Vedior Case Study (October 2006)
Using The Network enables Vedior, the international staffing firm, to be more bullish about its business planning, says director of e-business John Nurthen.
Vedior currently operates in a range of niche sectors across 45 different countries. Within the UK alone, it has 30 different operating brands. ‘To get a decent price from a job board, we have to make an up-front commitment for up to 12 months in advance. But because recruitment is so sensitive to market changes, there is a tendency to be conservative about the capacity we buy in beforehand,’ Nurthen says.
‘The Network enables us to take more of a risk because it allows us to move our capacity around the business. So if there is a slow down in one local market we can shift our commitment to another that is more buoyant.’
Although it is a global business, Vedior is not looking to recruit internationally. ‘Recruitment is still very much a local business. Given skill shortages and the expansion of the European Union, this may change. But for now, most people want to work locally and most employers want to recruit people who live locally. So we use job boards in The Network as local providers.’
Vedior has used the Network since it first launched. ‘We were one of the first staffing companies to use job boards on an international basis. It’s not just about economies of scale; the advantage of The Network is that it offers us relationships with lots of different boards.’
However, Vedior’s deal with The Network is not exclusive. ‘We operate in many different sectors and inevitably some job boards are better than others in different markets. So we never force our operating companies to use The Network, we simply give them the option of taking advantage of the deal we have negotiated.
As a result, all our operating firms also have relationships with local job boards that aren’t part of The Network.’
Nurthen is a great believer in healthy competition and The Network is not Vedior’s only international supplier. In addition, the business has 250 websites of its own and naturally uses them to attract candidates and clients.
However, Nurthen recognizes that independent job boards have a vital role. ‘I’m always happy working with job boards. They complement what we do as a staffing business.’