Recruitment advertising is not going digital, it is well and truly there. According to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, as of the end of the last year corporate websites had overtaken local newspapers as the most common method of attracting candidates, used by 75% of organisations. The same research showed that recruiters prefer technology because it cuts costs, broadens their selection pool and speeds up hiring.

This means ad agencies specialising in recruitment have to change. They are now competing in a world where it is cheap and easy to advertise on multiple job boards, and employers expect to recruit staff at a much lower cost.

A more cynical view about the digital developments in big recruitment ad agencies is that they are having to chose between evolution and death. With the general economic downturn meaning less competition for staff, companies do not feel the need to pay as much to recruit, at least in the short term. But it is also down to longer-term trends. Graduates are moving between jobs more frequently, meaning the cost of recruitment needs to fall.

Richard Collins, MD of R21media, says, "Many traditional agencies are way behind the curve due to their business model. There is a lot more money to be made sticking an ad on the front page of The Times than on job websites, and they do not really look on the internet and job boards as a direct-response medium."

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