The Direct Employers Association (DEA), the newly-launched trade body for corporate recruiter employers, fills a specific niche that is not met by other membership organisations within the recruitment and staffing sector, according to its chairman. 

Colin Minto, chairman of the DEA’s executive committee and head of resourcing at security company G4S, told Recruiter that the body that officially launched last month existed “to fill a niche” that was not being filled by any other organisation.

Minto said he saw the DEA as championing the cause of corporate recruiter employers and highlighting the role in-house recruiters play. Educating all those involved in the various stages of the recruitment journey, including the supply chain and jobseekers, as well as working with government, were also key parts of its role. “The aim is to influence the external factors of the environment so all the stakeholders get the best out of the recruitment process,” said Minto. 

When Recruiter suggested that a trade body for in-house recruiters, The FIRM, already existed, Minto responded: “The FIRM is not a trade association, they are obviously a community and networking organisation.”

Co-founder of The Forum for In-House Recruitment Managers (The FIRM), Gary Franklin, responded: “Our aspirations are and always have been to be a trade body — to be the representative body for in-house recruiters in much the same way as the CIPD is recognised as the trade body for HR practitioners.” 

However, he continued: “Any organisation that has been created to better understand and better help provide best practice within the HR recruitment community is worthwhile. There is room for everyone to provide a better direction, a better clarity of the importance of in-house recruitment.”

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