The news is awash with stories of gloom and the demise of the UK economy.  This week in the news Hays, a major UK recruitment agency has reported falling profits.  Amidst the gloom, a HR expert has pointed out an opportunity for graduate recruitment firms in the shape of the care industry.

HR expert Moira Browne explains that our aging population means the requirements for the care industry in terms of staff are going to dramatically increase in the coming years, with staff in the social care industry expected to reach 2.5 million in 2025.  If you are a graduate recruitment firm looking at sectors such as construction, legal and finance at present, you’re only going to see falling numbers.  The social care industry now offers a lifeline to any of these firms willing to take up the challenge and move into this market.

Ms Browne says their task will be to make a career in the care industry an attractive option where previously the care industry would likely not have been considered as a serious option for many graduates.  Given the insecurities in the traditional graduate sectors, this does need to change.

The news echoes other news around the recruitment agency industry as different aspects of the economic slowdown start to bite.  In Hays case, one quarter of their recruitment agency business is based in the construction sector, which is in turned tied into the property market which has clearly suffered over the last year.

The good news is that Hays have yet to implement a formal redundancy program, achieving its 7% loss of staff to date through natural turnover.  This equates to some 400 heads in the UK and Ireland.   It is thought that numbers will have to reduce further now over the next few months as the financial crisis deepens.

Alistair Darling was reported this week as saying it’s the countries worst crisis for 60 years.  Then after a few words with Gordon Brown returned to say it was the ‘worlds’ worst crisis for 60 years!  Nevertheless, if you are a recruitment agency in the UK at present, these are tough times to weather.

It’s been a popular subject for debate recently with the shadow chancellor calling for an immediate reduction in corporation tax to 25% plus other reforms to prevent more firms from leaving.

Medical sales firms are following the example of many other well known company names to have already left our shores due to the tax system.  Google UK, Yahoo and Henderson are all high profile names to have left.

Proctor and Gamble and Shire are two medical sales firms to have announced their exit recently, the latter quoting a reduction in business tax to 12.5% from the present UK 28% as the main reason.  In the last few years many pharmaceutical companies have moved their production operations to Asia to benefit from cheaper labour markets, leaving only their medical sales jobs in the UK

Justine Whitaker is a high profile nurse after wining the RCN’s nurse of the year award for 2007.  Now she has walked out of her NHS role to become a lecturer.  When asked if she hadn’t liked her job as an NHs nurse, she replied that, on the contrary she loved it.  However, due to NHS reforms she was spending less and less time nursing and more and more time administrating.

This couldn’t have come at a worse time for the government who are busy trying to persuade the British public that morale and motivation are higher than ever.  The Conservatives have been quick to quip that this case shows just how poor the situation has become that even the most successful of nurses is prepared to leave and work elsewhere.

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For someone who’s job it is to build relations, I suspect Pr Man Paul Carrolls standing with recruitment consultants just went down.  In an article he likens them to wasps, explaining that he believes they have no purpose.  It’s a bizarre revelation on several counts.  The recruitment industry is one of the fastest growing and thriving in the UK economy at present, in a market where so many are suffering badly.  It seems highly unlikely that so many companies would be using recruitment consultants if they believed they served no purpose.  If companies did not value their contribution, they would not go back time and time again.

As a second observation, as a layman I would have thought it was a PR man’s challenge to build bridges day to day, and not bowl them over as he appears to have done here.  I would suspect if there were any recruitment consultants out there reading his comments with him on the Christmas card list, he would just have been crossed off!

Rethink recruitment, a recruitment agency in IT are optimistic for their future now.

In the last decade IT workers have had a rough ride, the dot com bubble bursting amongst other testing times  has put off many from venturing near IT as a career.  Since 2001, the number of people apply for degrees in IT has halved.  In recent years more and more companies have opted for outsourcing overseas to cut costs, this has also made entry level jobs in IT decline making it even harder to begin a career in IT.

The end result of all this has been a shortage in IT workers at a time when demand is increasing.  In tough economic times companies need IT efficiency so demand is growing whilst supply is falling, the consequence is that salaries are rising.

If you are a recruitment agency in IT this is great news, more positions to fill at higher salaries!

Recruitment activities, in general  at PCC are now almost extinct as the web business continues to thrive.  However,  PCC have been supplying contract sales people to Meda now for almost a year in a successful arrangement to find high quality esxperienced people for the Swedish pharmaceutical.

The Meda Model looks set to be replicated throughout the industry as the days of the ‘buddy rep’ appear to be numbered. Companies are now opting for the the more profitable model of one rep per territory with a strong eye on profitability.

Contract sales people from PCC are only running at single figures, however, the try before you buy model is proving cost efective for Meda in terms of recruitment, but also operational effective in ensuring recruitment remains at a high standard.

The notion of references was to provide a potential employer with access to confidential comments regarding the suitability of a potential employee.  Knowing that the candidate was not giong to see the reference meant the referee could give and honest account of high value to the employer making a decision.

Now, the rules are chaging, recent decisions by the IC (Information Commission) have ruled that candidates have a right to access information about themselves including references.  As a consequence referees will surely keep references as bland as possible, start dates, finish dates and the role performed, avoiding anything judgement on performances which may incriminate themselves at a later date.

The topic is a source of much heated debate amongst politicians, the recruitment industry and indeed people down the pub with a whole raft of issues in the pot.  On the one hand an econimical arguement says it adds strength to our economy, on the other, it’s putting some Uk workers out of work.

There are plenty of anecdotes of European tradesman supplying their services at a fraction of the cost of locals thereby gaining trade at the expense of the native tradesmen.  Recruitment agencies recognising the huge opportunities this present them have grasped the opportunity and there are now many specialist agencies and websites helping European workers find employment in the UK, and UK employers finding a lower cost work force.

Amid all the debate, whether people likke it or not, market forces will prevail.  The march of globalisation is a super tanker of truly global proportions.  The influx of European workers will continue in earnest along with the exodus of many UK companies leaving for ecomonies with cheaper operating costs.  Initially, this was a move to widen their margins, now they must do it to compete.

The debate now is now, should or shouldn’t this be happening, but how best to manage it and get the most out of it.

The contradiction lies between the large amounts of cash that can be made from making placements to the quality needed retain business over the long term.  To do a proper job in recruitment requires a lot of time and money, the money to advertise extensively, employ quality staff, screen and interview to select truly suitable people.  The aim is that the rewards form a few placements exceeds all the costs involved with generating the placements.

The issues can arise when individuals begin to take short cuts to get an advanatage….then what starts out as small short cut grows into a big one until you have consultants who don’t advertise they headhunt, never interview to save time and money, and don’t really mind loosing a client as they’ll probably move company or leave the industry in the next year or so.  Before they do, the chances are they’ve taken placements away from those trying to do it properly and the whole scenarion can drive standards down.

Ulitmately it’s a sales job heavily driven by financial rewards, and often sales people will simply look for the shortest route to highest rewards, rather than considering the medium and long term, and this can encourage bad practise.  Employers themselves are clearly in it for the medium and long term, it’s up to them to manage their staff to ensure high quality is not sacrificed to generate short term cash at the overall expense of the reputation of the recruitment industry.