KEY POINTS:
Kevin Chappell sold high-profile recruitment firm Executive Taskforce last year. It's a decision he says he regrets, although he maintains it was the right thing to do at the time.
But a year on, he is back in the game. A restraint of trade clause means he can't yet return to Auckland's CBD as a recruiter - that can't happen for another two years. But it hasn't stopped him opening up Talent Now to serve the regions.
He says his time away from the industry has given him the opportunity to reflect on the way it is changing. It is facing some big challenges now that many companies are listing vacancies on their own websites - in competition with recruitment firms.
Chappell believes recruiters have to now work even closer with the companies they represent and says the role of recruitment firms has to change if they are to survive.
"In the next two years there will be a big shake-out of the metropolitan recruitment sector as those who can't or won't change will fall away," says Chappell. "The recruitment industry's role is shifting from being an 'all or nothing' provider to helping companies with their strategies to attract the right people. It means we have to go in a slightly different direction and it is not necessarily all-encompassing.
"It is actually breaking down the industry's services so that we assist with web-based strategies as well as traditional ones."
Chappell says there may be plenty of positions that employers can recruit for without the need of a professional recruitment agency at all. But for higher-end roles, specialist positions or particular stages of the recruitment process, then a good recruiter can be invaluable.
"Companies now have to find candidates differently," says Chappell. "They are going to have to say to job hunters 'we are a wonderful company, come and talk to us', as opposed to 'here's a job and you have the privilege of applying for it'.
"And that tends to be how the recruitment industry has worked. And if an applicant is not quite what the client is looking for then a recruitment firm will not typically respond to the applicant properly. That is the attitude that exists in many firms today. And I am saying, you can't do that now - and it should never have been done in the first place."
Chappell says what the recruitment industry is facing today is the same as the real estate industry faced some years back.
"That industry had to shift and use new technology," he says. "It is an interesting comparison because home buyers can now do their own qualification of properties [on the web]. Yet there are more real estate agents out there and they are still charging the same fees as they used to - yet they are doing less work."
Chappell's new firm is six months old and he says it is starting to gather traction - although it is operating as a virtual company rather than bricks and mortar.
"We won't have regional offices as staff will work remotely," he says. "We will interview people and liaise with clients remotely. But obviously we'll meet with clients initially and then work remotely."
Chappell says he doesn't miss working in the CBD. But although selling Executive Taskforce was the right thing to do last year, he added: "What was right then may not be right today."
* Contact Steve Hart at www.stevehart.co.nz
