Market Update & Salary Guide

Recruitment has steadily increased throughout the year and is a welcome indication that recovery is underway.

Within Thorpe Molloy Recruitment's North East Salary Guide 2018/19 each of our recruitment specialisms shares its own account of activity but generally, fewer job seekers are immediately available which, in conjunction with more job choice, means employers are finding it harder to source skilled and experienced professionals.

Candidate confidence is on the rise and curiosity around job opportunities is evolving into a more determined mindset to secure new employment. Lack of progression, poorly defined career paths and frustration that remuneration does not reflect personal contributions are increasingly common reasons for candidates to re-engage with us to support their job search.

The shifting market has created a recruitment and retention conundrum for employers:

• In the depths of the downturn there was less investment in training and development. Fewer apprentices and traineeships were on offer too. This has created a skills deficit now.
• In an environment where there were many more candidates than jobs, employers hired over-qualified generalists, benefiting from their extensive knowledge and experience. As the job market improves more senior positions will become attractive to these professionals, particularly those who have been confined in positions which did not offer development.
• As well as "flexing down" on salary to secure employment, employees often took on larger workloads, accepted cuts to benefits or readjusted their career aspirations. As the years have passed, these professionals feel increasingly taken for granted and are ready for a positive personal change in circumstances.

We anticipate that it will be harder to source experienced, skilled workers during 2019 and our recommendations to support more effective resourcing next year include:

1. Planning is essential to mitigate against reactive recruitment which is always less efficient in terms of cost and candidate engagement. Accept that your plan will be subject to change due to constantly shifting internal and external factors.
2. Tap into the Gig economy. Short term contracts, temporary and freelance work are appealing to a growing number of experienced professionals seeking greater flexibility in their work. Although the impact of IR35 private sector reforms may diminish the size of this talent pool.
3. Improve your employee diversity by removing potentially bias inducing information such as the applicant's name from the shortlisting process.
4. Use diverse teams to make hiring decisions – a blend of age, gender and background will inject new perspectives to your hiring decisions.
5. Work on your employer brand and share what it really means to work in your business.
6. Consider completely new profiles. Are you citing that a degree qualification is mandatory for certain roles when in practice it is not? Perhaps you are recruiting for positions where the soft skills and attitudes are transferable from other industries but the knowledge can be trained inhouse? Re-engage with activities you may have mistakenly assumed were outdated – such as Open Days and Career Fairs.
7. Hire less experienced people and train, select for high potential and develop.
8. Offer flexible working. Challenge the concept of the drearily over used "work/life balance". In today's working world there really is no such thing, life doesn't stop while you are in work and work often spills over into home life.
9. Engage with recruiters to understand how they can add value.
10. Make your recruitment process less intimidating.

Our recruiters share their experiences of recruitment, candidate availability and starting salary information in this year's guide but you'll also find expert opinion on benefits and international mobilisation.

With five decades of workers now in employment how can an employer provide benefits which respond to all their employees' needs? Anne Lawson of Mattioli Woods, one of the UK's leading providers of employee benefit services, answers this question, sharing specialist insight on benefit programmes which motivate employees and are appropriate for every budget.

And since international growth is a strategic priority for many of our clients we invited global mobility expert Graham McKechnie from activpayroll to outline the essential elements of a successful global mobility strategy from a cost and human perspective.

Packed with guidance, advice and expert commentary take the first step towards improving your recruitment practice in 2019.