2010 so far...the marketing recruitment market
Midlands and North H1 2010
Well, it’s a lot better than this time last year! That’s the headline…below is the detail and as ever, I’ll illustrate this by sector because the market has certainly not been uniform.
Overall, everything is up; confidence, movement, jobs, number of applications, turndowns, fear of moving companies, the quality bar, but most importantly…the number of people we are placing. It’s been an up and down 7 months but one with far more ups than downs and one that clearly shows SOME confidence returning to the market. I would say we are experiencing an activity increase of 20-30% from this time last year but still 40% down on the busiest times of 2006/7.
Areas of expertise showing really strong activity are Online and Analysis/Insight and candidates with these skills area should be in quite high demand. The market is also very bottom heavy with far more roles (compared to a standard market) below the £40K mark than above it although in the last month there has certainly been a small shift upwards.
The hardest thing has been to try and work with companies who have a real commitment to recruit. Far too many roles are cut short, are never recruited or are shelved with knock-on effects for many candidates and very little that anyone can do to rectify the situation. We are not sure why this is, probably a combination of factors (fear of recruiting the wrong person, reality of incurred costs, too specific a requirement, scoping of market rather than looking to recruit) but for the market to really shift forward this needs to change.
FMCG – The trends within FMCG from 2009 still seem relevant half way through 2010 and are likely to remain as such for the rest of the year. The companies in general are bearing up and sales seem robust. However, in terms of recruitment, they are still taking a cautious view and are relatively inactive. Companies may well leave a position (or two) empty or bring in a contractor to plug a gap instead of investing in a new permanent member of staff. This short-term approach is likely to change next year but exactly when it will change is still difficult to predict. There have been a small number of senior roles which is a positive difference from the same time last year but the overall number of such roles remains low.
B2B - After a slow start to the year, we are seeing a steady return to the market with some of the major businesses recruiting again especially within industrial building product and manufacturing companies. While the majority of these roles consist of Product Managers and Marketing Executives, there has been an increasing number of B2B retail companies looking for senior eCommerce people. Another positive sign is the increase in the number of senior marketers that are now starting to have a look at the market.
Consumer Durables - Having had a fairly good time for most of the year, opportunities are still flowing steadily within Consumer Durables businesses. The DIY and retail building product suppliers seemed to have weathered the storm and are looking to stock up on talent, particularly at Marketing Manager level while the demand for product marketers with Far East sourcing backgrounds continues to grow. A number of these roles have come as a result of restructuring with some new roles being created which is always a positive sign. There is however a slight caution creeping back in with a couple of big players recently making headcount reductions but this is certainly outweighed by organisations continuing to recruit.
Financial Services – FS is still a very confusing market. Lots of positive signs in London without a doubt that market has returned with a bang. Outside of London though there is still a fine balance between caution and optimism and it is increasingly apparent that the Midlands and North have lost a lot of potential roles to London. The good news is that at least three of the major banks have started recruiting in the last couple of months and in fact the only thing lacking is the candidates, good quality people are being retained well by businesses. In all there has been a calming in the sector and I think we’ll continue to see steady growth through the rest of the year.
Public Sector - In truth we have retracted 90% of our focus on the public sector. Recent announcements have clearly had an effect on recruitment but there is an obvious push in that sector to either recruit directly or to use RPOs for their recruitment. We have worked with Education and some of the Sector Skills councils but it has been very quiet.
Professional Services – There are some very positive organisations out there in PS. It has been a busy sector for us with a good flow of jobs and candidates and it certainly looks like continuing.
Retail & Leisure/Travel – These sectors can be summed up in 3 words; eCommerce, eCommerce, eCommerce! It’s been the absolute focus of that market in the last 6 months and there are still numerous clients in the sector (and in truth some others) looking for this skill set. On the whole the sectors have been steady, some clients are doing well and recruiting cautiously, some are struggling. The signs do look pretty positive however and I think we’ll see quite a lot of growth in these two areas as the year continues.
I can’t really break down every sector (Mail Order, Gaming and Betting for example) but I hope this gives some flavour of what the market is doing. We are very positive at the moment in truth though and things do look promising. If you want to have more of an in depth chat please give me a call on 0113 246 7978.
by James Murray, Senior Manager | 31/7/10
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