forecasting revenue from any number of “live roles” is an inexact science at best. But, if you are supporting top grade candidates, each through multiple opportunities, your conversion ratio of input to fees can be highly efficient.

 In these instances, recruiters have positioned themselves as genuine value-adding partners rather than transactional agents. Far from being the intimidated, subservient and unconditionally grateful “supplier”, they engage with their clients with confidence and credibility because they know they can provide solutions to bridge specific talent gaps & help deliver tangible outcomes.

 I firmly believe that in 2027, this model will become more prevalent as the requirement for recruitment partners will be to provide their customers with proven, perhaps even accredited specialist talent at a time when AI is generating a Wild West of unqualified, fraudulent and, indeed, fake applications. As a sector, we have an opportunity and perhaps an obligation to counter this. This is our time to step up.

 Furthermore, the “opportunity” of the traditional matching of active candidates to live roles will be low hanging fruit for the rapidly evolving and imminent tech tsunami. I’m already seeing these solutions being built in house.

 It’s a bold move and it is not for everyone. It is a play that takes conviction & commitment. What you drive and measure internally is different; a “good week” is built on candidate orientated indicators and it takes patience to build valuable banks of strong talent.

 But as an advisor, it is incredibly rewarding to see those businesses improve sales, extinguish client dependency and build both their brand and value as specialist partners that now have a solid platform for future scale.