This pamphlet explores the future of one of the most important intermediaries in our everyday lives: the recruitment industry. Drawing on nine months of research, Recruitment 2020 argues that recruitment is caught up in some of the key public policy issues of our time – business success, job satisfaction, equality, integration and privacy. Through analysis of a series of sweeping trends, it predicts that recruitment practices and business models will change immeasurably over the coming years. It tells a story of the wide-scale change that we expect to see through the market – principally the drive to a more personalised approach – and explores the social challenges that go beyond what the market can deliver alone.

The pamphlet concludes with a series of recommendations designed to help both the recruitment industry and wider society prepare for the challenges of the future. In doing so, the pamphlet is relevant to policymakers but also to anyone involved in either seeking or offering a job in the future.