Umbrella company contractors looking for executive roles will have been encouraged by the recent comments of Dr John Philpott.
The CIPD’s chief economist explained that since both the public and private sectors have been struggling to find and keep top talent, the majority of the executive search market should carry on experiencing growth, and we can expect to see this growth pick up markedly after 2012.
Philpott made his comments at a recent meeting of the Association of Executive Recruiters, hosted by the REC. The executive jobs market started off the year stronger than expected but has weakened a little since then.
The CIPD is taking a slightly more pessimistic view of employment than that taken by the Office for Budget Responsibility. “We believe unemployment will continue to rise until it reaches a peak of 2.85 million during the summer of 2012. It will also take time for the private sector to be strong enough to absorb all of the public sector job losses”, Philpott said.
Staffing cuts have already been made in the public sector ahead of today’s announcement on the government’s spending review.
A new survey from the REC shows that around 67% of public sector recruitment agencies have witnessed a reduction in the number of temporary staff placements by more than 20%. Whilst 37% of these cuts have been to admin/back office roles, 36% have hit front line service delivery functions.
Hardly surprisingly, 94% of agencies expect demand for temps will shrink dramatically over the coming 12 months; a worrying prospect says Kevin Green from the REC. Our schools rely on supply teachers and our hospitals on agency nurses to help them over periods of staff absences.
The REC has been a keen proponent of the benefits the flexible working model offers to the recovery of the UK economy. Regardless of whether we’re talking public or private sector, agency staff are proven to be cost effective.
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