Thinking about it, I've been in recruitment now since 2000. I launched PMP in 2008 (the last recession!) and I like to think that this specialist recruitment business has thrived over the years with a loyal client and candidate base. When I used to run larger recruitment teams for other people, my consultants would badger me constantly for more budget to advertise their jobs on the online websites - and back in the day even in the print media!
What I always knew was that there is no such thing as the magic candidate or CV tree. And most good recruiters know that. But there were always a couple of good jobsites that I would always allocate some budget to job advertising because the quality of CVs were consistently good and therefore one would make placements and therefore revenue.
Last week, I was very disappointed when the Drum Website contacted me to say that they were ceasing their jobs platform. Over the past 20 years, they have been the best quality source of CVs, particularly from a regional level and the return on investment for the advertising was always good (for me..., clearly not so good for them).
Whenever I talk to candidates about their job search, I do recommend that they talk to a cross-section of recruiters and I would usually suggest a couple of job-sites for them to keep an eye on too. Whilst there is no magic CV tree for me, their equally is no magic job tree for them either. So keeping one's options broad is always a good idea and I'm sorry that the Drum won't be advertising jobs although they will be allocating that budget to other projects.
I used to recommend Brand Republic as another platform but they increasingly over the years became more focused on London opportunities and in-house marketing roles. The bigger non marketing specific sites like Reed, Monster, CV Library are very hit and miss - you might find a random marketing role but you'd be lucky. If someone is particularly keen on the public sector or culture and arts related roles, the Guardian Online is worth a look. Occasionally a candidate might say to me that they saw an advert on Indeed but I've never spent any budget on Indeed, they just seem to advertise my jobs for free. Thanks!
And there it is. The elephant in the room. Such is the presence of LinkedIn now, it has, over the last 10 years evolved into one giant recruitment platform. But I find it interesting that even so, it still doesn't have all the answers!
Clients often come to me and say that they've had a job on LinkedIn for 4 weeks and not found anyone suitable so can I let them know who I'm working with. Those same clients work out pretty quickly that they've spent a lot of time and money filtering through 200 completely unsuitable individuals.
So I'm not sure that there are any specialist online job platforms for individuals looking for regional creative agency roles. Have we seen the death of the jobsite?
I've found that for PMP, my own carefully nurtured and managed database is my best resource for finding candidates. Recruitment, after all, is a relationships business and having done the job for so long, I place people multiple times in their career. Candidates become Clients - and vice versa. Good candidates know other good candidates. I'm also honest so I will recommend other recruiters who might be better placed to help someone.
If the ONS is to be believed, we are now in a recession and whilst many in the creative agency sector will continue to operate as normal, there may be others who will struggle. It depends on the sectors and markets in which they operate. We're coming out of an extremely busy 2 years of recruitment where demand for candidates has far outweighed the supply and that has meant we have seen some very skewed salaries (basic rules of supply and demand!). Whilst over the last 2 years, candidates may have been fed up with recruiters chasing them, they may need to become more proactive in finding a new role as we head into 2023.
My recommendation is to talk to friends and colleagues who work in the same sector, ask them for their recommendations on which recruiters to talk to. Start with a couple and then expand if you need to. Whilst LinkedIn might like to think they've got it covered, from a candidate perspective it can feel like looking for a needle in a haystack and when it comes to time being money, most agencies are still happy to use specialist recruiters. If you are interested in specific creative agencies, it's worth following them on social media to see when they're recruiting. As with anything don't put all your eggs in one basket, keep your options open and be prepared to put a bit of effort into finding the right role for you!