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| Right skills, right person
| TINA PALMER
Managing director, ASL Personnel |
The start of 2004 has been brighter than 2003 and has seen a different approach to recruitment.
Although redundancies have still been commonplace, this has been mostly due to companies restructuring and working to tighter budgets as opposed to a downturn in business. We have also seen new businesses being set up in the Island that have resulted in more vacancies, particularly in fund administration and sales. For example, we currently have a number of clients who require candidates that have the ‘attitude’ to sell while also delivering a high level of customer service. These roles are usually dictated by targets and filled by candidates with experience within a sales environment, not necessarily in finance.
The attitude to recruitment has also changed, both the process and the procedure. Recruiters are much more exacting in the sort of candidate they are looking for and are more willing to wait and less likely to compromise. It is now very important to secure the right person with qualifications and personality that fits the company’s business objectives. Interviews are now very different. Gone are the days when you had an interview and would then be offered the job depending on your performance in that half an hour. Potential employees can now expect to have your CV scrutinised in great depth and in some cases be put through up to three interviews. They would have to be successful at each stage before it is decided if they are suitable or to be even considered for the role. The first interview could be on the telephone, the second maybe more formal and could also include some psychometric testing, and the third a role-play and or a competency interview – in other words ‘can you give us an example of when you feel you have delivered excellent customer service?’ One must not forget the impending employment legislation. No one is quite sure how the market will interact with it. Employers are trying to gear up to its implementation, which is possibly why the interview process has become more stringent.
We currently have some vacancies that are proving very hard to fill. This may seem peculiar when we have unemployment in the Island, but one of the reasons is that many of the unemployed do not match the skills, qualifications and attitude now sort by employers. The last time there was a downturn in the market the redundancies were mainly around the middle management level and then, when the market recovered, these people were reabsorbed into the workforce. It is not the same this time. The market is picking up but the vacancies are different and many of the roles people were made redundant from no longer exist.
Many redundancies have been due to functions that have been outsourced from the Island. Another main reason has been the investment in information technology. This has resulted in a number of people being let go and then the company recruiting candidates with a different skill base and qualifications for the newly formed department or role. We are noticing that many companies have made redundancies and have recruited either at the same time or shortly thereafter for individuals with different skills. The Jersey Financial Services Commission has also had an impact on the recruitment market. The need for employees to have a relevant qualification along with the experience in the role has become an essential requirement. This has also had an impact on the costs for organisations as professional qualifications can be expensive and require key members of staff to be out of the office, losing valuable fee earning time. Most training budgets are spent on technical training and continual professional development (often referred to as CPD), some would say to the detriment of soft skills. With new regulatory laws, companies have had to carry out more administration that, in turn, has meant more pressure on staff and increased costs. This has resulted in companies restructuring, merging or being acquired by another organisation as a way to survive and be competitive.
JFSC requirements have obliged companies to work within stringent guidelines, one effect of this has resulted in the need for a strict recruitment process. Some clients are requesting a police check while others go back up to ten years for references as well as checking validation of professional qualifications.
One of the most dramatic changes over the past few years has been the lack of trainee roles both for school leavers and graduates. With the outsourcing of support and back office functions there has been less, or no, demand for trainees. The graduate and school leavers are in the chicken and egg situation. They have the right basic skills but no experience and there is no training ground (due to outsourcing), so with bottom rungs of the ladder gone they do not have the experience to join organisations at a higher level. Most that come to agencies are unsure which career they wish to follow and, more importantly, how they get from being a trainee with no experience to securing a position. This is true not just of the finance industry but of other sectors too.
But with all this said there is a definite improvement in the market with more new vacancies being created, particularly in the funds and investment industries. The signs are that this trend is set to continue into 2005.
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