With employers cutting jobs due to the recession, the changing recruitment market has forced recruiters to focus on lead generation.

“Every desk is different but we are probably following job leads up two to three hours extra a day,” said Russell Martin, manager, secretarial and support division, at banking and finance recruiter Morgan McKinley. He said his client base had diversified significantly over the past six months to a year, and while he remains as consultative as possible, his focus has moved to generating new business as well as providing careers advice for a larger number of candidates and guiding them through all their available options.

For Chris Mear, Right Connection Recruitment’s managing director — events sector, the firm’s focus on lead generation has required a complete change in direction. “Before about September last year, we rarely had to work for new business, as the sector was buoyant,” he admitted.

“We had a lot of clients from referral and we didn’t do a lot of lead generation. The recruiters here did hardly any new business work at all. The focus has changed from being what was largely an account management role to trying to develop new clients. The time spent on lead generation has gone up 25%.”

Mear added that this trading environment has required the education of consultants both internally and externally, through reviewing consultants’ processes and where necessary providing a training course. Consultants have been urged to try and develop more than one contact at an organisation, because if their contact should leave, they would have no contact at that particular client, Mear said.

For Gemma Cuff, sales & marketing recruitment consultant at IT recruiter GCS, lead generation can come from building relationships with candidates.

“Whatever you are doing, you can generate leads,” she said. “If you are talking to a candidate, you should be looking for one lead, ideally two. You can pick up leads when you are interviewing them — which companies they have been talking to, for example. I was talking to a candidate today who had just been placed and who has today been approached by another company. That is a really solid lead. You know they arehiring.”

Ultimately, clients are being bombarded with cold calls and it is down to the recruiter to distinguish themselves in this market, Cuff said.

“Most clients are experiencing random cold calls, asking if they have jobs. You cannot just fly around. Picking up the phone and getting knocked back is demoralising but lead generation makes your calls easier.

“You need to be more positive. You need to distinguish yourself and know your value, and look after the client. It is about keeping an eye on the job boards and keeping an eye on the websites. Stay in contact with clients and candidates, and continue with relationship building,” she said.