Candidates – other trends

Reasons for moving – non-financial

• No to RPO – In January as with any typical month part of our registering group of candidates came from RPO firms; nothing unusual and they came with some of the usual concerns about the conflict between the interests of their employer and the demands of line management

o   The big difference in January was that every candidate registering from an RPO stated one of their main reasons for moving was to get client side and no longer be employed by the RPO

o   This was prevalent in the banking sector particularly where businesses employ directly recruiters to manage senior relationships and can then prevent the RPO recruiter in the same product area from accessing senior management – the more open the structure the happier the recruiter

• Time served verses Going Perm – many recruiters feel the market over the last three years has driven them to a critical point in their career and for businesses who are serious about recruitment this presents an opportunity to get great talent to commit long-term for one of two reason:

o   Many recruiters have seen out the recession in one place but have done so by staying longer in one role than they might have planned; talented recruiters who are risk averse with very stable CVs are considering critical career moves for the first time in a long time

o   Conversely many great recruiters due to the market were forced to contract or found themselves taking on several roles in a short space of time.  Looking to build a permanent career again this group is looking to commit to permanent opportunities but finding a natural hostility from a concerned hiring manager population fearing their capacity to see a job through; tough on the candidate but as the market continues to tighten for talent surely a great opportunity for a hiring company to find a recruiter who knows they will need to be loyal in the long-term

• Career transition – While this does not need great explanation we have seen a surge of interest from agency and executive search recruitment professionals looking to move in-house this year for career reasons.  This is worth noting for two key reasons:

o   The old adage of the failed recruiter moving in-house was always a misnomer but the fact that the average base salary of a registered candidate from this background is over £40,000 demonstrates that those looking to transition are clearly successful, earning above average in what they do and having built a career in that field before transitioning, is there now a more commercial and talented external pool available?  I think so

o   Historically when expressing interest in moving in-house this group tended to want to do so for a number of misplaced reasons; better work-life balance, higher basic salary, easier job.  It is striking in 2011 that the vast majority of this group are registering because they see their own sector squeezed by in-house direct recruiting and expect the shift in power to continue to move in-house over time so take the view that this is a critical career move

February 16, 2011 at 10:43 am | Candidate, In-house, January 2011, Monitor, Napier Wolf News | No comment