A good time to recruit?
A lot of clients keep asking us how the recruitment business is fairing, in general, not bad. 2009 was tough for us as it was for most companies. In relation to the future, one thing we have learnt is that we cannot predict the future with any accuracy. What we can say is that recruitment is cyclical and there will always be someone looking for a job (a candidate to us) or a client looking for someone to fill a role.
Joyce Guiness is a ‘boutique’ recruitment agency, based in the heart of South Kensington. We have been working with companies throughout London for almost 40 years, providing them with office support staff, from receptionists to Chairman’s PAs. WA Ellis has been one of our longstanding clients and we are proud to have supplied them with numerous candidates over the years.
As mentioned above, 2009 was a testing time for recruitment. Joyce Guiness had grown considerably in order to deal with the demands of clients and candidates in 2007 and the start of 2008. Sadly we weren’t able to predict the severity of the downturn and so had to reduce in size. However, Joyce Guiness remained focused as a ‘people’ business and relying on the experience of our Consultants and the value of promotion by word of mouth, we have managed to keep up the levels of quality for client and candidates.
The number of redundancies since 2008 has tripled but candidates who remain positive and actively looking for a role, are finding that the search is soon over. There are a lot of ‘start ups’ and companies building up their departments again, albeit cautiously and there are also clients who over estimated the amount of redundancies that were needed and are now finding that, as the market gets busier, they need to recruit again!
Graduates found it tough last year when it came to job hunting but a lot of them took the option to delay entering the work place by going off travelling or working abroad such as a ski season. The Graduates who have stayed have either secured work experience, which has given them valuable knowledge to build up their CV and some have secured jobs through work experience. Others have taken the view that now is a good time to build up their skills and have enrolled in a business or secretarial course, to make their skills that more appealing.
During the last year, some clients tried to spare themselves the cost of a recruitment fee and use the ‘friend of friend’ route. However, they are finding that more and more of these placements have only been temporary and the candidate took the job as a ‘stop gap’ – leaving the client frustrated with the waste of training, time and of course, money.
2010 has started on a much more optimistic note, as people feel that the recession may not have such a dramatic effect on their business as they originally thought. In addition, it is a good time to recruit as more candidates are realistic about salary and packages.
Pip Cox @ Joyce Guiness
Telephone: 020 7589 8807
Website: www.joyceguiness.co.uk
Joyce Guiness is a ‘boutique’ recruitment agency, based in the heart of South Kensington. We have been working with companies throughout London for almost 40 years, providing them with office support staff, from receptionists to Chairman’s PAs. WA Ellis has been one of our longstanding clients and we are proud to have supplied them with numerous candidates over the years.
As mentioned above, 2009 was a testing time for recruitment. Joyce Guiness had grown considerably in order to deal with the demands of clients and candidates in 2007 and the start of 2008. Sadly we weren’t able to predict the severity of the downturn and so had to reduce in size. However, Joyce Guiness remained focused as a ‘people’ business and relying on the experience of our Consultants and the value of promotion by word of mouth, we have managed to keep up the levels of quality for client and candidates.
The number of redundancies since 2008 has tripled but candidates who remain positive and actively looking for a role, are finding that the search is soon over. There are a lot of ‘start ups’ and companies building up their departments again, albeit cautiously and there are also clients who over estimated the amount of redundancies that were needed and are now finding that, as the market gets busier, they need to recruit again!
Graduates found it tough last year when it came to job hunting but a lot of them took the option to delay entering the work place by going off travelling or working abroad such as a ski season. The Graduates who have stayed have either secured work experience, which has given them valuable knowledge to build up their CV and some have secured jobs through work experience. Others have taken the view that now is a good time to build up their skills and have enrolled in a business or secretarial course, to make their skills that more appealing.
During the last year, some clients tried to spare themselves the cost of a recruitment fee and use the ‘friend of friend’ route. However, they are finding that more and more of these placements have only been temporary and the candidate took the job as a ‘stop gap’ – leaving the client frustrated with the waste of training, time and of course, money.
2010 has started on a much more optimistic note, as people feel that the recession may not have such a dramatic effect on their business as they originally thought. In addition, it is a good time to recruit as more candidates are realistic about salary and packages.
Pip Cox @ Joyce Guiness
Telephone: 020 7589 8807
Website: www.joyceguiness.co.uk