Having a truly unique selling point that goes beyond empty marketing slogans will give a recruitment company credibility with its clients, and build a powerful referrals culture, according to agency executives.

Dynamo Recruitment director Clarke Peters said throughout his career in IT recruitment he has always aimed to have deep knowledge in a narrow area of specialisation. While working as a consultant some years ago this area was candidates with Java experience; later he focused on a product called MQSeries, and now that he runs his own agency the emphasis is on the Microsoft Dynamics software suite. 

Recruiters in smaller agencies that don't do a lot of PSA work tend to have more control over what they do, and therefore enjoy an advantage when it comes to carving out a niche, he said.  "I would take a stab that about 60 or 70 recruiters are on panels of some of these large employers, so [the agencies] are working for whoever they are working for," Peters said.  "For instance, companies like Peoplebank, Finite may be working for, say, the Government or for ANZ bank – it means the consultant doesn't get as much of a chance to specialise, not in a skill. Of course they can differentiate through their personality or way they deal with clients, but quite frankly that's pretty difficult in our industry."

Building up access to a network of Microsoft Dynamic candidates was what helped Dynamo grow in the beginning, Peters said, and remains a major source of both candidate and client referrals.  "If someone taps the relevant keywords into Google or SEEK, it's predominantly our adverts that are going to come up. So if the client is trying to do some research on who to approach, often that would lead them to me."  While Dynamo does strive to market and promote its brand and its niche, encouraging referrals is the best way of setting itself apart from the competition, Peters said.  "When it comes from an independent third party it always carries more weight." 

True specialisation is particularly important in IT, he added, as clients can spot a recruiter who doesn't really know what they are talking about.  "I do see some profiles on LinkedIn where recruiters claim to specialise in, say, Microsoft Dynamics, SAP and Oracle. You just can't do that – there's no way you can get the depth needed to know those markets and those products and all of those candidates. Each one is a full-time job.  "You can't go calling up a client without some pretty good background information – you'll be caught out on the first question."

Written by Esther McLaren for Shortlist – Published 05/02/14