Almost everyone in agency recruitment is desperate right now.

Desperate for clients, desperate for fees, desperate for ideas around engagement and technology and preparing for the future.

And desperate for reassurance.

As always, desperation leads to knee-jerk reactions, some of which do more harm than good.

So where do you start to make sense of the changing market, the conflicting points of view you hear everywhere, and how to develop a plan to survive and thrive in the future?

I have no doubt where everyone in recruitment should start right now.

Start with yourself.

No matter how successful you’ve been, how smart you are (or think you are) or what your track record is, you don’t have the competencies, insights, knowledge, tactics, and attitudes to thrive going forward.

Take no offence! This applies to me more than it does to most. It’s not a criticism of who you are or what you’ve done.

It is a warning that what got you here won’t get you where you want to go.

If you do not take crucial actions and add key competencies in the next 12 months, you may not be around in three years. Not in recruitment, anyway.

Our Industry is full of people who are ‘waiting for the market’ to improve. The future belongs to those who ‘make the market.’

Your biggest threat right now is doing nothing.

So where to start?

Start by working on yourself as a project to stay relevant as the world of work changes.

All of us, especially if we’ve had a degree of success, lapse into complacency.

Recruiters get horrified when I use that word. They protest loudly. “How dare you call me complacent? I’m not lazy”. But that is both a lack of understanding of the English language and a lack of self-awareness. Complacency doesn’t mean lazy. No one in recruitment is lazy.

Complacent means being satisfied with the status quo.

In this case, the status quo of your own skills, competencies, and attitudes.

Think about it. How many years until you retire at 65? Ten? Twenty? Thirty? Forty?

Do you think, for one moment, that you’ll thrive in recruitment if you move into the future with only the skills and competencies you have now?

So, the biggest tip I can give you is to tackle what is uncomfortable.

Become an expert in your blind spot.

So, you really don’t know what people are talking about when they froth about ‘Agentic AI, multi-agent systems, AI orchestrations’, and all the other buzzwords of the frightening (but full of BS) AI and automation Industry. Well, don’t write it off. Don’t delegate it to someone else. Make sure you do the work to understand enough to judge, make decisions, and challenge what you’re being told.

Do a nano degree.

“What, go back to university?”

No, identify an area important to you and your business where you don’t have enough information or understanding, and make it your business to become at least a base-level expert. Do webinars, listen to podcasts, read articles, ask for insights from someone who knows what they’re talking about. It might take three months, and you can go from being completely uninformed to having enough information to make decisions.

But this requires you to be self-aware enough to understand where you are short of knowledge and disciplined enough to make it your business to learn.

I’m asking you to tackle what is uncomfortable.

In my case, I’ve advised recruitment company owners for decades, and I have a track record to back that up. But how stupid of me to think I can keep being a valuable advisor if I rely only on my history. Oh, it’s still relevant. But I’ve had to tackle and understand so much around technology, customer expectations, candidate behaviour, and more, which has helped me keep up with what my role requires.

You must do the same; keep current.

Yes, you’ve got a big network of people, but they all think like you: reach out, expand your network, connect with new people.

Every day should be a bit uncomfortable because you’re learning something new.

You are used to being the most knowledgeable person in the room. That is a dangerous room to stay in!

Run towards the technology. Don’t ignore it or deny it.

My prediction for the future of the recruitment industry is that it will keep thriving and global revenues will grow. Still, there will be fewer recruitment companies and fewer recruiters, and leaders will have redefined their skill sets, attitudes, and behaviours.

Are you ready for that?

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