The leadership lens: What are the common characteristics of successful recruitment leaders - then and now?

In January 2015, the REC published ‘7 Secrets of a Successful Recruitment Entrepreneur’ - a practical guide featuring unique insight through a series of interviews with successful leaders and owner-managers within the industry. The report identified the specific capabilities and characteristics that were the hallmark of successful and inspirational leaders. Nearly nine years down the line – and with the debate around leadership trends more prevalent than ever – it is a great time to take stock of how these seven characteristics match up to the current recruitment and wider business landscape.

So how have leadership skills and capabilities evolved over the last few years and what have been the drivers of these changes? Here are the original ‘7 Secrets’ and some analysis of how relevant these are today:  

1. Understanding what motivates you – Being clear on personal drivers and motivators was identified as a common building block for successful industry leaders. Understanding your own internal WHY? factor has always been crucial and remains so. Emerging leadership doctrines have increasingly honed-in on external WHY? factors – i.e. understanding what motivates the people around you.
    

2. Being different – In an ultra-competitive market, being able to stand out from the pack was as vital back in 2015 as it is now. What has changed is the ways that these ‘differentiators’ manifest themselves. For example, the opportunity for business owners at the current time is to find the right tech v touch balance and use this as a USP in a fast-changing and AI-infused recruitment and workforce management ecosystem.
    

3. Defining and deploying strategy – The ability to develop and implement a long-term business strategy has always been key to sustainable success. This is now more important than ever, particularly with regards to pre-empting external factors such as evolving needs of clients and candidates, technology and AI advancement, sectoral trends, political change and regulatory developments.
    

4. Investing in infrastructure – The focus back in 2015 was already on investing in technology; this focus has only intensified with the rapid evolution and new opportunities offered by generative AI. Covid legacies have included new working patterns and evolving employee expectations which have - in turn – resulted in changes to the physical workspace as well as organisational culture.
    

5. Building a strong team – Like any provider of professional services, the success and reputation of recruitment firms is largely dependent on the skills, capabilities, motivation and energy of internal staff. Industry leaders were clear on this back in 2015, they are even clearer on this now. Looking ahead, initiatives like REC Professional membership will provide a means of building strong teams by attracting, retaining and developing a new generation of recruitment professionals.
    

6. Learning how to bounce back – Resilience was and is a common and non-negotiable characteristic. Industry leaders and business owners have ‘learnt by doing’ when it comes to bouncing back, with the Covid crisis and subsequent economic volatility providing ones of the most testing backdrops ever. Tapping into practical support offerings and peer networks are important ways of stoking resilience levels.
    

7. Being bold – Taking the initiative and seizing new opportunities remains as relevant today as it did when the original ‘7 Secrets Guide’ was published. Examples of this include moving into new markets and recalibrating client relationships, with a focus on exclusivity for permanent hires and providing added value jobs market insight.

Strong motivation, ‘bouncebackability’ and the ability to build strong teams remain central themes of the industry leaders’ playbook; the aim is to continue nurturing and celebrating these and other common attributes. The characteristics of successful business owners and industry leaders remain relatively constant; what is striking is how many of the attributes on the list have become even more apparent and relevant.