A fantastic addition to the recruiterís arsenal

Recruitment advertising is a long game. And anyone who has ever tried to make a quick buck from it has had their fingers burnt. When StepStone first burst into the collective consciousness with their powerful advertising and enviable branding, there were few who could fail to be impressed. Their clean, professional approach seemed to raise the game to a higher level. I canít have been the only Classified Ad manager in town who envied the resources at their disposal and how they used them. It was difficult, at the time, to see where they could go wrong.

So what happened? And how can the rest of us learn from their mistakes?

If you do the sums, their business model was dependent on achieving profitability by the end of last year. Hindsight, as they say, is always twenty-twenty, but by anyoneís calculation, particularly with their marketing commitments, it was an ambitious, dare I say, unrealistic, goal.

For most media owners who have built up extensive recruitment market places (on or offline), there is an appreciation that these are not built overnight. It has taken the best part of a decade, for example, for Jobserve to wrest the IT recruitment market from the trade press - and it still has a way to go.

In the end, building market places is largely about behavioural factors ñ and changing peopleís deeply ingrained habits is not achieved overnight.

But it isnít just Time that is a critical factor. A second mistake that StepStone made was to treat the recruitment market as one amorphous mass. It isnít. I donít think I will add anything new to the debate by saying that it is, in fact, a collection of communities segmented by profession or industry sector. But it is important to acknowledge that StepStoneís business model ignored this at great cost. By trying to be too many things to too many people, they simply spread themselves too thin. In effect, they failed to give enough of their customers what they wanted to achieve: critical mass.

And, in the end it is no more complicated than that; keeping the customer satisfied. Punters want access to a selection of the right jobs. Employers want a good response from a selection of ideal candidates.

Sounds simple doesnít it? But, of course, all of us involved in recruitment know that that is easier said than done. Recruitment is, perhaps, one of the most accountable business to business activities out there. Thereís no hiding when you donít deliver and there are rarely any second chances.

And it doesnít matter what your business model is. Whether you are a ëpure playí Internet only brand, ëdual playí online and print, or print only, the same principles apply.

Ease of access for jobseekers is critical. Clearly, there needs to be recognition of any given brand with a clear understanding of what it can do for them. But the physical act of accessing the brand needs to be as convenient as possible.

The advent of online recruitment has been a fantastic addition to the recruiterís arsenal. It has opened up all kinds of new possibilities. Along with newspapers, trade press, recruitment fairs, employment agencies, consultancies and headhunters, employers can also use the Internet as a valuable source of candidates.

The keyword here is choice. It means that, in a skills based economy which, by definition, means a tougher recruitment environment, employers can choose the route most appropriate for the job in hand. And those suppliers who can offer more than one route to market, stand to be the most successful at helping employers achieve their goals. This is a principle that hasnít escaped TMP for example.

The year ahead will be definitive for the recruitment market and all those who operate within it. Difficult economic conditions have a way of focusing employer behaviour and that, in turn, will lead to further rationalisation of the market. The ability to deliver results, both to candidates and employers alike, are the factors that create brand equity, and it will be this above all else that will determine which brands thrive.

www.guardian.co.uk