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Retained search firms, recruiting companies, temporary staffing agencies, contingency search consultants and executive search firms have been providing recruiting services to employers for decades. We hope that the information on this page will enable you to learn from industry insiders about the recruiting, staffing and search industry, new and emerging trends and the history of the recruiting industry.

The professional recruiting industry is a challenging environment where radical transformations are occurring. New recruiting trends are emerging. Social media is also changing the landscape for hiring managers and human resource (HR) departments. With all the changes in the recruitment industry, Direct Recruiters continues to prioritize the job candidate by providing job applicants with the information that is most important to them based on their employment history, work experience and career ambitions.  Employers appreciate the partnership approach used by Direct Recruiters' because their best interest is paramount.

Traditional recruiting agencies have been effected by the financial crisis of the late-2000s which was considered by many economists to be the worst since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Significant workforce changes have occurred. However, the United States Department of Labor estimates that the recruiting industry will increase by more than 50% in the next few years. Some corporate estimates suggest that the increase may be closer to 70%. When good people quit, it is often the job of a recruiting firm to help an employer find a replacement.

People claim that the history of recruiting industry started with the military and goes back to the era of ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome. However, the contemporary recruiting industry really started until the 1940's. Because of WWII, employment agencies formed in order to attract workers who were not obligated to serve in the military. Their was a shortage of available job candidates during the war and the recruiting industry started to take off.

Skilled professionals are now searching job listings online using job search engines and recruitment web sites such as www.monster.com, www.linkup.com, www.simplyhired.com, www.careerbuilder.com, www.indeed.com and other top job sites to find a new career opportunity and to post their resumes. Important vendors dominating the online recruitment market space include Indeed.com, LinkedIn Corp, CareerBuilder.com and Monster.com. One reason why this market space is growing quickly is the increase in the amount of social recruiting platforms. While this has changed the dynamics of the recruiting industry, traditional recruitment agencies with physical offices are still a major resource for companies that need to locate top talent in their specific discipline, industry or market sector. Many professionals who consider new career opportunities by reviewing the employment opportunities in newspapers, comparing salaries on job boards, and reading about job openings and job vacancies on company web site career pages also consider job offers from recruitment firms, staffing businesses, recruiters and employment agencies.

Employers that use online hiring web sites to recruit job candidates, to fulfill staffing needs and to hire the right employees often discover that a recruiting firm such as Direct Recruiters, Inc. that specializes in specific industries and disciplines is a better solution to filling open job positions with the most qualified candidates and recruiting top talent for their business.

While it is true that the internet has changed the dynamics for headhunters, recruiters still focus on referrals, networking, research, talking with candidates and analyzing a potential employee's skill set and motivations. Owners of recruiting businesses  expressed faith and optimism about the opportunity to increase their contingent recruiting businesses. According to the web site for Staffing Industry Analysts, survey found 86.6 percent of recruiting firm owners see conditions improving for their businesses over the next 180 days.

On April 2nd, 2013, Forbes.com published a story titled "The Internet's Profound Impact On The Recruiting Industry." The story pointed out that 20 years ago, networking was the most crucial way to obtain the best job applicants. The article continued by claiming that Linkedin and Monster are having a significant impact on the recruiting industry because recruiters have lost leverage with their customers and the applicants they are trying to place.  Some people think that Facebook is also going to transform the recruitment industry. Others think that a data-driven approach to recruitment and Linkedin's algorithms will also help to shape the recruiting industry over the next few years.

In October of 2012, a story titled "How LinkedIn Is Eating the Recruitment Industry" written by Michael Overell, cofounder and CEO of RecruitLoop, was published on ERE, an online gathering place for recruiters founded in 1998. It stated that "Ninety-three percent of recruiters use LinkedIn for recruitment, up from 78% two years ago." The article referenced an article written by Marc Andreesen, a co-founder of Netscape, published in the Wall Street Journal and titled "Why Software Is Eating The World" in which he claimed that "LinkedIn is today's fastest growing recruiting company. For the first time ever, on LinkedIn, employees can maintain their own resumes for recruiters to search in real time—giving LinkedIn the opportunity to eat the lucrative $400 billion recruiting industry."

A follow up story written by Adrian Kinnersley published on ERE on January 3, 2013, titled "Why LinkedIn Will Never Kill the Professional Recruitment Industry" refuted the previous story titled "How LinkedIn Is Eating the Recruitment Industry". She stated "LinkedIn, and it has impacted the recruitment industry — but in a different way than the article suggests. LinkedIn needs recruitment to survive. Despite views to the contrary, recruitment companies still contribute the lion’s share of its revenue. LinkedIn is undoubtedly negatively impacting parts of the recruitment market. But it’s not the third-party agencies. It’s the job boards." To prove her theory she pointed out that Monster's share price has tanked as impressively as LinkedIn’s has risen. According to an article titled "Monster.com vs. LinkedIn", written by Adam O'Dell on February 25th, 2013 and published by Survive & Prosper, LinkedIn stock priced gained 61% and Monster.com's stock price dropped 51% in the same time frame. Adrian Kinnersley emphasized in the story that recruiters will continue to be used to place senior professional candidates.

According to some sources, the "talent acquisition" or recruiting industry is over 120 billion if all services related to employers and job seekers are taken into consideration. Direct Recruiters, Inc. is an innovative firm that is well positioned in an industry that is distinctly fragmented. Employed professionals in the United States number around 150 million and it is estimated that 20% to 25% change employers every year.

Because Direct Recruiters, Inc. is an established industry specific executive search firm and recruiting company that offers outstanding candidate generation capabilities and services within the recruiting industry, it has grown every year since 2007. Today, Direct Recruiters has been recognized as one of the best places to work in Northeast Ohio by Crains Cleveland Business, NorthCoast 99 Award, Inc. 5000 Award, and Weatherhead 100 Award.

During the last 5 years, our emerging recruiting business continued to provide key personnel to the leading firms in our vertical markets, which include the following market sectors and disciplines; Automated Packaging , Automation Industrial TechnologyElectronic/Physical Security Technology, Energy & Sustainability, Healthcare IT , HVAC, IT & CybersecurityLabels, Life Sciences, Military Leadership Excellence, Military Transition, Food Processing & EquipmentPharmaceutical Processing & Packaging, Plastics & Flexible Packaging, Government Technology, Robotics, and Supply Chain Logistics.

We conduct C-suite succession and leader replacement searches by working closely with Human Resource Managers, Human Resource Directors, Human Resource Departments, Hiring Managers, Senior Executives, Plant Managers and Engineers at some of the largest companies in the United States. We present our clients with resumes that match the occupations and assist in setting up job interviews and during offer negotiations. Our recruiting company counsels potential employees about the acceptance process and assists them during their employment transition by monitoring the resignation process.

While companies such as LinkedIn have played a part in the transformation of the corporate recruiting process, our sourcing firm has stayed true to our valued client companies and stakeholders by focusing on strong values, ethics, discretion and confidentiality in all our business partnerships and recruiting assignments.

Our specialized recruiting firm attracts, screens and selects only qualified candidates for a job. Hiring "game changers", extraordinary individuals and top performers in business, requires a recruiting process that is unique and capable of attracting them to your firm. When mid-size and large organizations retain our professional recruiters, they can be confident that by outsourcing their job candidate search processes, we can produce superior results and find the right employee.

Many national headhunters, niche recruiters, sourcing firms, passive candidate research firms and search specialists in the recruiting industry use personal industry contacts to identify prospective employment prospects. We also use referrals and our professional network to asses potential candidates for job openings that require highly skilled workers. Our consulting company is no different. We work with employers to analyze and document the job requirements in order to fill open positions by using a 5-phase approach; strategy, recruitment, implementation, closure and follow-up.

Our 5-stage approach to recruitment includes sourcing candidates by networking, advertising and getting referrals. We being our recruitment process by performing a job analysis, in order to document the actual or intended job requirements. We prepare a detailed job description which is used by our recruiters to define the objectives our search efforts.

We screen potential job candidates by using a variety of tests and interviews. We select the best employment candidates based on numerous criteria and assist with the on-boarding process to make sure the prospective employee can begin performing their new job quickly and effectively.

Within the recruiting industry, Direct Recruiters, Inc. is considered a leading, elite executive placement firm specializing in identifying, sourcing, attracting, interviewing, researching, screening and selection, qualifying, selecting, reviewing and on-boarding prospective job candidates. Hiring talent for today's needs and tomorrow's vision is important and Direct Recruiters, Inc. is an experienced executive search firm comprised of experienced and committed professional search consultants whose # 1 priority is to satisfy our clients by locating the top talent that they need.

Some small and large organizations that have been using their own in-house recruitment personnel, human resources departments, administrative management, front-line hiring directors and recruitment staff have never hired an outside recruiting company before to recruit and hire human capital. These organizations are now considering paying a fee to engage an employment agency or recruitment company to work to match qualified job candidates with their firm's job opportunities and open positions.

Employee verification is important because a significant number of job applicants falsify information on their resumes. According to Neil Adelman, President of SafeGuard Background Screening LLC, a comprehensive background screening company in Beachwood, Ohio and business partner to DRI: "About 50% of resumes contain incorrect information and many businesses lack proper in-house resources to carry out full employment verification procedures or criminal record checks. As a result, companies can easily make poor and costly hiring mistakes." Direct Recruiters, Inc. has established a partnership with Safeguard to use their screening services to help our clients during the interview process.

The recruiting industry's role focuses on finding suitable candidates. Recruiting firms are compensated by employers for the work performed in several ways. Recruiters can be paid on a retained or contingency basis.

Retained executive search firms and recruiting companies are paid a retainer fee up front and in advance in the form of a retainer to begin an assignment to recruit individuals to fill open positions. The first retainer fee may be a non-refundable payment. After a set period of time, such as 30 days after starting the job candidate search process, another fee is due and the final payment is due after another time period. Sometimes recruiting fees are paid in full before a job candidate is hired and in these cases, the recruiting work will continue until the open position is filled.

Recruiting companies that work on a contingency basis to conduct job candidate searches often do not receive their fees until the search process has finished. These recruiting companies are considered contingency firms. These types of recruiting businesses are paid by the employer if and when a job candidate is located for the open position. Contingency fees are often calculated at 20% to 30% of the candidates salary for the first year of employment.

As of 2011, it is common for contingency firms to request retainer fees and retained search firms to offer flat fees and capped fees. Alternatives to traditional recruiting agencies such as online recruiters may charge contingency fees as low as 12.5%. These type of firms are used by companies that have lower recruitment budgets and are trying to develop new methods for finding and retaining talented personnel. Some staffing agencies are compensated on a pre-negotiated hourly basis for temporary workers and employees.

Businesses in the recruiting industry that are committed to their job candidates success build long term relationships. Recruiting firms keep their job candidates careers on track by presenting exceptional career opportunities that ideally match the prospective employee's industry and educational background, talents, and professional ambitions. Confidentiality is essential for successful recruiting agencies. Direct Recruiters, Inc. is an excellent resource for job candidates. To submit a resume, click here. Information on employment opportunities and job resources on the Internet are available at The Riley Guide.

While the Internet has changed and disrupted the recruitment industry, its effect on recruiting agencies has been marginal. Currently, the recruitment industry has four main types of agencies: employment agencies, recruitment websites and job search engines, "headhunters" for executive and professional recruitment, and niche agencies which specialize in a particular area of staffing.

The term "executive search firm" is similar in meaning to the term "recruiting firm". Direct Recruiters, Inc. is both an executive search firm and a recruiting company. In a broad sense, there are two different types of executive search firms.

Global executive search firms or global recruiting firms focus on many different market sectors. Some examples of these disciplines including life sciences, financial services, energy, the automotive industry, retail businesses, pharmaceuticals, telecommunications, media businesses and technology companies. These large executive search firms often use geographically dispersed offices across the United States or the world.

Smaller, more specialized executive search firms and recruiting companies are often referred to as "boutique agencies." Recruiting companies like Direct Recruiters, Inc. focus on providing recruitment, staffing, executive search and executive search consulting services related to specialized practice areas, disciplines and industry specific market sectors. Niche recruiting agencies may cover one or more market sectors, and in some cases, may only focus their recruiting efforts on one aspect within a certain industry. Some specialized recruiting companies will focus on senior management positions (CEO, CFF, COO, CTO, Directors, Presidents, Vice Presidents, etc) while others will focus on sales, marketing, engineering, technical service, product managers, software engineers, and other types of professionals.

The Direct Recruiters team are Human Capital Resource Specialists. Recognized industry names rely on us to help build solid teams in management, sales, marketing, and plant personnel. For more information about human resource management, visit the official web site for Society for Human Resource Management. For information about recruiter associations and staffing associations, visit the online recruiters directory which includes an association directory.

Today, the recruitment industry remains a very competitive marketplace. Specialized recruiting companies such as Direct Recruiters that bring a high level of expertise to a specific discipline, practice areas, industry or market sector are differentiating their firms by adding value to a particular area of recruitment process outsourcing. Employers and companies that are trying to fill an open job position obtain tangible benefits by outsourcing or transferring their recruitment responsibilities to a recruiting firm such as Direct Recruiters, Inc.

Small, specialized recruiting firms such as  Direct Recruiters, Inc., which recently celebrated 33 years in business, frequently decrease an employer's time to hire, increase the quality of the job candidates, provide verifiable metrics, reduce expenses and improve compliance with government regulations and standards.

To contact an industry specific recruiter, please click on the links below:

3D Printing Recruiters

Automated Packaging Recruiters

Automation Industrial Technology Recruiters

Cannabis Industry Recruiters

CleanTech Recruiters

Construction Industry Recruiters

Consumer & Professional Technologies Recruiters

Digital Health Recruiters

Education Technology Recruiters

Material Handling Recruiters

Electronic Security Recruiters

Flexible Packaging Recruiters

Physical Security Recruiters

IT/Cybersecurity Recruiters

Life Sciences Recruiters

Energy & Sustainability Recruiters

Food & Beverage Processing Recruiters

Food Processing Equipment Recruiters

Foodservice Equipment Recruiters

Healthcare IT Recruiters

HVAC Recruiters

Hospital IT Recruiters

HR Tech Recruiters

HR Solutions Group Recruiters

Legal Solutions Group Recruiters

MEP Industry Recruiters

Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Recruiters

Pharmaceutical Processing Recruiters

Plastics Recruiters

Public Safety Recruiters

Federal IT Recruiters

Robotics Recruiters

Factory Automation Recruiters

Military Leadership Excellence

Military Transition

Supply Chain/Logistics 

Traffic & Transportation Technologies Recruiters

Unified Communications Recruiters

Water Technology Recruiters

For more information about the recruiting industry, please refer to our Industry Links page by clicking here. To request a recruiting agreement to start the recruiting process, please call Direct Recruiters, Inc. at 440-996-0589 to talk with Dan Charney, President.