Blog Post

I had a client in the Construction industry, who recently pro-claimed that ‘it’s a buyer’s market’ and that ‘they have the pick of the bunch’…after careful consideration, the following conversation proceeded:

Me: ‘ok so you feel you have a lot of choice in the market now?’
Client: ‘yes, we are receiving a lot of CV’s daily, we literally can’t get through them”
Me: ‘ Right, so lets focus on this requirement of yours, you are looking for a Senior Tunnel Design Engineer, yes?”
Client: ‘ Yes that’s right”
Me: ‘ Ok so do you believe that there is a huge amount of Senior Tunnel Design Engineers available for your job, due to the downturn? I believe your position has been unfilled now for 6 weeks?”
Client: “ Well it’s more difficult to find those sort of people, but there are lots of other Construction candidates in the market”
Me:” But not many Senior Tunnel Design Engineers right?”

Ok so you get the gist. My point in the above dialogue was to subtly point out to the client, that not ALL sectors and positions were affected by the downturn. The downturn did not suddenly created a massive pool of Senior Tunnel Design Engineers, who were made redundant by their previous companies. Not at all. Good people remain difficult to find across most industries.

If you are one of these people who has used the ‘hype’ to believe you can 'cherry pick' , then beware. Two things may have happened (if you were overly wreckless) 1) you may have squeezed your recruitment suppliers margins and 2) you may have treated certain candidates below acceptable standards. If you have done any of the above, I would say beware of the following in months/years to come:

1) Recruitment Consultancies may have discounted their fees for you, however I’m fairly certain that this will be a temporary move. As soon as the market returns (and that it will), the same old problem of being able to find good talent on time, will return, putting the candidates back in the driving seat NOT the clients (sector specific of course, but generally speaking). Thus making the Recruitment Consultant’s role far more difficult and time-consuming, therefore this will reflect in an increase in fees. Be prepared and enjoy your discounts whilst you can.

2) I feel for those companies, HR departments, Recruitment Consultancies, Hiring Managers etc, who behaved with subtle arrogance, during these current difficult times. People have memories, and they won’t forget about the companies who treated them well and those that treated them poorly. Those visionary people and companies who invested in enhancing their ‘Employer of Choice’ branding during this downturn, well done! I firmly believe your efforts will not go un-noticed. Those who didn’t return calls, emails, and generally treated jobseekers with dis-respect, then beware, as I believe the candidates will remember this in years to come, and this may stop certain
candidates from joining certain companies, long after this recession is over and done with.

The Indian philosophy of karma springs to mind.