By Clive Sexton, director, Veredus (part of Capita plc)
Last year I considered that a quote from Darwin in his 200th anniversary year was very apt, and so it turned out to be…
“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, it is the most adaptable to change.”– Charles Darwin.
This coming year, the opportunity is still there for the taking if you have the right attitude and strategy. Winston Churchill, a politician but regarded by many as apolitical, has some memorable quotes about opportunity:
“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty…”
“Courage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality that guarantees all the others…”
So where are the challenges and the opportunities facing the UK today? Let’s consider a few statistics:
• The UK’s GDP per capita growth was the highest in the G7 over 1994-2009
• Since 1990, the UK has closed a productivity gap of over 10% with the EU15
• Manufacturing drove over 25% of productivity growth between 1995 and 2007
• The UK has 50% of all European headquarters for multinationals
• The UK has 19 of the top global universities
• Productivity in the UK is 17% lower than in the US
• The share of the British population considering entrepreneurship as a career path is 18 percentage points lower than in the US
• An ageing population is predicted to reduce economic growth by 0.3 percentage points per annum
in the future
• Around 50% of growth over the past decade has been concentrated in Greater London and its neighbouring regions
While the UK faces an uncertain and uneven road ahead, economic indicators are starting to look a little more positive as markets gear up for the recovery. Stronger than expected GDP growth and rising employment rates can lay positive foundations for future growth.
Yet business leaders remain cautious, concerned about the sustainability of these trends. As the prospect of deep public sector spending cuts and sensational headlines threaten to dampen domestic demand in the short term, businesses are hesitant about investing on the promise of future growth. Last year I talked about the importance of talent retention, and more than ever the UK needs to maintain a world-class skills base, if we are to remain competitive and retain the best people. We need to grow the domestic talent pool, both to meet the needs of existing businesses and as a pull factor for foreign investment.
So what are the key factors for 2011?
More engagement of employees and less regulation. Two thirds (63%) of employers state they want the government to reduce the burden of employment regulation as a priority.
Nearly half (46%) of businesses are looking for sustained government action to help the unemployed and benefit claimants back to work.
Over half of employers (56%) believe that the UK has become a less attractive place to invest in and do business in over the last five years. However there is a surge in optimism about the UK's future performance under the coalition government, and far more employers see the UK becoming more attractive than less attractive.
Four in five employers (81%) see the burden of employment regulation as the greatest current threat to labour market flexibility.
Employers are increasingly concerned about their ability to bring in talent from outside the European Union (EU), but believe that a cap on non-EU work permits issues can be made more workable to give firms the flexibility they need.
Flexible working has become part of the fabric of the modern workplace, albeit that it comes with a cost element. Nearly all employers now offer at least one form of flexible working and a growing number offer an increasingly diverse package of options. Employers have made the right to request flexible working a success, with acceptance rates running at more than 90% for parents and carers. Other employment issues include:
• Default retirement age. Around 16% of employees still have no set retirement age. Employers value the UK's opt-out from the EU Working Time Directive and three-quarters (72%) predict a negative impact on their business if that was lost.
• Pay freezes are thawing apart from in the Public Sector. Organisations have mixed plans over recruitment, but almost a quarter (23%) plan to target recruitment in parts of their businesses. These will focus on professional, management, sales and customer services staff.
• Engaging employees is critical both in the Public and Private sectors if change is going to be achieved. Employee morale is showing signs of dipping but employers are confident that their employees recognise the need to contain costs and for continuing change.
• Although employers have been positive about employee relations, there are concerns that relations in the Public, Private and Public/Private interface may worsen over 2011. Tribunals are likely to increase as employees take advantage of the changes in employment legislation.
These are ‘interesting times’ as employers struggle to engage five distinct generations: Traditionalists, baby-boomers, Generation X, Generation Y/Millenials, and Generation Z. Also, organisations increasingly expect graduates to have some understanding of the world of work. Consequently, the demand for internships has risen. The good news is that whilst it is not clear whether graduate recruitment is a blip or a slump, it is no way as apocalyptic as some thought it might be. However the agenda for most organisations at present includes:
• Whether to have a recruitment freeze
• Review of conditions of service
• Reducing staff posts
• Reducing management costs
• Voluntary or compulsory reduction of staff hours
• Outsourcing or integrating services
• Setting up shared services
• Sharing management or back offices or setting up joint ventures.
What graduates can do
With that as a backdrop, what is the way forward? There may be career obstacles but it need not be the death of your career or prevent you getting onto that first rung. There is still opportunity in adversity. Remain positive. While the drive for greater efficiency will cull some jobs, it will also create others. Cautious optimism is a good start and with increased workloads, don't become negative; take it all on the chin and remain positive.
If you haven't rewritten your CV for some time now is the time to do it. Naturally it’s a very busy candidate market so you need to stand out from the crowd. For example, ensure that you have a fully optimised ‘LinkedIn’ profile – increasingly, employers will look there first before coming to recruitment intermediaries.
Other advice, apart from having alerts set up on the job message boards, is to utilise your primary network whether you are a freshly qualified graduate or a baby boomer in your 50's. And you can use your primary network to build secondary and tertiary networks. Attending events is also increasingly a good way to identify prospective networking opportunities, but also to identify job opportunities.
Reviewing the UK activity reports for both the Public and Private sectors, whilst there are organisations going to the wall, there are others that are expanding and developing. It is all about seeking out where the opportunities are and seizing the moment.
Despite media comments to the contrary, the Public Sector is still hiring Interim Managers and they still play a key role in completing the transformations and transitions; permanent hiring also continues. The Private sector is increasingly recognising they need to hire fresh pairs of eyes to revamp its business, devise fresh strategies, seek out new propositions to market, and look at new geographies. In addition, many of these companies have long lists of prospective acquisition targets.
Outsourcing and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) is a growth market in Western European countries that has gone from sunrise to sunshine and looks set to do well as more and more organisations look set to streamline and cut costs, Growth in BPO is expected to be higher than in all other areas. Shared services, has been a ‘slow burner’ but will gather momentum as budgetary pressures increase. The use of framework agreements will pick up as organizations look for quicker and cheaper routes to market. In addition the Public Sector is seeking a variety of finance options for cash-strapped government clients. The UK government is increasingly looking at offshoring as a cost-cutting option where appropriate.
With the exception of Kraft and Cadbury, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity has been quiet. But there are many organisations that have shopping lists of competitors they would like to acquire. When the timing is right we will see a new dawn of M&A activity particularly in Aerospace and Defence, Oil industry supplier services, Mining and Steel and Utilities. Insurance, and Healthcare; Oil exploration and production will also be quite active.
So it’s an interesting time for graduates and by the time this appears in print the graduate job scene may have changed yet again. While graduate unemployment has reached a 17-year high, it is not all bad news. The migrant cap could bar 88,000 foreign students if it is to comply with the self-imposed immigration cap, according to a senior government advisor. John Lewis has also announced it is going to double its graduate intake in 2011. In addition, graduate recruitment is predicted to grow more quickly among small businesses than in large companies next year, with firms in London, the South-East and the North-West expected to provide the most opportunities. Good websites for advice include the Association of Graduate Recruiters and Milkround.com.
Once again graduates need to plan ahead while at University to get some sound work experience on their CV. Possibly some internships – paid or unpaid – will really help differentiate you from the crowd. Seek out advice from all those around you; advice will vary, but there should be some consistent messages.
Once you are on the career ladder (and even before), manage your personal brand carefully. Be visible on LinkedIn or other sites, set up job alerts on key recruitment boards such as www.executiveappointments.com. It’s well worth checking these job boards, as increasingly recruitment intermediaries are having to maintain client confidentiality.
Be a good networker, and get referrals and recommendations. Tailor your CV against specific roles and don’t be the one in ten who falsifies information, because increasingly you will be found out. Finally, many job offers are subsequently withdrawn once organisations check the social networking sites and discover perhaps a different side to the person that they have interviewed. Ensure you are well prepared for your interview, research and prepare, anticipate the questions, even go so far as practising in front of the mirror. Because the competition will be stiff in 2011.
In summary
Beyond the downturn there are seven priorities, which if addressed, will allow the UK to achieve sustained growth over the next two decades and return from austerity back to prosperity:
1. Focus on raising productivity sector by sector to drive overall growth
2. Secure the UK’s position as the location of choice for multinationals
3. Unlock infrastructural investment
4. Innovate at scale
5. Unleash the growth potential of education and health
6. Pilot devolution to dynamic cities
7. Address generational imbalances
Once again, we have avoided economic Armageddon. With a fresh coalition government the worst has come to light, and like many European countries and the US, the UK faces a slow and possibly painful crawl back.
However the UK has, over many centuries, proved its ability to bounce back. I am confident that we will get there. I wish every one of you a happy, fulfilling and successful 2011.
(Thank you to the CBI and McKinsey Global Institute for some of the data included.)
About the author:
Clive Sexton is a Director of Veredus, a leading Interim Management, Executive Search and Business Psychology provider both to the Private and Public Sectors and the Public/Private interface. It is part of the FTSE50 Capita plc, with a global reach. Clive has extensive commercial experience gained through general management and board roles within both PLCs and also through running his own businesses. He has over 20 years international experience providing cross-functional resourcing solutions to both global businesses and start-ups.
Clive is a judge for the 2011 Britain’s Top Employers.