Why For Recruiters Data Is The New Oil

27th April 2021

They say money makes the world go around, but I’ve always thought that we’d be more accurate to say that it’s oil. This isn’t an original observation, of course: we all know that the economy of the twentieth century was powered by fossil fuels. But maybe even that tweak on the old saying is insufficient these days.

I’m not talking about renewable energy – although I read there was a moment this Easter when the majority of UK energy need was supplied by non-fossil fuels. That progress aside, then, what I’m really talking about is data. In the age of the internet, it’s information that makes the world go around.

This is especially true in recruitment, and for the rest of this post that’s what I’m going to talk about – most of my wild generalisations are rooted in my direct experience, anyway, so we may as well stick to what I know! Why would I say that data makes a recruiter’s world tick? Because without good information it is impossible to make good recruitment choices. Without quality data, recruiters may as well select candidates at random – they would be just as likely to pick the best prospect.

Instead, the best recruiters understand all of their potential candidates on quite a granular level: their skills and profiles, experience and goals. This level of data-rich background on each candidate takes care and professionalism to build – but
it can make the difference between a so-so shortlist and a Class-A candidate.

At DMA, we get to know our candidates and build our pool of potential shortlists carefully. Through a comprehensive on-boarding process and ongoing conversation over time, we build trust with each candidate, and this ensures our
information about them is high quality and up-to-date. When it comes to forming shortlists and filling posts, then, all this information bears real fruit: because we know our candidates well, we can put line up a client’s needs with a candidate’s profile very exactly – and this is good news for both parties.

The alternative – that is, what happens when recruiters haven’t built up this sort of database – is shortlists that don’t quite fit the bill, and candidates that are maybe OK … but are perhaps not quite ‘perfect fits’. The best recruitment processes find individuals who don’t just match the role – but will excel in it. That takes data … because, for recruiters, it’s not money or oil
that get things rolling as they should: it’s information.

Find a recruiter who has plenty of it.