Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Recruitment & retention

SMEs more appealing to candidates

by Personnel Today 28 Jul 2009
by Personnel Today 28 Jul 2009


  • Working for market leaders not top priority for employees

  • 60% would choose SME over corporate

  • Regional breakdown of results available

63% of employers think that being a market leader attracts candidates, but this is only a priority for 20% of recruits, according to research released today by secretarial recruitment consultancy Angela Mortimer plc.

The company’s annual Blue Book salary survey of 1400 employers and employees across the country and in Europe, revealed a disparity between what companies offer and what candidates want. In every region across the UK, Paris and Brussells, candidates were consistently looking for a great work environment, career progression opportunities, and a good salary. However, employers thought that being a market leader was more important than salary or the opportunity to develop in the business (see Table 1 below). 

On Thursday, company chairman, John Mortimer, hosted a webinar in which 88 industry figures and candidates came together online to discuss the subject. John comments:

“We’ve been operating for over thirty years and it seems as though SMEs are consistently out-recruiting corporates. They’re more creative in their recruitment processes and tend to be open to looking at what the whole candidate can offer rather than taking a tickbox approach.”

The audience was polled during the webinar, with interesting results: 70% of employees thought that corporates offer better salary packages. However, 60% would take an offer from an SME over a comparable offer from a corporate. This was largely down to the better working environment offered by SMEs (according to 63% of participants). 

Mike Morgan, CEO of the Red Consultancy, was a member of the panel. He commented:

“For candidates big is no longer beautiful. 20 years ago received wisdom was to join a BA or a BT or a big bank. Now they value the flexibility of opportunity that SMEs can offer.”

The debate revealed that this is a phenomenon that is increasingly true for ‘generation Y’. Graduates, who fall into this category, had previously favoured corporates, but more are turning to SMEs which can accommodate their desire for strong work-life balance, need for flexibility, and dependence on communicating with people throughout the organisation.  

John Mortimer is available for interview, and a recording of the webinar is also available.

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

OptOut
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

 


 

Personnel Today

Personnel Today articles are written by an expert team of award-winning journalists who have been covering HR and L&D for many years. Some of our content is attributed to "Personnel Today" for a number of reasons, including: when numerous authors are associated with writing or editing a piece; or when the author is unknown (particularly for older articles).

previous post
Bullhorn granted affiliate membership to APSCo
next post
Premier Partnership to add new ILM Level 2 Qualifications developed with COGENT

You may also like

How neuroscience can unlock employee recognition

22 May 2025

Workers ‘wait and see’ as companies struggle to...

16 May 2025

So what does the election of a new...

9 May 2025

Rumours during recruitment: how should HR respond?

9 May 2025

Teacher apprenticeship route to be tied to school...

9 May 2025

British Steel to resume recruitment

8 May 2025

M&S pauses hiring as it deals with cyber...

2 May 2025

Top 10 HR questions April 2025: increases to...

2 May 2025

Leading with honest feedback: A responsibility in recruitment

24 Apr 2025

Succession planning now ‘more of a priority than...

24 Apr 2025

  • 2025 Employee Communications Report PROMOTED | HR and leadership...Read more
  • The Majority of Employees Have Their Eyes on Their Next Move PROMOTED | A staggering 65%...Read more
  • Prioritising performance management: Strategies for success (webinar) WEBINAR | In today’s fast-paced...Read more
  • Self-Leadership: The Key to Successful Organisations PROMOTED | Eletive is helping businesses...Read more
  • Retaining Female Talent: Four Ways to Reduce Workplace Drop Out PROMOTED | International Women’s Day...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2025

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2025 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+