A low cost, robust system probably charged on a per registerted staff member per month basis. Applicable to any sector / function.

Sounds like an interesting idea – but is there enough potential demand out there? Much like the famous “Innocent Drinks” example – if there is sufficient enthusiasm in the market then we’ll do it! But if there isn’t then we won’t

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I think that the final catalyst was reading a blog yesterday entitled “You’re Either Social Networking or Social ‘Not’ Working” (actually I thought that the content of that blog was far more measured than the title).  And of course there is a mini industry emerging around the recruitment world of advice about social media in recruitment.

So what’s my issue?  I’m in business and my business is to find the absolutely best and most appropriate people (candidates) for my clients (property & construction employers).  If the way to do that most effectively were to spend 24×7 on Twitter then I’d do it (OK maybe not 24×7 but you know what I mean).  But so far the evidence available to me is that wouldn’t be an effective way of delivering what my clients want.

I like simple Venn diagrams and here is my social media in recruitment Venn diagram – I’ll make myself available at £200 / hour to present it in person.

Now I was tempted to say “surely nobody would disagree with the structure of that – it’s only the relative sizes of the sets and intersects that are up for debate”  but I guess that some social media evangelists might argue that my grey coloured “Appropriate great candidates” is totally a subset of the blue “Active on Twitter, Linkedin etc”.  In other words there are no great candidates who are not actively engaged in at least one major social media channel.  But it’s my blog and I’m going to disregard such extreme views.

Are great potential candidates to be found through social media channels? Undoubtedly yes.

Are most potentially great candidates (for the type of roles that we recruit for) to be found through social media channels? – No.

The social media consulting industry is biased towards seeing and thinking about successes through social media channels (and these case studies are a bit thin on the ground at the moment ). But an objective assessment needs to start from a different point – if we could access ALL of the appropriate great talent and ask them how they might be accessed (social media, via friends, give me a call etc) what proportion would be findable via social media?  I’ve recently heard a lot of young (20’s and 30’s) very IT savvy professionals say that they will have nothing to do with the social media channels that I’ve mentioned because exposure is viewed by peers and managers as saying “I’m on the market, come and get me”.

So to use an economist’s expression, I believe it comes down to a question of “utility”.  If you are considering how to most productively allocate your time in order to find appropriate great candidates what proportion should you allocate to:

• Social media
• “Conventional” methods including calling people to talk, meeting for a coffee, meeting after work, attendance at conferences etc.

That balance will be different for every individual and the area in which they are working.  But here’s my bold assertion.

If you are recruiting professionals and are spending today in March 2010, more than 15-20% (max) of your time in virtual relationship building then I really hope that you’ve thought it through and not just bought into the evangelical mantras of the (largely self appointed) social media gurus.

My recipe for success? A mixed economy. Our model is to “let the crowd decide” – a very large number of practitioners in property & construction know best how to find and engage with potential candidates.  Some will use social media, some will use more “conventional” approaches.  The wisdom of the crowd will naturally find the best solution.

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• “Muted”
• “Corrugated recovery” – I like that one it means lots of mini ups and downs
• “Restrained”
• “More serious MIPIM”

Anyway here goes with my choice five stories from this week’s property & construction news.

Boris at MIPIM

Whether you are interested in property or not then you’ll probably find this video of the Mayor of London’s keynote address amusing as normal.  Mind you after watching several interviews with Boris over the course of MIPIM he did get rather repetitive.

Louis Armstrong retires from RICS

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17 March, 2010 London, England: Today sees the official launch of Prefio, a sector focused, new approach to recruitment resembling a large scale ‘refer a friend’ scheme with vetted “friends”. Working on the basis of a referral network Prefio engages ‘referrers’ who use their network to recommend people for opportunities – netting themselves a minimum of £2,500 in the process.

Not only is it good news for referrers, but employers can see their recruitment costs cut by at least 50% too, with the total fee for any successful candidate employed through Prefio fixed at £5,000.

Prefio has been in Beta testing for the past year but is redefining recruitment by harnessing the brainpower of hundreds of the most knowledgeable people in the sector to find the best candidates. Created and developed by established specialists in commercial property, real estate finance & construction executive search, Prefio is headed up by respected industry expert Tim Latham and was recently listed as a Smarta 100 Company as voted for by Deborah Meaden and Bebo founder Michael Birch.

“One client called it, ‘Recruitment’s equivalent of Amazon’ as it has allowed them to reach deeply into the sector’s talent pool effectively and efficiently” says founder, Tim Latham. “The recruitment industry has had a bad reputation for years, one of the reasons being that even the best recruiters can’t  approach the knowledge held by hundreds of a sector’s practitioners – whom Prefio uses to make referrals,” adds Latham. “

-ends-

Notes for editors

For press or media enquiries please contact:

Victoria Shortt at Little Red Rooster

E: victoria@littleredrooster.co.uk

T: 0208 244 3528

About Prefio

Prefio.com is a recruitment platform that helps employers to find really appropriate people in property, real estate finance and construction. The business is a trading name of London-based senior executive search firm Director Resourcing, which was founded by Tim Latham in 2000. Prefio was listed as a Smarta 100 Company in 2010. To find your next employee or to become a referrer, take a look at www.prefio.com

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Regus – aggresive response to difficult times

Regus, the large provider of serviced offices, has demanded a package of rental cuts and concessions from landlords of loss-making buildings under a plan that could see parts of its business being put into administration. Regus, which operates 150 serviced offices in the UK as part of a global network of more than 1,000, has given what some of the country’s biggest landlords have described as an ultimatum to cut the costs of unprofitable offices. Regus has asked different landlords for cash to carry out refurbishment works, periods without any rent and a cut in future rents. Landlords said there was the prospect of Regus’ vehicles that own the leases going into administration, leaving them without a tenant, if they did not agree to the terms. One said: “This has been very aggressive. Many big property companies are affected. Everyone is spitting about this but also slightly scared.”

New Venture from Former British Land Directors

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MIPIM ( and the small matter of Drivers Jonas)

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British Land sees recovery “across its portfolio”

British Land, Britain’s second biggest developer, provided some much-needed confidence to the property market by reporting that the value of its office blocks and shopping centres had risen 8.2 per cent in the last three months to December 2009; rising to £7.9 billion. The rise in its net asset value per share to 438p – a benchmark measure – amounted to an 18 per cent rise in value over the nine months since its financial year began, and was well above forecasts for a 425p value. Chris Grigg, the chief executive, who replaced Stephen Hester a year ago, said: “The early signs of recovery seen in the second quarter extended right across our portfolio during the last three months of 2009.”

Young Surveyors Networking

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MIPIM is such a large international event that even its level of registrations weeks ahead of the actual event might be viewed as some indicator of the health of the property market. So it was interesting to discover this week that some 2,300 international investors have registered for the 21st MIPIM (Cannes from March 16-19), a 12% increase on the same period in 2009.  The organisers are probably quite rightly seeing this as a sign of improved confidence in the real estate market and economic recovery.

Ernst & Young – it’s unsustainable

UK commercial property prices rose 3% in December, their highest monthly rise in 23 years, but the chances of a sustained recovery in 2010 and beyond are unlikely, according to the Ernst & Young ITEM Club. The upturn has been primarily driven by market sentiment, where investors had decided the bottom of the market had been reached. Furthermore, the flood of extra cash and liquidity as a result of the Bank of England’s Quantitative Easing (QE) has helped to fund transactions, says the Ernst & Young ITEM Club.  With QE likely to come to an end soon, coupled with the risk to banks of more property companies defaulting on their loans, the recent rise in activity is likely to fall away. The report also says the recovery could easily become destabilised because there is little sign of a pickup in market fundamentals – there were further upward movements in vacancy rates and downward shifts in rents throughout last year and this trend looks set to continue. Dean Hodcroft, EMEIA head of real estate at Ernst & Young, explains, ‘Welcome though the bounce of activity has been, its sustainability is far from certain. The upturn has largely been based on investors deciding the bottom of the market had been reached and the massive decline in prices over the past couple of years resulting in attractive buying opportunities.’

BDO agree

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