Steps in the wrong direction

Perhaps the most glaring omission in an article aimed at helping organisations find suitable recruitment partners is that all reputable employment agencies – or recruitment consultants – should be members of a recognised standards body.

In this country, the largest body is the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC). As a professional trade body, the REC monitors industry standards, investigates complaints and applies a strict Code of Practice that governs the professional operation of companies and sole traders.

The REC rigorously investigates complaints and, unlike many so-called standards bodies, this one actually disciplines member companies and has recently ejected members for breaches of the REC Code. It also offers training standards and recognised qualifications. This omission is all the more disturbing given Steve's antecedence.

In the aftermath of lobbying by SSR Personnel, the REC has suggested that if enough recruitment consultants such as ourselves and other independent firms who service the security sector wish to form a Working Group to ensure that specific recruitment standards are researched, enacted and enforced, then the REC will set up a security-specific branch. That branch would have a unique Code of Practice, operating guidelines and training regimes, etc.

Perhaps in time it might even be chaired by one of our trusted and independent bodies, and will help set the standard that'll enable security companies and end users to choose providers of recruitment services with a degree of assurance.

Another oversight is Steve's reference to the current security recruiters' one-dimensional service and methodology offerings. This is in spite of the fact that in a previous article ('The 30 Steps of Recruitment', Career Development, SMT, July 2003, p74) Steve did in fact suggest that there are 30 Steps to consider in the recruitment process. Is that a single model, or a multi-dimensional one?

To compound matters, the 30 Steps were designed in the 1980s (by the much-respected and sadly now deceased Tony Byrne), and have absolutely nothing to do with recruitment other than being a sales process designed to aid head hunters secure business by asking questions in a set order. This is now referred to by professional consultancies as Neuro Linguistic Programming, or NLP for short.

That aside, what does alarm me is that the 30 Steps quoted by Steve as being the security recruitment standard bemoan the role of Human Resources specialists, make no reference to the person specification and job description, ignore issues concerning the transparency of the process and have absolutely no regard for equal opportunities.

I totally agree with Steve that the security sector is on the cusp of great change. Yet, as the majority of your readers will attest, the industry has really been in the midst of change for the past two decades. The so-called legal changes planned within the European Union have a marginal impact. In marked contrast, it must be said, to the changes that have gone before them.

Had Steve been interested in the security industry before the collapse of the IT recruitment market from which his own recruitment company fled then he would have known this.

At SSR, we have served and supported the industry over the past 15 years or so, through good times and bad. We remain the only recruitment consultancy to specialise in the security sector that holds both Investors in People and ISO 9001:2000 accreditations. We are BSIA members, and remain the only specialist recruitment consultancy that is.

We've become the biggest company by investing in our 30 recruitment consultants. We keep pace with the plethora of technical subjects allied to either recruitment or selection, and our opinion is actively sought in support of industry bodies and individuals who need accurate and credible information.

In spite of this leading position, we work with our competitors and not against them. We embrace new ideas rather than regurgitate old ones. We innovate, we don't plagiarise. We nurture fresh talent rather than trash it. Above all, we attempt to keep in step with the industry as opposed to trying to fight it.

Steve... Stop running down the industry and its constituent parts in the hope of gaining a few marketing column inches. This serves no-one other than those keen to bolster flagging egos or diminishing profits.

We don't need a new boy on the block recycling messages from a bygone era. Use your energies and talent in an original and constructive way and you'll find that the security industry offers an abundance of excellent opportunities.