Traditionally recruiters catered to all walks of life but as the industry grew it transitioned into one of the most hyper-competitive careers around. Magnifying their expertise became instrumental to success.

The rapid growth of the recruitment industry means that areas previously considered ‘niche’ in the Eighties, like IT and Accountancy, now have numerous microcosms within them for recruiters to specialise in.

To be efficient recruiters should be focussing on being the master of their area rather than a jack of all trades. Here are some ideas on how to dominate your market.

Know your sector

As a recruiter you will naturally be building on your own experience and expertise in a chosen sector, so will know the field you are operating within inside out. For certain markets staying on top of the shifting sands can mean doing – when feasible – the following;

  • Attending conferences and networking events.
  • Participating in communities and forums.
  • Being an active voice on social media and facilitating the traffic of relevant content.
  • Subscribing to industry news and keeping your finger firmly on the pulse.
  • Hosting networking events yourself to bring the traffic to you.
  • Locating and analysing your competitors to know where the gaps are.
  • Blogging and general content marketing.

Know your clients

By knowing all prospective clients in your market, not just your own, you can anticipate what’s missing and where the demand is.

  • Which companies are considering which hot projects.
  • Who has growth plans and where do the skills gap sit.
  • Where are the mergers and acquisitions taking place.

The saying that ‘information is the most valuable commodity’ couldn’t be more true in recruitment, as information on one client can always be used as leverage on another. For example, if you know two clients that are seeking the same criteria and you supply to one, then it’s more than likely you could be supplying to both.

Know your candidate

In a lot of specialist sectors the marketplace is permanently in favour of the candidate, which means the emphasis really relies on you knowing and catering to them and their interests.

Make sure you have a detailed candidate acquisition strategy with several routes to market, as the best candidates for your clients are likely to be the ones that aren’t actively searching.

That said and done, knowing your candidate means building and sustaining a relationship with them.