Matthew Chester, who runs the Digby Morgan team responsible for the search and selection of entry to mid level HR professionals across all industries, reports on the latest happenings in that area.

The lead into the New Year has seen a definite increase in activity at the entry to mid level which was badly hit in 2009. Year on year job orders and key recruitment activity has increased positively showing signs that 2010 is likely to be more buoyant than 2009 which would appear to match media speculation.

For the first time in what feels like a long time, we are starting to feel that confidence might well be slowly returning although most decision makers are still very cautiously optimistic. The professional and financial services industries have begun to bounce back with demand especially amongst the ‘bulge bracket’ banks that have been dormant for some time.

We have also had a light flurry of recruitment and learning requirements from some of our clients. An interesting and positive development and enlightening to see clients focus once again on the more positive aspects of HR - a rare phenomenon over the last two years. Interestingly, we have also had more in-house recruiters apply speculatively which endorses the feeling of the market being more positive. The bulge bracket banks are beginning to ramp up their recruitment teams having made sizeable cuts in this area during the downturn.

There has been a lot of significant organisational change across many of our clients. This is leading to some restructuring to align HR support to the market often as a result of new functional leadership and, in some cases, completely new teams. This often leads, in turn, to new opportunities as new leaders typically like to build their own teams and ways of working.

Contrary to popular belief, there remains a shortage of good candidates who are available and actively looking for work. The good ones are still cautious about leaving their current roles and have usually been well treated in line with modern and effective employee engagement strategies. There is a shortage of good generalists and some specialists in areas such as graduate recruitment and compensation and benefits. Many candidates are staying put to wait for the bonuses and salary increases which have not been on some people's agenda for a good two years now.

In short, we are hoping that these early and tentative positive signs help build confidence and are simply a precursor to a long and sustained period of growth as we move into the new decade.


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