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In This Issue

- tax briefs page
- grants mean good business for smes
- business briefs
- new national pensions framework
- legal briefs page
- setting your sites page

RECRUITMENT & EMPLOYMENT OUTLOOK FOR 2010

Most economic commentators agree that the next six to twelve months are going to be challenging for the economy as a whole, however, small ‘shoots’ of recovery are starting to appear. The fourth quarter of 2009 saw a 27% increase in the volume of recruitment conducted by recruitment consultancies in the Irish market, and the fi rst three months of 2010 have continued in a similar vein. While the impact on employment numbers continues to make worrisome headlines, people actively engaged in the market have a slightly more positive story to tell.

Employers have cautiously started hiring again. Why? Well, for a start, employer confi dence is starting to rise on the back of more positive economic indicators. We have seen positive growth return to a number of Ireland’s closest trading partners including the US and much of the Euro area. Consumer confi dence is also creeping upwards. The ESRI announced that the consumer sentiment index made an 11.3% leap in January 2010.

Two sectors have continued to perform above the average: IT and Sales & Marketing. The IT market has shown a 32% increase in the number of new positions handled by agencies since September 2009. Software Developers maintained their salary levels to a large degree in 2009, particularly developers skilled in .NET and Java technologies. The web industry has been particularly robust over the last year, therefore, people with strong web skills were largely immune from the recession in terms of pay.

Across most industry sectors the need for good sales people remains high. Companies realise that good sales people are integral to the future development of their business, particularly if they can help win new business, retain existing clients and ultimately aid the growth of revenue. In 2010, there will continue to be a demand for experienced sales professionals and new business developers. The demand has increased signifi cantly due to the restructuring of sales teams and increased demand for ‘hunter’ profi le personality types.

Accountants were not unaffected by the downturn: salaries, in practice, were reduced by around 10% across the board. Areas that have shown a considerable slowdown include Wealth Management, Transactions Services and Corporate Finance. However, every cloud does have a silver lining, and Corporate Restructuring/Insolvency remains an area of growth for most fi rms.

The broader banking market had an extremely tough year in 2009. The term ‘Recruitment Freeze’ has been widely associated with domestic banking markets since mid- 2008. This trend should continue into 2010, with some minor exceptions in business critical areas. Investment management and associated markets made a muted comeback toward the second quarter of 2009, with a return to a reasonable volume of recruitment towards the end of the year.

Within the Insurance sector, the fi rst quarter of 2009 was a low point for employment. The second half of 2009 saw steady improvement in the number of new and replacement positions created. This owed much to the decisions of some international insurance providers to relocate their head offi ce functions to Ireland from other off-shore locations. Whilst other markets are slowly returning to normal, the construction sector continues to fl ounder, and the recovery of service markets, such as Legal, Architectural and Retail Banking, has been delayed as a result. The outlook for these particular markets is dependent largely on the success or failure of NAMA along with the ability of employees within these markets to adjust their expectations regarding salary and scope of responsibilities.

The provision and subsequent demand for outplacement services to employers has increased by 21% during 2009. Employers see the value of a properly delivered outplacement and career transition service in terms of supporting an organisation and its employees through this diffi cult time. In particular, these services signifi cantly ‘soften’ the effect of redundancy on departing employees and leave a positive impression of the company. In order to aid the selection and hiring process employers are looking for more sophisticated ways of screening and sourcing candidates. Companies are also looking at ‘partnering’ with experienced recruitment consultancies that can provide ‘value-added’ services such as psychometric testing, interim and temporary solutions, talent identifi cation and acquisition, as well as executive search strategies.

One of the ironies of the current market is that it is still extremely difficult to find and hire ‘good people’. Skilled mid-to senior-level candidates who are currently employed are reluctant to move from the safety of their current positions. To this end, employers are finding that there is enormous value in partnering with recruitment consultancies that are skilled in sourcing ‘hard to find’ people. Consultancies that have the expertise and reach to identify ‘passive’ candidates that employers would not otherwise be able to source are enjoying significant growth in demand for their services.

GREAT PEOPLE MAKE GREAT COMPANIES

More and more employers and business leaders are realising that the single biggest difference that they can make to their business in 2010 is acquiring the most talented people in the market. Identifying, attracting and retaining talented individuals will be the name of the game in the Post-Celtic Tiger era.

Abrivia’s full Salary Survey for 2009/2010 is available online at www.abrivia.ie

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Tags: business Ireland, corporate budgeting, Efficient business, financial news Ireland, Post-Celtic Tiger era, Recruitment Freeze, recruitment Ireland