Matthew Chester, who runs the Digby Morgan team responsible for the recruitment of entry to mid level HR professionals (£18-£50K) across all industries, brings us up to speed with developments in that sector.

Going into the final quarter of 2009 it is true to say that confidence has lifted a little at the entry to mid-level though the economic climate is still tough and this is reflected directly in the recruitment life cycle. However, we’re finding that for the first time in a couple of years there is a flurry of activity at the entry level and also in sectors where there has been little movement – such as property and construction.

Balancing costs against a candidate centric recruitment process continues to be a challenge for businesses. Despite a slight rise in activity and confidence this has not always translated into the successful placement of candidates as the recruitment process is often not clearly organised and thought through from a candidate experience perspective. Rather, the focus has often been on cost and sourcing candidates from direct channels at every stage of the recruitment process. This has often led to an overly complex, indecisive and slow recruitment procedure that will certainly have one significant and costly outcome: a dissatisfied customer or brand ambassador (the candidate) with a negative employer brand experience.

Employers beware - candidates have long memories. I’m certain that we can all remember an occasion when the company we applied to didn’t even bother responding to our application. I’m pretty sure it didn’t enamour you to the company concerned at the time and, scarily, many years later we can all still recall instances like this.

The market is finely balanced at the entry to mid-level however employers must not stick to their guns too much otherwise they will miss out on rising talent. We are finding that clients are demanding a lot for their buck but, as confidence picks up, so are candidate’s salary expectations. Both parties need to be realistic and sensible when negotiating otherwise there will either be a fall out at the offer stage or six to twelve months in when an over qualified candidate can become a management headache.

Whilst we are always optimistic, I believe realistically that Q409 will be a challenging one and that the first two quarters of next year will be equally flat. During the first half of next year, I believe that confidence will gradually turn into a decisive business focused, relationship led recruitment process - but this will not happen overnight as some have predicted.


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