Networks and resourcing white paper by Business360 and TFPL December 2013

THE RISE OF
PROFESSIONAL NETWORKS
AS A RESOURCE

A Report by Business360 and TFPL
DECEMBER 2013

© Copyright TFPL and Business360, Inc. 2013. All rights reserved.

RATIONALE FOR THE STUDY
• In recent years we have seen the growth of networks both as a means of locating talented professionals and also as a means
for individuals to locate work opportunities
• Building on prior studies, Business360 and TFPL decided to undertake some research to better understand how these
networks are changing the interface between professionals and organizations
• Our fields of work (Business360 as a provider of professional services delivered remotely, and TFPL as a provider of talent
location, learning and consultancy services) means we have very different perspectives on this change:
o Business360 has seen a growing acceptance by companies of the provision of professional services using individuals
working remotely, with whom the companies often have limited communication
o TFPL has seen the growing pressure that organizations face in trying to locate the talent they need, with highly specialized
skills and competencies, as well as the innovations applied as they try to secure their ideal candidate
• To build our understanding: we conducted some secondary source research; ran a survey with a view to capturing how people
and organizations use networks; and supplemented these findings with a number of client and professional interviews
• This document presents our core findings
• If you have questions or comments, or would like more details about any parts of our work, do not hesitate to contact us


CONTENTS
I.

CONTEXT

II. INSIGHTS INTO PROFESSIONAL NETWORKS
III. IMPLICATIONS


CONTEXT
SERVICES ARE DRIVING ECONOMIC GROWTH
Economies globally are shifting to services

The changing structure of employment during economic development

• Look at the US: in 1900, 33% of workers were in services; by
1999 it was 78%
• While in agriculture the share fell from 41% in 1900 to less
than 2% by 2000
We are becoming a knowledge economy and we no longer
touch what we sell
• Think banking, web services, insurance, design, IT, consulting,
research, media, law…
Employers have a growing need for talent to manage their
information and knowledge-based services

★ The knowledge economy will continue to drive employment

CONTEXT
TECHNOLOGY IS MAKING US CONNECTED
TECHNOLOGY IS ENABLING A SEISMIC CHANGE IN THE WAY
PEOPLE CONNECT
Degrees of separation falling
• Once near 6, but averaged 5.27 on Facebook in 2008 and 4.74 in 2011
(some estimates now say around 3)
Professional details open
• LinkedIn already makes available ~250 million resumes of
professionals worldwide
‘Ready resource’ already massive
• Contractor networks like Elance, Guru, ClickNwork and others make
available millions of ‘skilled freelancers’ via the web

★ Levels of connectedness will continue to rise

Up & Up
Social Media Growth

CONTEXT
PROFESSIONAL NETWORKS ARE EXPLODING
THIS IS THE MOMENT FOR PROFESSIONAL NETWORKS
Individuals like them
• Chance to build a platform, showcase skills/experience,
abilities, increase their reach into organizations, tap a
support network…

Organizations like them
• Easier access to a larger number of possible candidates,
low cost and efficient means to screen large numbers of
candidates, easy to place work with experienced
professionals without having to increase headcount or
‘onboard’ people, gives the organization more flexibility…
Employer hold on employees will fall
• Employers and their recruiters can now get ready access to
competitors’ employees, meaning even trusted employees
are always ‘on the market’

PROFESSIONAL SOCIAL NETWORKS ARE THE FASTEST
GROWING SOURCE OF “QUALITY HIRES”:
“Compared to two years ago, 17% more recruiters find quality talent
on professional social networks.”
The 2013 Global Recruiting Trends Report, LinkedIn, July 2013

★ Large professional networks to change employer-employee relationship

CONTEXT
PROFESSIONAL NETWORKS SCALING AS TALENT GAPS EMERGE
There is shortage amidst plenty and companies are struggling to
get the people they need

McKinsey: The world is likely to have too few high-skill workers and not
enough jobs for low-skill workers

McKinsey Global Institute:
• By 2020 the global economy could face 38-41 million fewer
workers with tertiary education (college or postgraduate degrees)
than employers will need, or 13% of the demand for such workers
• At the same time, there will be 90-95 million more low-skill workers
than employers will need, or 11% oversupply of such workers
Manpower:
• “35 percent of employers on average report having difficulty filling
jobs due to a lack of available talent. This is the highest shortage
since the start of the global recession”

★ Today’s professional networks will be used to help fill these talent gaps

INSIGHTS
OUR SURVEY LOOKED AT HOW PROFESSIONAL NETWORKS ARE
USED AND PERCEIVED
• Our goal was to understand how professionals in the knowledge economy are using professional networks
• In addition to people seeking work opportunities, we also sought the opinion of organizations seeking talent
• We dispatched invitations to participate to ~3,000 individuals, mainly drawn from TFPL’s database of contacts, but also
from ClickNwork and Business360 contacts (roughly 70% TFPL, 25% ClickNwork, 5% Business360)
• Responses came from 49 industry sectors and 26 countries
• The following section provides some summary highlights; if you want to clarify anything, please contact us


INSIGHTS
46% OF RESPONDENTS SAY NETWORKS ARE KEY IN HELPING
ORGANIZATIONS AND INDIVIDUALS CONNECT
There appears to be wide appreciation of the value that
today’s professional networks bring to the process of
matching talent with talent need

How important do you think today's professional networks are
in helping organizations and individuals connect to meet
resource requirements?

Roughly 70% of respondents believe they are either essential
or very important
Just 8% believe that they aren’t that important


INSIGHTS
LINKEDIN IS BY FAR THE DOMINANT PROVIDER BUT OTHERS
ALL RESPONDENTS
ARE SEEN TO DELIVER IMPORTANT BENEFITS
LinkedIn is the standout most popular professional network with nearly 35%
of all respondents joining it. For those looking to locate work opportunities,
the figure jumps to 64%
Comments by respondents show a few patterns:
• People tend to find networks that work for them and their needs
• LinkedIn is by far and away the most useful site for contacting people and keeping in
touch, although others (oDesk, Elance, ClickNwork…) are valued for providing access to
real work opportunities
RESPONDENTS INTERESTED IN
LOCATING WORK OPPORTUNITIES

• A significant minority don’t find online networks of any use
WHAT NETWORKS HAVE YOU FOUND THE MOST VALUABLE FOR PROFESSIONAL REASONS, AND WHY?
• LinkedIn, because I've found it the
easiest way to keep track of my
professional contacts and it offers
some very useful groups
• LinkedIn. You can connect to all
sorts of people in a professional
manner. Plus, interested employers
can view your resume and reach out
to you

• Business360 and ClickNwork
provide all the work I am doing right
now

• It is hard to get work on these types
of sites

• None of them
• Elance has worked well for me to
find jobs.
• oDesk, because it gives me a lot of
work options

• All of the above are very important.
The more folks you can get your
information out to the more you can
profit from it.


INSIGHTS
JOB SEEKERS WANT TO STAY IN TOUCH, GET ACCESS TO WORK;
TALENT SEEKERS WANT TO ACCESS TALENT
For individuals interested in locating work opportunities,
online networks mainly supplement existing functions of:

When organizations use these networks to locate talent,
they are:

• Staying in touch with professionals in particular fields
• Providing access to work

• Mainly looking to connect with specialists (75%) or keeping up
with news and developments (71%)

• Building a platform where individuals can present themselves
professionally

• Looking to resource occasional or part-time projects (67%
agree or strongly agree) or finding experts (58%)

• Enabling idea and information exchange

• Less likely to be directly recruiting (54%)

WHAT USEFUL FUNCTION DO YOU DERIVE FROM THESE NETWORKS?
STAYING IN TOUCH
• Keeping up-to-date with current issues
within the financial sector and more
general 'gossip‘
• Access to individuals I know and
exposure to groups and individuals I
want to know
A PLATFORM
• Building a branding and "getting your
name out there“
• Getting endorsements and
recommendations
• Public profile and links to new people
with similar interests

WHAT DO YOU USE THESE NETWORKS FOR WHEN LOCATING TALENT?

ACCESS TO WORK
• I gain the ability to grow as a writer and
make money to assist with my family's
financial well-being
• Finding opportunities for professional
development outside of work

IDEA EXCHANGE
• Exchange of ideas, how to grow my
business, learning new skills, meeting
people
• Valuable connections with people across
continents and business types, to
generate ideas through conversation and
shared insights


INSIGHTS
USERS SEE SIGNIFICANT SHORTCOMINGS WITH EXISTING
PROFESSIONAL NETWORKS
People seeking work opportunities were bothered by shortfalls
(although a sizable minority didn’t see any disadvantages):
• Time required to interact and deal with spam and communications
is wasteful (excessive and irrelevant updates and alerts were
especially annoying)
• Some networks don’t provide a reliable stream of work
• Dealing with the networks can be impersonal, soulless
WHAT DISADVANTAGES ARE THERE TO THE NETWORKS YOU HAVE JOINED?
TIME SINK/SPAM
• There seems to be an increase in
spammers who create "useless noise“
• I often can't keep up with the amount
of alerts I get
• They take up too much time for the
benefit
IMPERSONAL

LACK OF WORK/LOWER EARNINGS
• As with the case with oDesk, the
feeling that I have to lower my rate in
order to get a job. Feeling like I am
more in a fish market than
professional market

Organizations believe networks have various disadvantages:
• Lost time – dealing with them is time-consuming and inefficient,
especially for marketplaces (oDesk, Guru, Elance…), which
require a lot of effort to select and manage vendors
• Quality – some organizations get poor quality results
• The growth of impersonal, screen-based relationships and the
loss of human contact is missed by some
WHAT DISADVANTAGES ARE THERE TO THE NETWORKS YOU HAVE JOINED?
TIME INEFFICIENCY
• Too many unwelcome, unsolicited
invitations to connect, especially by
those seeking employment or
experience
• Can waste a lot of time

• No definite work
LOST PRIVACY

• Sometimes the information they send
is not at all relevant to me

• You need to be cautious of what you
put out there!

• Mostly online, so limited opportunities
for face-to-face networking

• Personally invasive
• All your info is very public

QUALITY
• It can be hard getting people that really
know your business and quality can
suffer
• One can get an incompetent person to
do the work thus at the end of the day
the work is not done in the right way

IMPERSONAL WORK
• Sometime it's difficult to communicate
with people we know only on the
internet
• These networks cut down on face to
face contact, so networking is a bit of
guessing game


NONE
• Cannot think of any
• None
• No disadvantages

INSIGHTS
BUT THEY ALSO BRING NOTABLE ADVANTAGES
People seeking work opportunities are overwhelmingly
positive about the benefits of professional networks:

Primary benefits for organizations are access to skilled
resource and the ability to get work done easily:

• 76% agree or strongly agree that they are good at keeping
them connected and informed; 71% believe they are
valuable to their careers

• Some organizations have obtained better/easier access
to needed skills

• 55% agree that they have helped them find work, against
24% who say that they haven’t
• Only 43% believe that the networks are good at
promoting them
HOW HELPFUL ARE PROFESSIONAL NETWORKS TO YOU? THEY…

• Some have managed to get work completed more easily
or more cheaply
But, some have yet to realize any benefits

WHAT ADVANTAGES HAVE YOU BEEN ABLE TO REALIZE FOR YOUR ORGANIZATION
FROM THESE NETWORKS?

BETTER ACCESS TO SKILLS AND IDEAS

EASIER WAYS TO COMPLETE WORK

• They find experts to provide solutions
to my organization

• Work is done in the right way without
having to spend a lot

• Especially useful when creating teams
for large projects

• It’s useful to be able to parcel work out to
manage peaks better

• Identifying people and skills for specific
areas of requirement & make direct
approach with minimal cost

• Getting things done overnight is a benefit


INSIGHTS
USERS IDENTIFIED A NUMBER OF THINGS THEY’D LIKE NETWORKS TO OFFER
Individuals seeking work opportunities mainly wanted better
options for work, but other needs emerged:
• Work, more of it, more reliably and more easily secured
• Some want things beyond work (better navigation, better personal
interaction…)
• Most people that expressed a view don’t want more, seemingly
accepting the deficiencies of online networks as a function of what’s
available at this stage of their development

Organizations primarily want an improved user experience:
• Easier use, including better and more powerful search
• Better information; information is often inaccurate or misleading
and this makes networking sites harder to use
• Some commentators did not see a need for anything more from
existing networking sites
WHAT DO YOU WANT MOST FROM THESE NETWORKS THAT THEY ARE NOT
ALREADY PROVIDING IN TERMS OF RESOURCING TALENT?

WHAT DO YOU WANT MOST FROM THESE NETWORKS THAT THEY ARE NOT PROVIDING?
WORK

EASIER USE

SOMETHING OTHER THAN WORK

BETTER QUALITY INFORMATION

• More work

• Access to meetings

• Jobs that are available for
telecommuting

• Stronger protection of information

• Less choice - overwhelming number
of networks to chose from - lots of
noise at times

• The ability to collaborate on work
online with other professionals

• Better targeting ability

• An inspiring job
• Direct links to applications to apply
for jobs and having the open
communication with the employer
• Consistent job offers is most
important for me

• Easier navigation for maintenance
• Greater levels of engagement on the
rich content and ideas made available
in these channels
• Training

Reduction in 'echo chamber' sense
where everyone's friends rec him
whether they've worked together or
not

•

Relevant Information

•

• Quality people that match search
criteria

•

Accurate info

• Easier ways to search for what you
want. Better ways to contact
candidates

NOTHING

NOTHING

•

Sometimes the information they send is not at all relevant to me

•

Everything is here in these networks

•

Mostly online, so limited opportunities for face-to-face networking

•

Nothing needed


INSIGHTS
COMPANIES WANT GREATER TRUST IN INDIVIDUALS
THAN NETWORKS CAN (CURRENTLY) PROVIDE
Recruiters, Hiring Managers and HR professionals say that
while professional networks help them locate talent, they
remain inadequate for building trust in individuals:
• Technology plays to, and fosters, ‘weak ties’, but recruitment
decisions rely mainly on ‘strong ties’, predominantly with an
underpinning personal relationship
• Hiring managers and HR professionals point out that personal
recommendations are much more effective because there is a
higher chance people will ‘fit’ and be a successful placement
since the recommender understands the organization’s culture
and needs

HIRING MANAGERS &
HR PROFESSIONALS SAID:
“Traditional face to face networks where relationships have
been established and built up over time provided added
validation and expertise that is not easily achieved
through electronic networks.”
“Challenge with specialized and senior roles with fewer
potential candidates is that the terminology and
language used to describe experience is less defined
and more wide ranging and so online searching is more
difficult. Personal contacts/talking to recruiters can
therefore be more beneficial.”
“When not possible to meet, electronic networks fill the gap
and allow new connections to be built and networks to
grow where it may not have been possible just through
face to face connections”


INSIGHTS
OPINION IS MIXED ON HOW NETWORKS WILL DEVELOP IN THE FUTURE
Respondents provided a range of fascinating forecasts on how professional networks will develop. The only consistent theme
is that online networks will grow in scope and power:
• Most expect networks to offer more functionality, greater interactivity, verified information, auxiliary services (search, interviewing, vetting…)
• Some foresee a merging of online and offline networks; others see a proliferation of virtual gatherings via video chat, or the emergence of
online courses and other training
• Opinion is mixed on whether the market will consolidate (with smaller providers falling by the wayside) or fragment as specialist providers
emerge (perhaps undercutting the hegemony of today’s heavy hitters)
• Almost all believe that in the future, organizations and individuals will be more reliant on professional networks for recruiting talent and
obtaining work
• A few people pondered the broader implications of a rise in distance work and general de-personalization of the work environment (mostly
seen as a negative, but being able to work from home is seen to have many benefits)
HOW DO YOU SEE THESE NETWORKS DEVELOPING OVER THE NEXT DECADE?

GROWTH

FUNCTIONALITY

• Networks are fast growing
currently and can only grow
larger in the future and progress
to a level where face to face
interaction in business would
become secondary

• I see a mix of online and offline
communities, which at a local
level could involve face-to-face
meetings/workshops to share
knowledge and best practice

• Growing like topsy and
distracting people

• More choices, interactivity…
videoconferencing

CONSOLIDATING

FRAGMENTING

• There will be a consolidation, I
hope, and some of the smaller
networks will be swallowed up.
Less choice, but will hopefully
mean more focus for those
networks that remain

• More specialisation and
fragmentation into smaller
groups of 'known' experts
making it harder for the
inexperienced and selfpromoting to get connected

• Unfortunately, I can see them
becoming more dilutive and
generalist

• …growth in smaller industryspecific professional networks


CHANGING SOCIETY
• The network will become our
essential thing in our life
• As white collar work gets less tied
to full time work onsite, and
swings more toward
telecommuting, freelance, etc,
these networks should become
more important
• …part of a booming outsourcing
industry

INSIGHTS
TECHNOLOGY PERMITS GREATER FLEXIBILITY
Beyond the survey, we conducted interviews that yielded insights in to how organizations value the flexibility and the
expanded pool of talent afforded by digital networks
The reach of networks is seen to provide a much richer and more flexible source of skills and talent, not limited by
geographic location
It is clear that many companies today are not only attracted by this, they increasingly need it
SOME QUOTES:

“There is variable predictability in the amount and
flow of work coming through and so a flexible and
reliable option was needed. We set up a virtual
contractor network to do this.”
“Contractors are available when they want to be. They
choose when they want to do work and may accept or
reject work based on their other client workload”
“Use of the skills network allows the company to
increase or decrease their capacity thereby providing
them with greater flexibility“

“Electronic networks help to meet challenges of
staying connected with an increasingly mobile
workforce. It is much easier to keep in contact with
selection of people who may be based in different
time zones”

“I value the electronic networks for the immediacy of
the response I can get. My projects are typically short
and need a quick turnaround therefore being able to
get a quick response whenever I might need it is
important”


IMPLICATIONS
HOLD ON TO YOUR SEATS!
Building on our view of major economic drivers laid out in the context, as well as the insights emerging from our survey, supplementary
research and interviews, we have identified a number of implications for the field of recruitment, and resourcing more generally
Business360 and TFPL look at some areas through different lenses and in these implications we draw on each company’s sector
expertise to inform our assessment
Implications include:
1. Continued improvements in online networks will supercharge uptake and relevance
2. Recruiters will depend on professional networks (and today, that means LinkedIn)
3. Open professional networks mean recruiters will need new ways to add value
4. More functions will be completed at distance, boosting outsourcing and offshoring
5. Companies need to be proactive to tap emerging opportunities
6. Individuals need to build, own and manage their online equity
7. TFPL sees an upside for recruiters

8. Business360 believes professional networks will create new ways of resourcing


IMPLICATIONS

THE FUTURE OF PROFESSIONAL NEWORKS: BETTER AND MORE

CONTINUED IMPROVEMENTS IN ONLINE NETWORKS WILL
SUPERCHARGE UPTAKE AND RELEVANCE
Improvements will keep coming
Online networks will continue to enhance functionality and this will
continue to deliver important benefits. Expect these soon:
• Intelligent search (by skill, attitude, cultural suitability…)
• Greater interactivity

• Information verification
• Auxiliary services for search (interviewing and vetting…)
• Dynamic profiles/resumes (aggregating information from around the
web)
Connectedness will be the norm:

Benefits will be significant

• Connectedness will contribute to (and possibly correlate with)
potential value
• Unconnected professionals will be regarded as quaint, unambitious,
and perhaps even treated with suspicion


IMPLICATIONS

PROFESSIONAL NETWORKS WILL BE AN ESSENTIAL TOOL FOR RECRUITERS

RECRUITERS WILL DEPEND ON PROFESSIONAL NETWORKS (AND
TODAY, THAT MEANS LINKEDIN)
WE’RE ALREADY SEEING THIS PLAY OUT
Recruiting as we currently know it will not be possible without
leveraging professional networks:

A 2013 Society for Human Resource Management study found:
• 77% of employers already use social networks to recruit,
up from 56% just two years earlier

• Recruiters will increasingly rely on technology to trawl networks for
candidates, as well as sifting and ranking them

• By far and away the dominant provider is LinkedIn.
Among the recruiters using social tools, 94% say they
use LinkedIn (Facebook 54% and Twitter 39%)

• In this environment, search technologies and networks with the
largest number of candidates will secure material advantage
• As costs to locate candidates online fall, traditional talent search
and ad-based recruitment will decline

• 80% of organizations say the primary reason for using
social networking sites is the ability to recruit ‘passive’
job candidates
•

A 2012 survey from Jobvite found that 93% of job recruiters
use LinkedIn to find qualified candidates (from 87% in 2011
and 78% in 2010). 66% used Facebook (from 55% in 2011)

•

Pfizer reportedly gets up to 40% of its candidates via
LinkedIn


IMPLICATIONS

RECRUITERS MUST FIND INNOVATIVE WAYS TO ENHANCE THEIR SERVICES

OPEN PROFESSIONAL NETWORKS MEAN RECRUITERS
WILL NEED NEW WAYS TO ADD VALUE
As technology facilitates connections, recruiters need to enhance their
service to become trusted advisors, working more closely with clients:
• Recruiters will need to understand culture and personality to make
suitable, sustainable matches - something so far that technology is not
yet able to provide (an October 2013 article in Bloomberg shows how fast
this is changing)
• Having more connectivity and interaction with the talent base is where
recruitment consultants will excel
• It’s early in this revolution, but likely paths include:
o Focusing on specific sectors or roles
o Adding services, such as suitability guarantees, agreeing to service
level agreements
o Competing through the use of ever more sophisticated software and
talent selection algorithms
SOME COMPANIES IN
THE VANGUARD


IMPLICATIONS

COMPANIES WILL LOOK EXTERNALLY FOR COST AND QUALITY IMPROVEMENTS

MORE FUNCTIONS WILL BE COMPLETED AT DISTANCE,
BOOSTING OUTSOURCING AND OFFSHORING
Easier access to credible, proven talent sources outside the
firm will boost outsourcing:

ACCENTURE SEES A SHIFT FROM INTERNAL EMPLOYEES
TO OUTSOURCING BUSINESS PROCESSES

• As it becomes easier to locate and manage qualified
individuals overseas, more functions will be completed at
distance, boosting outsourcing and offshoring
• Key requirements will be:
o Ease of tapping relevant individuals with verified
credentials
o Management relaxing constraints on corporate use of thirdparties
o Secure systems and networks to ensure data security
• Taken together, these changes will greatly lower transaction
costs of drawing on external talent and allow companies to
operate with materially lower headcount


IMPLICATIONS

COMPANIES NEED TO TAKE CHARGE AND BE PROACTIVE

COMPANIES NEED TO BE PROACTIVE TO TAP EMERGING
OPPORTUNITIES
As competition for talent intensifies and professional
networks become better established, organizations must:
• Be proactive and creative – it’s a competition for talent and it
takes work to win
• Assess alternative sourcing strategies – with the proliferation
of professional networks, organizations can locate talent from a
growing range of routes, bringing cost, resiliency and quality
advantages

• Identify functions that are suitable for completion remotely
– as it gets easier to locate and manage professionals remotely,
companies stand to benefit by outsourcing/offshoring a greater
range of business functions. Some, like payroll and data entry,
have already mostly been outsourced, but going forward, more
central business functions, like brand management, financial
analysis and more forms of business research, will be
conducted remotely

Organizations need to be responsible when using
social media networks in the recruitment
process. There should be a respect for privacy and
guidance on what to consider and what to disregard in
the recruitment process.
Interview comment – Megan Jenkins
Head of Central KM - Markets, Training and Research
At DLA Piper
“There should be a distinction between personal
social networks and professional social
networks. Currently the technology is creating a
blur between the two, causing concerns for
privacy and discrimination and HR Issues as seen
in recent cases in tribunals.”


IMPLICATIONS

INDIVIDUALS WILL BE RESPONSIBLE FOR THEIR ONLINE PRESENCE AND EQUITY

INDIVIDUALS NEED TO BUILD, OWN AND MANAGE
THEIR ONLINE EQUITY
As organizations increasingly rely on online professional
networks and the web generally to locate talent, individuals will
need to ensure they are well represented online

SERVICES ARE ALREADY EMERGING
THAT SORT THROUGH ONLINE INFORMATION
TO SPOT PROMISING CANDIDATES:
• TalentBin claims to be The talent search engine for
the entire web that enables users to Find passive
candidates where they are active online, based on
their skills, interests and actions

Individuals need to:
• Build their online profile and presence
• Own and actively manage their information, including emerging
technologies (e.g. see visual resumes at Pinterest or visualize.me)
• Provide a mix of online presence that matches the likely search
strategy of target employers
• Establish a network that will facilitate their career goals
• Make sure to invest sufficient effort in both online and offline
networks

• Entelo claims to help users find the right candidates
at the right time
And specialized metrics are emerging that will help
employers screen individuals for very precise
attributes. Klout, for instance, measures an individual’s
social influence

• Ensure that information about them online is accurate (or at least
reflects positively on them) and current


IMPLICATIONS

PROACTIVE RECRUITERS CAN BENEFIT FROM THESE CHANGES

TFPL SEES AN UPSIDE FOR RECRUITERS
RECRUITING IS A COMPLEX BUSINESS

WILL THIS CHANGE IN THE FUTURE?

People-to-people connections, recognizing and dealing with
the subtleties of personality and culture, needs a level of
interaction and understanding that technology alone cannot
deliver; technology is a facilitator of communication

We probably overestimate the ability of technology to make
judgements on human interactions

Recruitment companies can flourish by:
• Utilizing their strong understanding of a client’s
requirements and culture in making the most suitable
recommendations
• Leveraging a whole host of media to develop new
connections and use more traditional communication
methods to enhance their knowledge and understanding of
that person

It is very difficult to emulate the level of connectedness and
understanding about a person one can achieve through
reading facial expressions, body language and tone of
voice. All these go towards building strong trusted
connections; a machine does not have emotional
intelligence
Technology will help identify more and better candidates,
leaving recruiters free to focus on making quality selections


IMPLICATIONS

PROFESSIONAL NETWORKS WILL INCREASINGLY BE USED FOR RESOURCING

BUSINESS360 BELIEVES PROFESSIONAL NETWORKS WILL CREATE
NEW WAYS OF RESOURCING

INCREASING RESOURCING OPTIONS AVAILABLE TO CORPORATIONS

The basic human drive to connect, which today is building
open professional networks at scale, will change the
employee-employer relationship

In-house recruitment
Recruitment agencies
Talent marketplaces

Networks will become another resourcing option available to
organizations: instead of using employees or traditional
outsourcing vendors, companies may choose to outsource
functions to network providers that will leverage talent within
the network for fulfillment

Outsource vendors
Crowd sourcing
Curated networks

‘Network resourcing’ will bring significant advantages:

Talent networks

• Better verification of talent, skills and credentials

• Just emerging

• Better access to niche skills
• Greater redundancy (easier to get replacements)

• Greater flexibility (permanent, temporary, casual,
remote…)

More resourcing options
enabled by:
• Improving technology
• Greater connectedness

• Potentially greatest
scope
• Scalable
• Shifts from fixed to
variable costs
• Plays to global
organizations

• Lower overheads, lower unit rates
• Frees employees to focus on higher level functions
Time


CONTACT US
ANY QUESTIONS, COMMENTS?
We’d love to hear from you…

John Marchant

Claire Valentine

john.marchant@business360.com

claire.valentine@tfpl.com

+1 212 866 4680

+44 207 751 7161

www.business360.com

www.tfpl.com


Networks and resourcing white paper by Business360 and TFPL December 2013

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