There's a lot of buzz going around about how LinkedIn is going to be the demise of the staffing & recruitment industries. While it is true that LinkedIn is being used by many organizations as a recruiting tool, here is our take on the LinkedIn “threat”.
Let's first examine how LinkedIn became such a success in the first place…In a recent ere.net article, author Michael Overell points out that LinkedIn's IPO could never have happened without the initial support and use of the site by recruiters and staffing firms. In LinkedIn's early days, recruiters relied on Premium Subscriptions to help with their employee finding missions. In fact, over 40% of LinkedIn's revenue in 2009 came from these subscriptions. Recruiters now also utilize LinkedIn's Talent Solutions tools as well � which is another source of revenue for LinkedIn coming from recruiters and staffing firms. LinkedIn's talent tool is currently comprised of a set of “products” ranging from recruiting & candidate management tools, job posting tools, career pages and targeted employment ads. It is safe to say, that the majority of LinkedIn's receive is the source of recruiters not only paying for subscription fees, but also for job ads. So whether LinkedIn's goal is to kill off the staffing & recruiting industries, it really is not that simple. Here is the thing. Whether it's LinkedIn, Careerbuilder Resumes, Monster Resumes or even e-Staffing � all this e- Everything misses the point. Staffing has grown and evolved based on a few simple facts:
There is a misconception out there about what it takes to run a staffing agency. Most think it's simple, just match people and skills and get paid for it. Having been in this industry for 25+ years, of at least one thing I am certain…If you ask 100 people to define “Staffing” or Recruiting as an Industry, you are likely to get 90 different answers. There are so many different facets of the industry.
The Staffing Business will continue to thrive because it really is not that simple. Staffing will continue to innovate, increase efficiencies and as a whole will be the best option for producing recruitment results, not theoretical conclusions.