2010 has so far proved about as inconclusive as we could have expected regarding the UK employment market. One minute it's up and the next it's down.
A simple walk through the streets of Leicester City Centre confirmed that for me on Sunday. Everywhere (and I mean everywhere) you look there are ‘To Let' Signs with little bits of hurriedly faxed A4 sheets in the window that reads something like this:
"Mr A. Jones and Mr A. Smith have been appointed joint administrators"
We all know that small business is the backbone of our wonderful society, but it appears at least that it is not these firms that will ultimately bring us back from the potential abyss. On the following day, at a motorway service station whilst heading back south I couldn't help but read the following:
"BP steps up response amid 135% profit surge" Lets not kid ourselves, any business would love to have a 135% profit surge given the recent times, but a 135% surge in profits to $5.6 Billion from $2.9 Billion is enough to make even Warren Buffet sink into his chair over his cornflakes this morning.
But what if these firms (and, of course our friends the banks) are the very ones to drag us out? Surely profit means investment and investment means jobs and jobs means recovery? So are the folks at Goldman's, BP et al just acting as a tax collector? Are they going to use their income to revitalise the market?
Small companies only exist because big companies are there? I know this first hand...without the market leaders to push innovation I wouldn't have the chances I have today.
So we have to hope that the money made doesn't simply get ploughed into the Chairman's coffers and they begin to reinvest back into the very people that were offloaded in the first place. People in work are the key to all our problems - salaries equal tax and tax equals income. More people paying tax is better than a less people paying more.
Every quarter when the VAT bill is due you some how feel aggrieved, but there's a man on your shoulder that whispers in your ear that says ‘Well, at least you're making money, because if you weren't you'd be given a rebate and VAT rebate = loss!)
So, to the recruitment debate once more. On the premise that firms are recruiting (which is confirmed by the last unemployment figures) it presents another question... where are they going to get the staff from?
For years it was a two horse race:
Advertise directly, and get inundated with responses from people all over the world or pay a recruitment agency to act as the gatekeeper. But surely, now of all times when cash is tight we should be discussing new, innovative methods...
Emily,
Please don't take this personally, but posts such as yours really get on my nerves. You clearly joined the HRSpace forum to place a link to a company you either own or have some interest in. We are not looking for referrals from recruiters about their firms, but trying to open a debate regarding the use of agencies in unique trading conditions.
I am sure that Google AdWords would suffice when promoting your legal recruitment company.
[Ed: Emiley's post has since been deleted]
Hi James
2 years down the road I am interested in what your decision was and whether you discovered a third option or used a recruitment agency.
I suspect you are still using a recruitment agency. Why? Because they are all recruiting internally and they would only be doing this if they had too many vacancies to work on.
I run a rec2rec business and have seen the need for recruitment staff grow enormously over the past 12 months. All the recruitment companies are announcing high profits and are all recruiting, clearly there are lots of job vacancies out there With this in mind it does lead me to ask a question. Why is unemployment at it's highest for years?
Phil Lomas
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