Recruitment Industry 2009 / 2010

[LeeJ]

Hi Guys,

I have a small but successful recruitment agency which I took the executive decision to 'put on hold' in March this year after a very poor first quarter of the year.

In the meantime I have been focussing on other business interests which have been going well, however I am now thinking that Recruitment might be getting better / improving looking at competitor websites, job boards and general attitude towards the recession.

I was hoping to get some advice from other recruiters in here as to what their opinion is about the recruitment industry going into 2010 - is there still business to be had out there?!

Lee J

 

[Richie N]

Hi Lee

The industry is picking up now, the first quarter was actually good for us but I know this was one of the worse for many companies.
There are definitely jobs out there, it's just finding the candidates that seems to be an issue at the moment.

 

[LeeJ]

Hi Richie,

That is good to know and has reconfirmed my thinking!

I had several blow outs in Jan and Feb which I made the classic mistake of banking on!!! A number of big clients slapped a recruitment freeze on whilst making redundancies and this knocked my confidence some what.

Many thanks for taking the time to reply!

 

[Richie N]

Hi Richie,

That is good to know and has reconfirmed my thinking!

I had several blow outs in Jan and Feb which I made the classic mistake of banking on!!! A number of big clients slapped a recruitment freeze on whilst making redundancies and this knocked my confidence some what.

Many thanks for taking the time to reply!

It's been a tough year, it's still hard out there so don't rely on anything at the moment...

 

[LeeJ]

Hi Ritchie,

I think I'll keep my other business strong and go slow with the recruitment until I see some definate improvements.

The Education sector seems really buyont - do you do any of this?

LJ

 

[cvscreen]

There's no doubt that things are picking up. We've had a lot of IT Jobs registered in the last 3 months with big demand with people with SEO, PHP or .NET skills.

There's also encouraging signs from our Marketing division with a 20% increase in Marketing Jobs over the last month. That said, our Accountancy division is still relatively quiet.

In short it has improved since Q1 but it's still tough and I know a number of Consultants who are continuing to struggle.

All the best

 

[Chris_OCR]

To give you my background, I worked in the Engineering sector and billed a massive 0 from November till March,

Subsequently the company made the lowest 8 (of 16) billers redundant, with this myself and one of my colleagues started up on our own.

We have found the market to be very up and down, April was a fantastic month, may was average, june was ok, July was very low however we were both on holiday for 2 weeks and August and September have been fantastic for us.

I think the market is picking up, not at a dramatic pace, but equally, not at a slow pace either.

I think come January everyone will be very positive about and climate, in turn making our lives as recruiters a lot easier!

 

[bridges]

This is interesting to me, as a Virtual Assistant, I rely on people outsourcing their work to me, rather than having the cost of hiring someone full time.

What are your thoughts on outsourcing over than permenant hire?

B x

 

[bridges]

This is interesting to me, as a Virtual Assistant, I rely on people outsourcing their work to me, rather than having the cost of hiring someone full time.

What are your thoughts on outsourcing over permenant hire?

B x

 

[Richie N]

The market is picking up a lot more now, its the shortage of candidates that's an issue now.....

 

[bridges]

The market for what? Permenant employment, or outsourcing? Do you find people prefer temps to permenant placements?

B x

 

[Chris_OCR]

We find about 95% of our clients prefer to employ perms over contractors.

Contractors are quite simply a solution, and a solutions is not necessarily cost effective.

 

[bridges]

I suppose that would depend on the business need, for someone who needs 5 hours a week, and doesn't have a big office, then it is cost effective.

Although if you're business requires someone full time, then of course, you're right, permenant employment is a better option.

Interesting to get your point of view though!

Thanks

B x

 

[Richie N]

Permanent jobs is picking up yeah...

 

[LeeJ]

Hi Guys,

Really strange, although I havent offically started recruiting again, I have had a wealth of calls and emails from candidates and clients over the past few weeks, I say a wealth, I mean a good few!

I have always used Monster's CV database and liked it, bt before I renew my contract, does anyone know of any better?!

I know that job boards do tend to be personal preference....

Thanks!

 

[Chris_OCR]

I would without a doubt recommend Jobsite over Monster personally, although if you can afford it, I would go for both!

 

[Richie N]

I would without a doubt recommend Jobsite over Monster personally, although if you can afford it, I would go for both!

I wouldn't recommend either tbh....

 

[James.Dunford]

As for the OP's question, i would agree it has definietly got better. I started looking around April (Not needing a job until the summer anyway) and signed up to all the various sites, and for example from one site was getting around 30-40 jobs a day that "matched my requirements" now i am getting in excess of 80-100 a day, just as an example!

 

[LeeJ]

Well do you know what, I find all these comments really encouraging and after a few days of speaking to candidates and clients, I think I have the bug back!

I have no doubt that 2009 Q4 and 2010 will be tough, but I think that everyone is in agreement that the worst is over now, thank the good lord!

I was speaking to a friend in Rec to Rec and Financial Rec in London and he apparently has picked right back up...would be interested to hear how others are doing...

 

[spritch]

Hi bridges
have a look at my site - might help with job flow

 

[cvscreen]

We use the CV Library database and in our view this is far superior to the Monster offering.

 

[core365]

We are a graphic design and web design agency.

This month we have been approachged by 2 recruitment companies to design brochures, websites and folder pack.
One is a start up - in oil, gas industry , the other is an established business in the social acre sector wanting to expand having stayed still the last few years.
The start up one has been unindated with candidates and potential employers since we designed their digital brochure - he has come back to have his website designed and has referred a client to us to do the same for them.
The other we are still working on but boths eem buyount to me.

 

[david poole]

Hello

yes I used to work in recruitment and I know their secrets. 95% are very poor and all fish from the same pool and you get to pay a 20% fee all they do is a little bit of screening and normally zero advertising...

How to beat them..

1) Buy a mailing list for the position you are wanting to fill.

For example it's a sales role within a specific industry.
ask for email adresses such as "sales@______"
define the geographic search area.

Cost - I pay £100 for 1000 names, emails, company names, positions.

2) buy an email delivery system such as www.swiftpage.com

It will send your speculative email to one and all

cost - $30 a month to send a 1000 a day. cancel the agreement anytime

3) sending the email. be nice casual and maybe include job description, company benefits and the salary.

4) get people to reply to an email you dont usually use - you will get a lot of mail!

Overview -

yes you might get a disgruntled MD saying what you do is unfair - but if you offer better terms or the person wants to leave then so what. head hunting happens everyday.

If your job is worth £20k a year the agency will want £4000!
this exercise is a tiny fraction of that.

 

[Richie N]

I was speaking to a friend in Rec to Rec and Financial Rec in London and he apparently has picked right back up...would be interested to hear how others are doing...

It has picked up a lot in the last couple of months, it's now back to a candidate lead market, although not many are moving due to job security etc.

 

[Nathaniel01]

When a person assesses the various career choices available to them in life there are many options available. A person can pursue financial wealth by pursuing careers in business or investments in the pursuit of money. If you have a passion on something from a very young age fantasize about pursuing a career as a police officer.

 

[vox]

Hi Lee

The industry is picking up now, the first quarter was actually good for us but I know this was one of the worse for many companies.
There are definitely jobs out there, it's just finding the candidates that seems to be an issue at the moment.

Hi Richie01,

You wrote this back in September. Is this still the case (with the candidates)? We could probably collaborate on this. I might have some solutions (although its still in planning stage). I could pm if you are interested at all.

 

[Richie N]

Hi Richie01,

You wrote this back in September. Is this still the case (with the candidates)? We could probably collaborate on this. I might have some solutions (although its still in planning stage). I could pm if you are interested at all.

hi, in my sector there will always be a skills shortage of good quality candidates.