Report on ‘Recruitment Agency Expo London’, February 4&5 2020

One of a kind: the yearly high mass for the British recruitment agencies Recruitment Agency Expo 2020 took place in London, February 4th and 5th. As one of the only non-British tech companies, Actonomy was celebrating its 10th participation. Filip De Geijter reflects on the two main findings: a strong consolidation on the UK-market and a trend towards differentiating technologies.

A shift from recruitment software towards backoffice applications

Gordon Ramsay was here! Not to shout at people, but to attract visitors to the SnappCV booth. Well, it was nice to get a selfie with the chef himself! But let’s go to the essence: how was the Recruitment Agency Expo London? Filip De Geijter, founder and CEO of Actonomy, participated for the tenth consecutive year in this expo for the recruitment industry in the UK. He discovered two striking phenomena that made this year’s edition somewhat different.

‘First, the British marketplace has gone through a serious consolidation wave. Large players such as Bullhorn, Acces and Ikiru People have grown by taking over smaller technology providers. For sure, this consolidation leads to a small group of large decision makers on the market.’

But apart from this market consolidation in the UK, De Geijter noticed a second interesting phenomenon during his London visit. ‘In the earlier years, I met a lot of technology startups specializing in recruitment software. Today, the focus has shifted towards backoffice applications. Think of payroll, administration and the like. Most of the recruiting software companies have become part of the big players during the consolidation phase. This leaves quite some opportunities to companies developing technologies that focus more on these backoffice activities.’

A growing market

The Recruitment Agency Expo London attracted some 3 000 visitors. Actonomy being one of the only non-British standholders, De Geijter was happy to speak to quite many interesting and interested visitors. Apart from a short videogig, made for the own Expo website, De Geijter is happy about the many newly established contacts. ‘We keep participating year after year, because the British market is growing in our portfolio. The future potential is huge. Both agencies and corporate clients are more and more interested in the smart searching and matching technology we offer. That is promising!’

And yes, Gordon Ramsey gave a selfie with De Geijter. And no, the kitchen wasn’t a nightmare, this times… Thanks Gordon!

recruitment agency expo 2020 london