Introducing ‘Looking Ahead with Livingston James’

“There is nothing like a dream to create the future”

Victor Hugo

As we celebrate our 10^th birthday at Livingston James Group, it is very clear to me that much of our success over the last 10 years has come from a culture and mindset that has been fixed on the future. Be that looking at the future impact of the appointments we make with our clients, taking a long term view on how we advise candidates on their career plans, looking at the future opportunities in our own market for our colleagues, or looking to support the  sustainability of the communities we live and work in – it has been embracing and envisioning what is to come and how we might play our part in shaping that reality that has been core to our success to date.

In keeping with this approach, therefore, our theme of celebration in reaching this 10-year milestone is quite simply: ‘the next ten years’.

One of the ways we are marking this is by asking some of our key friends and clients in business to share a snapshot of their thoughts on the trends that have shaped the last decade in their industry and, crucially, what they think will be the key trends and influences over the next ten years. We will be sharing their thoughts in this blog series over the course of this year.

To start the series, I thought I would share a snapshot of the trends that I think have impacted the Executive Search and Recruitment Industry along with those that I think will most impact our future:

The last ten years:

• The advent of social media as a major resourcing tool
• The significant growth of in-house recruitment teams
• The rise of the ‘gig economy’
• The need for specialist brands and bespoke service propositions in response to the above
• Consequently, the barrier to entry for individuals to the industry (if not companies) has become higher

The next ten years:

• The clear divergence of true ‘value-add consulting’ and transactional recruitment
• The addition of complimentary services in the areas of human capital and / or consolidation / merger with other consulting organisations
• The continued rise of AI and machine learning replacing people in simple (and then in increasingly complex) recruitment processes
• A significant shortage of talent, based on demographic trends and the need for new skills
• The need to connect people with ever more elusive ‘purpose’ and meaning

On a local level, along with the impact of the industry megatrends listed above, we are seeing a significant ‘changing of the guard’ in the search and recruitment industry with ownership and leadership transitioning on mass as industry stalwarts move on to the next stage of their own lives and careers.

Consequently, at Livingston James Group, we see huge potential in continuing to bring together the best people and indeed businesses in our industry as we, together, respond to the challenges and opportunities the future presents.

If you would like to talk about how we might work together as we look to the next ten years, please do get in touch.