PR Recruitment - a state of the market report

The recruitment market in the UK PR sector seems to be having a considerable renassaince following last years nadir! I asked Ros Kindersley from JFL recruitment to put the current state of the market into some context: 1. Bearing in mind last year’s economic car crash, where are we on the way to recovery for the PR recruitment sector? There is no getting away from the fact that the job market last year was dire, with few opportunities and a great deal of prevarication, so I am happy to report that 2010 is showing a great deal more activity and decisiveness in PR and Communications recruitment. We are finding a range of talented people who have been in the same role for three or four years without a promotion or pay rise and who now need to move for all the right reasons – and it is this career development issue that is generating energy in the recruitment sector. After all, we are in a creative industry and creative people need fresh influences and new colleagues to learn from. 2. How many live permanent jobs do JFL have right now and how does this compare to this time last year ? We now have exactly double the number of permanent job vacancies from this time last year, 2009. Interestingly, we have the same number of assignments we had at the start of September 2008 – and it was at this point that the number of live briefs plummeted. There is no doubt this was linked to the Lehman’s crash. 3. How many live interim jobs do JFL have live and how does this compare to this time last year? There is still an air of caution in the market, and this is reflected in the continuing popularity of freelance, interim and ‘temp to perm’ contracts. We have fewer short term interim jobs of three months or less, but have seen an increase in longer term 9 – 12 month maternity leave contracts, so in terms of volume slightly less, but in terms of financial turnover up by 20%. Maternity leave seems to be a growing trend, which I feel is an indicator of both the demographics of the PR industry and the climate of a recession. 4.  How many placements have JFL made in the last month for both permanent and interim positions. And how does this compare to this time last year? Year to date we are 27% ahead of this time last year. To give a closer analysis, comparing monthly placements, May 2010 had twice as many placements as May 2009, and both June and July 2010 have had four times as many placements as June and July 2009. 4.  Have social media channels like LinkedIn and Twitter affected the recruitment process in PR? LinkedIn is a great research tool, but I’m afraid I am a bit of a luddite when it comes to Twitter. Social media certainly has its place in the recruitment process, but the most important element of recruitment is the interview, face to face, followed by regular personal contact whether it is by telephone, email, social media or video link! Editors note: If you are looking for a job, or looking to advertise a PR vacancy, you could do worse than try PRMoment Jobs. Nearly 10,000 UK based PROs look at the site each month and current recruiters are reporting an excellent response.