As 2016 winds down to the last week, we thought we would look back at the top 3 stories from the staffing and recruiting world. Looking back, summer 2016 was a very busy time for big acquisitions in the staffing and recruiting industry. We are looking forward to seeing how these companies shake out as a result of these big moves that have been made.
In June, Microsoft announced their plan to acquire LinkedIn for 426.2 billion dollars, Microsoft’s largest acquisition ever. “As Microsoft Chief Executive Satya Nadella told The Wall Street Journal, ‘It’s really the coming together of the professional cloud and the professional network.’ In other words, we now work by toggling between our productivity software and our social networks. But why should the two be separate?”
Having the combination of Office 365, Dynamics and LinkedIn, recruiters can gain access to the breadth of employees’ networks (for those who grant that access) and could transform referral programs. But even without that kind of access, just seeing who the go-to people are in a company can change the quality of the candidates being recruited.
In July of 2016, Recruit Holdings Co. Ltd., one of the world’s largest staffing firms, acquired the assets of job search engine Simply Hired. Simplyhired.com will continue to operate as a job search site and be a publishing partner of job search site Indeed, which Recruit Holdings acquired in 2012.
This latest move by Recruit Holdings to grab SimplyHired will expand its footprint and economy of scale in owning the sites that people visit the most when looking for work, or to book workers.
The acquisition underscores how there is ongoing consolidation in the recruitment market.
This past August, Randstad, the Dutch recruitment firm, bought job board Monster Inc for $429 million. “While Monster’s bread and butter and mainstay is its website, Randstad has a focus on recruitment centers. It has some 4,500 branches and says it’s placed some 2 million people in jobs. This will give them an online component to expand that.” said TechCrunch.
“The technology behind monster (not the job board part) could prove a game changer for the various divisions of Randstad if harnessed strategically with its existing mission and managed correctly. The access of data – both candidate resume and Monster client and prospect details – is also valuable for a company that could be replicating its positions in EMEA into the US marketplace.” (HRTech Blog)
What will 2017 bring for the staffing and recruiting industry? Let us know your thoughts below!
