Few would deny that this has been a tough year for businesses and organisations of all shapes and sizes, with tens of thousands of people finding themselves out of work as a result. Crucially, though, the vast majority of the jobs lost to date have been either low-skilled or semi-skilled jobs: those permanent roles with specialist technical knowledge (including those with in-demand ICT [information and communication technology] skills) have emerged largely unscathed.

This is important because, during a recession, many companies mistakenly believe that skilled technology staff will be (a) easier to come by and (b) cheaper to hire. In reality, the opposite is often true.

Sony Ericsson’s mobile developer support website ‘Developer World’ found recently:

• 38% of companies are planning to trim IT staff this year, but certain skills remain hot, according to a new study
• a recent poll showed companies’ hiring plans had changed in recent months but just 4% of respondents planned to make cuts
• the anticipated cuts are not especially deep; 22% of those who plan to reduce staff said they would eliminate only between 1% and 5%
• workers with business-intelligence skills and expertise in C, C++ and C# programming should fare especially well in the weakened job market, according to the study
• 17% of companies are now looking for Mac developers, more than tripling the previous survey’s finding of 5%
• meanwhile, the percentage of respondents that intend to hire workers on a temp-to-perm basis shot up to 56% from 27% in the previous study.

IT skill sets that were in short supply before the recession hit (C++ programmers, for example) are still in short supply. Those individuals who possess scarce IT skills are unlikely to the recession: those guys haven’t lost their jobs.

This had led to a rise in contract rates and a rise in contract opportunities, and where the demand for contractors has waned it has only led to those contractors accepting permanent roles with clients who were prepared to offer decent salaries to ensure they could deliver projects that were already underway.

Given their relatively secure position with their current employers, many potential candidates for your vacant technology job will be unwilling to consider a move right now.

To assume there is only one ‘recruitment market’ is a huge mistake. There are obviously countless markets, sub-divided in terms of role, industry and geography

Against this backdrop - a small pool of talent resistant to changing jobs - it becomes clear that a recession means that you actually need to pay more to attract the best technology talent, not less. It’s a simple case of supply and demand - talk to any estate agent and they will tell you that £1m+ houses are still £1m+ houses and they still sell.

The key lesson is that recession does not affect all sectors of the recruitment market equally. To assume that there is only one ‘recruitment market’ is a huge mistake. There are obviously countless recruitment markets, sub-divided in terms of role, industry and geography.

For example, you’re an Edinburgh-based company in need of a Java programmer. Before you embark on any kind of search for candidates, it would wise to know the state of the Java marketplace first. Armed with an up-to-date picture on the availability of the skills your client needs, they can put together a package and a search strategy more likely to attract passive candidates already in secure employment.

It is this type of role-specific market knowledge that a professional recruitment consultant should be bringing to the table for their clients.

Attracting specialist in-demand IT skills is a specialist skill in itself and should be treated as such. Placing a specialist post on a job board during a recession will undoubtedly generate applications - but not from the specialist talent you’re looking for. More than 50% of the applications received will be entirely unqualified for the role. Once an HR team has sifted through those, will they still have the time or the energy to find the golden candidates among the chaff?

Job boards will produce candidates but, in recruitment terms, it’s once you have your candidates that the real work begins. So, before you go down the seemingly inexpensive route of placing a £200 advert on an online job board, consider the time and expense associated with properly handling the volume of applications you’ll receive. Again, strategic use of a professional recruitment consultancy can be invaluable in providing this ‘candidate sifting’ process on your behalf.

Now is the time to grasp the nettle and ensure we, as professional consultants, are providing that consultative service to our clients - it’s when times are tough that the true professionals come to the fore and the cowboys walk away in search of an easier buck, but it’s not easy. No matter the challenge in your particular marketplace, your professional approach will be the deciding factor as to which side of the success/failure line you end up on.

powerpoints

• The recession does not affect all sectors of the recruitment market equally
• Permanent roles with specialist knowledge, particularly in the ICT sector have emerged largely unaffected by the recession
• Professional recruitment consultants should be addressing their clients’ needs more by offering a truly consultative service, using their specialist knowledge and strategies to track down the elusive specialist talent in demand
• Clients are going to need to pay more and offer decent salaries to attract the best talent in those in-demand sectors

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