Recap of 2009

As the year comes to a close, it’s always timely to stop and reflect. This year in particular has been challenging for all of us. It’s fair to say that we’ve experienced a period of extreme uncertainty, but the market (and moods) have improved significantly in the second half of the year.

The employment market is reflecting a marked shift away from a series of tough quarters in late 2008 and early 2009 with most organisations actively hiring in the second half of 2009.

In the first half of the year there was limited hiring with organisations, in both the banking and financial services sectors, focusing on internal change (lots of restructuring) in order to increase efficiencies and maximise profits. As a result there was a steady level of hiring activity across the back office – in particular operations.

Responding to the need to increase revenue and market share the front office has followed suit in the second half of 2009 with aggressive recruitment of financial planners, relationship managers/ business development managers and other sales and marketing roles within business banking, platforms, insurance, superannuation and dealer groups. Significant uplifts (approximately 20-30%) were observed in July and again in October with new roles being created to suit the changing needs of businesses post GFC.

A key difference we experienced in 2009 compared to other periods of economic stress was that people were keen to assess new roles. Typically in any kind of down turn the last thing on anyone’s mind is changing their job. However during the GFC we had a completely different experience at Profusion. People (candidates) were very open to exploring new roles and changing employers; the view being “if I am being hired now, in these market conditions, it is because I am part of the solution and therefore key to business success”. Change equated to job security, not the other way round.

The outlook for the recruitment of new roles in 2010 is likely to be similar to the latter half of this year; steady. However I am expecting to see high turnover across most organisations as employees reassess their career options in the New Year. This is evidenced by the high level of interest we have from candidates. In late 2007 during the peak of the skills shortage we were likely to have two out of 10 people we head hunted about a role meet us to discuss the role; and those two were unconvinced about making a change. At the moment eight out of 10 people want to meet us to talk about a change and they are very keen to move.

My sense is that when you come through a crisis of any kind, a period of self reflection is normal. In 2010 we are heading into a market of intense self reflection with employees seeking a fresh start; whether that means a better role with more responsibility, more money, stronger and (more) functional leadership, or (more) competitive brand/ products to sell. It could also mean people are simply tired and were worn down during the GFC by too much change and they no longer feel the alignment to their employer that they did previously.

Whatever the motives, we expect to be extrememely busy in 2010 replacing roles due to resignation and a lesser degree internal progression.

All the best for a great New Year and I look forward to catching up with you in January

Cheers – Simone

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