A little while back we ran a survey with Voyager around the topic of professional bodies. Especially pertinent as there has been quite a lot of discussion (both in a post here and on the forum) about the new IRP division of the REC.
Firstly, good news for the REC; 96% of the people who responded have heard of them. In “second” place comes APSCO (Association of Professional Staffing Companies) with 39% of people having heard of them, followed by TEAM (The Employment Agencies Movement) with 22%. The new APRC (Association of Professional Recruitment Consultants) was know by 15% of respondents.
Next we asked which professional body respondents were members of. 64% of respondents are members of the REC, only 7% are members of APSCO, 5% are members of TEAM and 1% are members of APRC.
Leaving quite a lot of respondents who are not a member of any professional body. Obviously our next question was “If you’re not currently a member of any of the previous organisations, why not?” The main reasons, both with 43%, were “being a member makes no difference to my bottom line or pocket” and “I don’t know enough about what they offer to members”. So, either the professional bodies are not promoting themselves enough and/or when they do they are not managing to sell the benefits in a way that recruiters respond to. The other main reasons were “They’re simply not worth the fee” (33%) and “they don’t adequately represent me or my business” (29%). Both would suggest a level of awareness and understanding of the professional bodies in question.
The next question we asked was “Which professional body do you feel best represents the Recruitment Industry and/or Recruiter?” Again, the REC came out top with just less than one third of the votes (62%). The rest fared pretty badly with the APSCO getting 6% and TEAM and APRC getting 1%. One of the options we gave was to respond with “I don’t think any of them are better than the others” and 12% of respondents selected that.
It’s disappointing to think that our main professional body is only covering the needs of two thirds of the industry.
Finally, we asked “If you have ever joined one of the previously mentioned organisations, what are the main reason(s) for being a member?”. This was a bit more positive with 61% saying “It helps uphold standards in the industry”, 57% going for “their advice, experience and tools available offer me value for money/reassurance” and 19% saying “The events offer a good opportunity to network within the industry”. All great reasons to join a professional body. However, 28% suggested they only joined as “My customers expect it” and nearly a fifth (18%) said “The badge in the window is cheap PR”. Disappointing and cynical reasons to join a professional body.
Some positives in here (the REC ought to be pleased that 96% of recruiters know about them) but sadly plenty of negatives reinforcing long held views of our professional bodies.
