Door 5 of our #TRN Advent Calendar. Lucy Kendall of ComplyGDPR weighs in on what she thinks will be big in the coming year for the Recruitment Industry.
Anyone who knows me will know that the first thing to come out of my mouth with regard to Recruitment and 2018 is the General Data Protection Regulation.
It’s a bit like the foundation for 2018, or the base layer of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. When I think about all the other trends I think are emerging or developing, I always return to the importance of respecting the right to privacy- are we considering the impact on the individual, are we respecting them.
The Recruitment sector (it isn’t alone) is catching up with over 25 years of data protection legislation in this country. This is why GDPR feels like such a gamechanger. Increased demands around transparency and accountability are putting pressure on all recruitment organisations to up their game in terms of how they conduct themselves in their business activities and also to evidence how data protection is embedded in their businesses. This has to be good, right? We do after all, all day, everyday, deal with people who entrust us with often very sensitive information.2018 will also be the year that we will discover how direct marketing activities – that’s our cold calling, mailshots, speculative CV submittals, could be overhauled by the ePrivacy Regulation. Who will win the debate, the privacy lobbyists or industry, who are fighting tirelessly to soften the legislation particularly for B2B direct marketing. When I think about the consequences of this, it makes me feel like GDPR is a breeze. The good news though is this regulation won’t apply to post, so we’ll all being going back to the era of “writing” to clients with CV’s enclosed. A win for privacy, a terrible loss for trees?! 2018 please be kind to us.
Having spent a chunk of my career obsessing over “customer experience” I hope 2018 brings continued focus on making the recruitment experience a great one.
Bringing an employer, a recruitment business or a candidate to life through video and media is one of the best and most exciting developments I have seen. This has to continue- people are emotional and need to connect, there is also an honesty about this technique and it just makes sense. Don’t tell me, show me. We’ve worked with one provider recently and it’s been transformational for us.
From a completely different perspective I hope the industry continues to evolve in terms of its inclusivity and open mindedness to new ways of working. Initiatives to tackle gender imbalances and returnships will be critical to the industry’s growth- I don’t know how many times someone has asked me how they can hire more great recruiters. Looking at those who have left the industry, because it let them down, is a good place to start. Also creating environments where working parents can be professionally successful but also are present for their families, life is just too short. Let’s broaden the talent pool, retain super people and be brave enough to evolve the recruitment culture.
Lucy Kendall has worked in the talent acquisition space globally for over 17 years, leading and developing executive search, interim management, recruitment businesses and in-house teams. She’s operated at the senior level across client development and revenue generation as well as driving forward organisations through structuring organisational infrastructure and governance for growth.
Lucy has shifted her focus to helping the recruitment, search and interim industry embrace and align with the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR). Leading Lucy to set up ComplyGDPR.
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