Recruiters have been urged to “raise their game” due to more employers taking a “direct to market” route, according to Mark Gilbertson, head of resourcing for group operations at Lloyds Banking Group.

Gilbertson told Recruiter: “I think the recruitment marketplace is always tight, and margins are always under pressure. A lot of organisations, irrespective of sector, are taking the ‘direct to market’ route, using fewer third parties.

“Therefore recruitment agencies have to raise their game in terms of the value they add to an organisation. They have to increase the scope and nature of their offer.

“From our point of view, our employer brand is very important to us and it’s more of a risk to put this in the hands of a third party. Where we do use agencies, we only use those that we can collaborate with in a true partnership, rather than a ‘them and us’ approach. They have to also be able to offer a principle channel to our market or something we cannot do ourselves.”

For more from Gilbertson, see our banking sector analysis in the latest issue of Recruiter, out today.

The new issue also contains a profile of Gordon Chesterman, Cambridge University’s resourcing supreme; The Challenge, which explores how Grafton Employment Group is helping ex-rugby professionals find meaningful employment; employment minister Ed Davey’s plans to stop future AWRs, as well as all the latest recruitment news.