Recruiting in a time of market turbulence

Being in the recruitment industry, you obviously get exposure to a wide variety of companies - each with their own advantages as well as their own challenges. Differing approaches to the value that is placed on each position, as well its place within the company structure mean things move at different speeds, as well as differing attitudes to such things as salary.

The one thing that I have certainly noticed, is despite the talk of downturn and recession, there is still a strong market for quality. This shouldn't surprise us - as when there are market difficulties, more and more companies need the services of great people to succeed in tough times. It is however, I think misunderstood. I find that the salaries for good people has increased, and this creates a misconception. A "one size fits all" approach cannot be applied to all cases. If we see market turbulence, this does not mean we will get people "on the cheap", indeed in many cases it can be quite the opposite.

What I do think is that good people in "weak" companies are more likely to be persuaded away by "stronger" companies, who are in the market to improve their talent base. This provides opportunities to some companies as well as threats to others. Where you in this situation, of course depends upon your performance as a company.

So, yes - we are seeing market turbulence. To get great people however - there needs to still be a great incentive.

Thanks for reading.

Mark Whitaker