Are You Ready for the 3 Big Meta Trends That Are Revolutionizing Recruitment?, with Rob Green, Ep #173

The Resilient Recruiter

What are the biggest trends that affect the future of agency recruitment? Are you positioned for success in the rapidly evolving world of work?

With advances in Open AI and the growing popularity of remote work and the gig economy, the recruitment industry is set for a major transformation in the next 5-10 years. This shift might cause fear and uncertainty among recruiters, however if you’re aware of the trends, remain agile and are willing to adapt, you can capitalize on the tremendous new opportunities that will be created.

Join us in this episode with special guest, Rob Green, as we explore the future of agency recruitment amidst the rapidly changing technological landscape. Rob reveals his insights based on extensive research and shares the specific steps his company is taking to stay relevant.

Rob Green is the CEO and Founder of The GRM Group, a holding company that combines leading recruitment, research, recruitment tech, and management consulting brands, all servicing the global legal industry. With 20 years of experience in the recruitment industry and having placed lawyers in 40 countries, Rob brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the discussion.

Episode Outline and Highlights

• [03:05] Why and how Rob’s business model has evolved since we last spoke.
• [08:00] How skill matching platforms will change the recruitment industry.
• [14:57] Why Rob created a research company, GRM Intelligence.
• [26:45] The future of the recruitment industry.
• [29:40] Core trends that are changing the way that we work.
• [40:30] How should you adapt your recruitment business to stay relevant?
• [47:33] Preparing for the future; why Rob is investing in Umbiie.

The Three Meta Trends That Are Changing the Recruitment Industry

Recruiters and recruitment business owners are always interested to know how technology such as Opan AI will affect the industry. You’ll enjoy hearing Rob’s fascinating insights about the future of work, based on the research report that he commissioned. His research team identified three trends that will transform the way people work and how companies recruit:

• The Sharing Economy / Gig Economy

• Global Talent Pools / Distributed Teams

• The Skillset Revolution

Rob urged the listeners to zoom out from the world of recruitment for a minute and realize how the world is changing based on the above three meta trends. We also discussed the growing “gig economy,” and how talents prefer to work from anywhere in the world and would prefer project-based instead of full-time. If you fear that AI will take a majority of jobs in the future, that is not the crazy part. Rob cited a report by Dell Technologies which it states that “80% of all the jobs in the next decade that we'll all be working in haven't even been invented yet.”

What does it mean for you as a recruiter or a recruitment business owner? As Rob very well puts it, “There's going to be a whole new way of recruiting, a whole new skill set of recruiting. And we can prepare for this.”

Leveraging Skill-Matching Platforms for Recruitment

Rob dived into how they are adapting to the trends of the shared economy and shared data by means of technology. They are using the platform StiiNT.iT (Stint It) - to simplify their process and maximize potential. The platform is a private-labelled recruitment technology where “Professionals across the world are vetted and skills verified creating anonymous profiles. These profiles will be searchable and accessible, whether it sits on someone else’s platform or your own – building a collaborative talent pool, ensuring 100% matches, and removing unconscious biases.”

Rob’s team has white-labeled the Stint It platform to create Umbiie (umbiie.com), a global skills-matching platform for legal professionals. It’s not a perfect comparison, but this is the equivalent of Bumble for recruiting - the idea is that candidates choose which employers can unlock their profile.

Rob shared how they deal with data privacy and how the platform can be monetized. As he stated, “This is really not a pitch because I don't get anything out of this. This is just, do you wanna prepare for the future? Do you believe that there's going to be pressure on contingency recruitment? If you do, there is a solution out there.”

Our Sponsors

This podcast is proudly sponsored by i-intro and Recruitment Entrepreneur.

i-intro® is an end-to-end retained recruitment platform. Their technology and methodology allow recruiters to differentiate themselves from the competition, win more retained business, bigger fees, and increase their billings. Their software combined with world-class training enables you to transition from transactional, contingency recruiter to consultative, retained recruiter. Instead of being perceived as a “me too” vendor, you’ll be positioned as a “me only” solutions provider. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Book your free, no-obligation consultation here: https://recruitmentcoach.com/retained

Recruitment Entrepreneur is the world’s leading Private Equity firm specializing in the international recruitment industry. If you’ve dreamed of starting, scaling, and selling your recruitment business, this is your chance. James Caan and his team at Recruitment Entrepreneur are actively seeking ambitious recruiters in who they can invest. They provide everything you need to grow a successful recruitment business including funding, financial expertise, coaching and mentoring, operational strategy, back-office support, marketing, and talent attraction solutions. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Start a conversation here: https://recruitmentcoach.com/vc

Rob Green Bio and Contact Info

With two decades’ experience in the recruitment industry, Rob has recruited lawyers in 40 countries, working with firms and companies from the biggest in DLA Piper, Bank of America, Facebook, Alibaba, and such like, to small one-person law firms, looking to double in size. Rob launched his career with the leading financial services agency, Badenoch & Clark, in London. Following his relocation to the Cayman Islands in 2005, he joined one of the Caribbean’s top recruitment companies, CML, to establish the region’s leading legal recruitment provider. In 2009, Rob became a partner in the business and moved to Hong Kong to grow the business and become one of the top consultancies in Asia. He took full ownership of the Hong Kong branch and rebranded as GRM Search in 2013, winning 15 industry awards in 8 years and working with some of the most coveted legal firms, MNCs, and financial institutions in the world. Enticed by the link between Africa and Asia, Rob opened GRM Search’s first office in South Africa in Johannesburg in 2014. He moved with his family to settle in Cape Town and spearhead the growth of the business into the African continent in 2017. GRM has had notable successes in Asia, Africa, and Australia, with some failures along the way to keep him humble. Rob regularly shares his views on the legal job market with industry publications, business radio shows, HR seminars, and law graduates at HKU, Stellenbosch University, and UWC. He is renowned for his global outlook, experience, legal market knowledge, and down-to-earth approach. In his spare time, Rob is the proud founder and chairman of South Africa’s first soccer program for special needs children (GPS Vikings FC) and a part-time boxing ring announcer as well as a doting father and husband.

• Rob on LinkedIn

• Rob on Instagram

• GRM Search website link

• GRM Intelligence website link

• GRM Group on YouTube

• Umbiie website link

• Rob’s Podcast, Legal Unicorns

People and Resources Mentioned

• Stiint It website link

• The Three Meta Trends - Revolutionizing the Way We Work

• Why Umbiie - Revolutionizing the Legal Industry

• Korn Ferry Article: 2030: The Very Human Future Of Work

• Korn Ferry Article: The $8.5 Trillion Talent Shortage

• Article on Dell Report: 85% of Jobs that will exist in 2030 haven't been invented yet

• Napoleon Hill: Think and Grow Rich

Connect with Mark Whitby

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• Mark on LinkedIn

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• Mark on Facebook

• Mark on Instagram: @RecruitmentCoach

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