Where's the value in recruitment?

Most recruitment companies talk about their knowledge of a market, of who the good people are. And of course, they always promise to interview candidates first.

It's no surprise that the reality is different. So many people, so many cvs, so easy for a desparate candidate to send inappropriate and irrelevant applications. No wonder if recruiters find short-cuts, look for the obvious candidates, and move on to the next assignment.

So where's the value?

Is it too obvious to suggest that the value is disappearing, and that the majority of recruitment is becoming transactional, a simple commodity? If so, then the online recruitment sites are the way to go. Look at ozzle for example http://www.ozzle.co.uk/ - it specialises in a specific area (print and packaging), it provides a link between candidates and prospective employers, and the fees are fixed based on the use of the site rather than on the candidate's salary. It just works.

There are, of course, some wonderful recruitment companies, companies who really do interpret cvs, and listen to candidates, working out the best fit and best potential for their clients (try David Abbott and Partners http://www.david-abbott.com/, Direct Experience http://www.direxp.co.uk/ or The Talent Business http://www.thetalentbusiness.com/, as three good examples).

Thing is, how do you tell? As a client, how do you know which company is going to add the value to justify their fee? As a candidate, how do you know which company is going to do the best for you?

If you're cv is classically impeccable, and you want to carry on doing exactly what you've been doing, then I suppose it's all very simple. But I thought we were in the era of portfolio careers, sabbaticals and life-changes? So how's a recruitment company going to help unless they are one of the excellent few?

It would make things an awful lot simpler if there was some way that you could tell whether the recruitment company you were about to deal with - either as client or candidate - was an added-value consultant, or a cv-pusher.

Meanwhile, if you are a cv-pusher, or the client is insisting on exact matches, then maybe there's a way of being more explicit in the job description? "You must have ... " We will not talk to you about this one unless ... "Do not bother to apply without ... " might all be helpful. It would save us all a lot of time.