There’s a familiar conversation in recruitment: Recruiter“Would you be open to giving us the role exclusively?” Client“We’d rather give it to a few agencies and see who comes back with the best candidates.” [Cue the internal recruiter sigh] Clients often use multiple agencies because exclusivity can feel risky. They may worry about slowing the search […]
Getting a candidate to accept an offer feels like the finish line. For the recruiter, it usually isn’t. The period between offer acceptance and the candidate’s first day can be one of the most fragile parts of a search. The candidate has resigned, their current employer may be trying to keep them, and the excitement […]
A candidate finishes an interview and tells you it went well. You send a quick message to say you’ll update them when you hear from the client. Then you wait. The client takes a few days to come back. The candidate gets busy. Another recruiter calls. Another company moves faster. By the time you get […]
Every recruiter has walked out of a client meeting feeling optimistic. The brief sounds interesting. The salary is workable. The hiring manager seems engaged. On the drive back to the office, you’re already thinking about candidates. A few weeks later, the role is still open. The brief has changed twice. Interview feedback is slow. The […]
Monday morning starts with good intentions. A recruiter opens their calendar and blocks out time for business development. There is a list of companies to contact. A few follow-ups to send. Maybe even some notes from previous conversations that need revisiting. Then the day begins. A client needs interview feedback before lunch.A candidate calls with […]
Over the years, Intuitive have sat in plenty of conversations where agency leaders were trying to work out why profitability felt flat despite decent levels of activity. Usually the discussion starts with revenue. More clients.More vacancies.More recruiters.More outreach. Perfectly reasonable things to look at. What often gets less attention is where effort disappears after the […]
Across recruitment agencies in Asia, most founders and directors already know who their top billers are. They are usually obvious. Strong pipeline control, consistent conversions, steady client relationships, and a way of working that seems to keep momentum even when the market gets messy. The real challenge starts after identification. In many agencies, top performers […]
Across conversations with agency founders and directors in Asia, a more commercial concern is starting to surface around outreach performance. It is not about whether teams are active. Most desks are still producing high levels of outreach. The issue being discussed is how that activity translates into meaningful pipeline. In a growing number of cases, […]
AI adoption in recruitment across Asia has moved quickly from experimentation to standard practice. Most agencies now have access to similar sourcing tools, outreach generators and candidate screening systems. The intention is consistent. Improve speed, improve productivity, improve reach. The outcome not so straightforward. As these tools become widespread, the variation in output between agencies […]
There is a quiet challenge emerging in agency recruitment hiring across Asia, and it’s becoming increasingly difficult to identify in a traditional interview process. We’re calling it, for lack of a better term, the “false 360 recruiter”. On the surface, these candidates look like strong all-rounders. They present well, speak confidently about BD, claim ownership […]
Leadership hiring across Asia hasn’t slowed but it has changed in character. What used to be a relatively linear process has become more layered, more cautious, and significantly more scrutinised. Across Singapore, Hong Kong, and regional hubs, senior hiring decisions are taking longer, involving more stakeholders, and carrying more internal friction than before. From a […]
For years, hiring decisions in recruitment agencies and in-house TA teams across Asia have followed a familiar pattern: strong CV, relevant sector experience, proven billing history, interview confidence. On paper, it worked. But increasingly, it’s not holding up in practice. We’re seeing a subtle but important shift across Singapore, Hong Kong, and wider APAC hiring […]