Kintsugi: the art of creating value

Move fast, break things... then put it back together again

Kintsugi is the ancient Japanese art of repairing broken pottery by mending the pieces with gold or silver. When done well, the repaired pottery can be more valuable than the original.

As I explained on stage at the Recruitment Agency Expo last month, kintsugi might hold the answer to how you respond to the massive disruption happening in your industry right now.

Moving fast

Facebook coined the phrase “move fast and break things” a decade ago. The idea was quickly adopted by other tech businesses, and is now seen across industries.

The AI revolution has supercharged this idea, and we are constantly being told that the old ways of recruitment are being torn apart by new technology.

So if we accept that things are moving fast and being broken, the key question is how we put them back together in a way that creates more value.

Here to help

The exciting thing for recruiters is that we are well-placed to fix some of the things that are being broken in the hiring process.

For example, hiring managers are being overwhelmed by applicants; recruiters are experts at presenting clients with a filtered list of only the relevant candidates.

Hiring managers are also losing trust in what they see from candidates. AI-powered CVs, interview prompts, and even fake interviewees are breaking the selection process. Again, as a recruiter you can expertly verify candidates and build trust back into the process.

Good riddance

As we repair these processes, we have the opportunity to consider which pieces we want to leave behind.

We’re creating more value in this new world or recruitment, so we get to decide whether no-win-no-fee contingent pricing is the right way to engage with our clients. In short, if we’re bringing trust to the table then our clients should be trusting us with their business - which means paying a commitment fee in advance.

We can also leave behind the perception of being ‘just another recruiter’. As we shift to a more trusted advisor, solving bigger problems and adding more value, then we can push back on clients who demand that we match lower prices from competitors.

The sky’s the limit

As we rebuild for the new world, we can question our limiting beliefs of what’s possible in recruitment. For example, 35% is a top-end search fee in the UK… but in Japan it is not unusual for recruiters to charge two or three times this rate.

If you’re building more value, you should consider whether fees of 40% or 50% - or some other way of pricing your services to get paid the equivalent - are right for you. And don’t be held back by past beliefs from a world that no longer exists.

Your new value

If you want support in creating more value for your clients in a fast-changing world, simply reply to this email and I’ll explain how I can help.

Jon

P.S. Several speakers at the Expo explained how recruitment has adapted in the past to changing technology. From fax machines to email, job boards to LinkedIn, recruiters have faced regular disruption and come out the other side more valuable than ever.

AI is likely to have a bigger impact than most of these technology changes, but the ability for recruiters to adapt remains as strong as ever. We are more closely connected to our clients than many industries, which helps us spot what our clients need next - and how we can create the most value for them.

If you want support in creating more value for your clients in a fast-changing world, simply reply to this email and I’ll explain how I can help.