Matt Alder, recruiting futurist and founder, MetaShift consultancy:

“From a technology and marketing perspective I genuinely believe that 2012 will finally be the year of mobile in our industry. Smartphone penetration is accelerating rapidly and recruiters really need to catch up with the changing needs of their audience. I predict that we’ll see some very interesting case studies and hopefully also some technological breakthroughs that will allow mobile platforms to play a bigger role in the application process.”

Mark Bull, CEO, Randstad UK and Middle East:

“Clients will continue to be budget conscious and as such will require their recruitment partners to deliver against exacting fill rates for niche roles. The ever more global nature of leading organisations will also push PSLs [preferred supplier lists] away from separate UK suppliers across single specialist disciplines towards those agencies able to deliver across multiple sectors and international

locations.”

Brad Cook, global vicepresident of talent acquisition, Informatica:

“With the end of 2011 fast approaching, the planning for a fresh new start to the year has begun. Social media start-ups are coming out of every corner. Social recruiting techniques are now a must-have, not a nice-to-have, and the race to create more company awareness with SEO [search engine optimisation] and PPC [pay per click] is critical. Next year should be a time of going back to basics and making sure all of this works together seamlessly. Without solid alignment of process, systems and people, the recruiting efforts will not achieve the desired goals of butts in seats. Is everything working well together for you? Don’t let the technology buzz put you in a spin; make sure the basics are working first.”

Philippa Foster Back OBE, director, Institute of Business Ethics:

“As the recession deepens, it is even more important for organisations to recruit the right people — hiring staff who fit in with the ethical culture is as important as competence. Conducting ethical due diligence during the recruitment process can help ensure potential employees are selected who are more likely to reinforce and maintain the organisation’s values. Determining ethical sensitivity by asking questions about ethical dilemmas or giving a scenario to analyse will test interviewees. Interviewees who respond in line with the organisation’s values will be less likely to conduct business or make decisions that might undermine reputation thereby reducing integrity risk.”

Tony Goodwin, chairman & CEO, Antal International Antal International Network:

“There are positive signs for anyone who can avoid the general tendency to run around with their hands in the air like the passengers in [the film] Airplane. Despite the fact that a big chunk of economic power has shifted to the emerging markets of late, the game is certainly not up for the West yet and the US still has the world’s biggest economy. China has enough reserves to bail almost anyone out if things get bad enough. And there are more signs that the Germans and French will finally sort the euro out. But my final source of optimism comes from Antal’s latest Global Snapshot — a survey of nearly 20,000 companies around the world, which found hiring levels actually stronger in the autumn than in the summer.”

Jez Langhorn, vice president of people, McDonald’s:

“In a climate of austerity, HR practitioners are getting ever more resourceful. As a result, those ‘non-core’ or specialist activities which would have been blithely outsourced pre-recession are continuing to move back inhouse — a process which is often being accelerated by technology. This is clearly the case with recruitment, which means that in the year ahead in-house teams will need to continue to embrace the opportunities created by social networking and online recruitment tools; while agencies, recruitment consultants and employment marketing agencies will need to further differentiate themselves and focus on creating measurable added value.”

Charles Logan, director, Hays:

“While we undoubtedly face ongoing economic challenges, there remain over 29m people in employment in the UK and there are still areas that face staff and skills shortages. We are at a stage where companies are replacing people who leave, but the creation of new jobs remains scarce. We expect to see the continuation of the loosening of red tape and efforts to reduce the cost for small businesses of employing people. We also expect the trend to continue in encouraging flexibility in working patterns — such as temporary and part-time working and workforce mobility.”

Liz Longman, chief executive, TEAM (The Employment Agencies Movement):

“2012 will continue to be a challenging climate in which to do business, but business will be there. Recruiters will need to be bold and courageous in their activities, adding real additional value to the service they offer. Additional employment legislation, changing employer requirements and recruiting processes as well as the overall economy all need to be reviewed and procedures adapted to keep up and ahead of the game. If something isn’t working, change it! Undoubtedly the London Olympics will not only create many recruitment opportunities in certain sectors but also make for an exciting summer period and will herald the beginning of a period of growth in UK plc.”

Paul Maxin, global resourcing director, Unilever:

“There is no recruitment 4.0 — 2012 will be ‘Back to the Future’ year. Successful recruiting functions will know that talent acquisition strategy has to be aligned to the business strategy and that any ‘processes’ (or ‘activities’ as I prefer to call them) need to be driven by business strategy, as opposed to the other way round. The key will be to get back to the future and do all the things that used to happen before the 21st century. What’s different though is that the channels to do that have fundamentally altered. Recruiters must reach out to and engage candidates via their mobile, digital and social touch points. The potential for viral engagement there is awesome. Equally the consequences of getting it wrong can be even worse.”

Lee McQueen, founder and director, Raw Talent Academy:

“Heading into 2012 with the talk of another recession and the well-known Eurozone crisis, I think the markets will continue to be uncertain and in Q1 and Q2. I would expect to see companies wary about recruiting heavily. I believe we will see a busy end to the year with more recruitment in Q3 and Q4, helped of course by having the Olympics over the summer providing a boost to bring recruitment back to where it should be at the very least. We have seen the AWR come in and have an noticeable effect since October, but as an industry we are coming to grips with the regulation and that will also have a positive effect for what will hopefully be a prosperous 2012.”

Poul Pedersen, founder and managing partner, Pedersen & Partners:

“Despite the tough market conditions, Pedersen & Partners has expanded during 2011, with revenues up 43% on 2010. We plan to continue to grow next year as overall the emerging markets will be growing — not booming, however. In fact, we plan to be in three new countries next year — one new office in Africa and two in Asia. Our assumption for next year is that emerging markets will do well, but it will be a fairly flat market. It helps that we work locally. For example, local East European firms do not react in the same way as multi-nationals. However, the market strength will be different sector by sector, with little recruiting in investment banking, and real estate remaining flat.”

Adam Riccoboni, director at MBA and Co.com:

“This year has not been a happy one for the jobs market, and the omens for 2012 are less than encouraging. Britain’s economic forecasts range from poor to dire. Given the fragile economy, both large and small companies are increasingly reluctant to commit to traditional full-time hiring. Instead many are choosing to use flexible contractors. Recruitment consultancies and agencies that offer more creative and flexible solutions will see the most traction next year. Those who don’t innovate will be left behind in what has become an extremely challenging marketplace.”

Ken Ritchie, head of resourcing, AMEC:

“The expectation for 2012 is for significant growth within both our Natural Resources, and Power and Process Divisions (Europe and West Africa). By the end of December [2011] we will have recruited around 1,800 white-collar engineers and over 3,700 onshore and offshore trades professionals in those divisions. The engineering sector within the UK is under a degree of pressure, however we are confident that AMEC is in a great position to support the continuing growth of the organisation.”

Ann Swain, chief executive, Association of Professional Staffing Companies:

“Recovery in demand for professional-level staff will depend greatly on whether the Eurozone crisis is resolved. Even if recession is avoided, demand is still likely to be subdued, although we are already starting to see an upturn in demand for contractors, which could strengthen, barring any further shocks. Pressure on budgets is unlikely to abate and with volumes subdued and a surfeit of candidates, more end users may consider bringing recruitment in-house to cut costs. 2012 will be a year in which the value recruiters add will be scrutinised more closely than ever.”

Dean van Leeuwen, cofounder and workplace futurist, Tomorrow Today:

“The sluggish economic growth, the debt and credit crisis are more than just economic turbulence but a tipping point between what we at TomorrowToday call the old and the new world of work. This tipping point represents a revolution as big as the Industrial Revolution. In terms of recruitment, it means business leaders need to prepare for this future world of work by identifying and investing in the right talent now. People are looking for meaningful partnerships that are more than just about making money. IBM’s chairman Samuel J Palmisano, circumnavigates the world six times every year championing IBM’s quest to create a smarter planet. Talented people want to be part of a quest.”