Partner Article

It’s Not All Grim up North

Becky Mortimer of Solrecruit looks at recruitment in the North East.

It’s fair to say recruitment as an industry has had a tough few years but rather than focus on the negatives, I want to focus on the positives in the North East as a region and investigate what is ahead of us for 2012.

If we take every news article we read as gospel the UK is doomed, we have
a ‘forgotten youth’ and jobs, well, simply do not exist. If that really were the case companies like Solutions would cease to trade and we would all be joining the ever rising figures of unemployment. But are they really ever rising and why do Solutions continue (and dare I say it even grow) as a business?

It was reported recently that Unemployment in the North East has dropped by 4000 from 12% to 11.2% in the last quarter to December last year, yet rather than report this as good news, the story was quickly marred by the fact that the North East still has the highest unemployment rate in the UK. The fact of the matter is it dropped, which means those 4000 people found employment within this region.

Solutions have been established since 1984, something we are understandably proud of as 27 years in Recruitment is like dog years, seven times as long. There have been many names come and go several times over in that time so why are we still here, especially as we are a North East independent, only based in the ‘highest unemployment’ area of the country? The simple answer is there are jobs to be filled here. The not so simple answer scratches under the surface and delves into recruitment practice, business ethos, consultant’s likeability, consistency, quality of service and price, but that’s for another day.

So, with a bit of positivity in our minds, what is in store for the North East, the
Recruitment industry and Solutions for 2012? Lee Andrews, Solutions Managing Director who is serving his 19th year with the business this year comments “The positive data coming out of the U.S. and Japan, coupled with Greece putting its house in order would appear to point to a more hopeful outlook for business and the UK economy in general. We anticipate an increase in hiring activity as the year progresses.”

It is also worth noting that whilst lack of experience will certainly go against you in finding employment, age will not. Falling in the under 25 bracket myself, I started in a very junior research position in the industry I wanted to be in. I now have five years of solid work experience under my belt and would encourage anyone to grab employment opportunities with both hands, even voluntary as experience on your CV is invaluable in today’s competitive market. Even in the ‘grim’ North, there are always opportunities if you look for them, something I have certainly learned quickly in recruitment.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Becky Mortimer .