The Retailers Are Coming! – A Quick Market Update
It has been a few months since our last market update, but there is no surprise that it is still a candidates market! Whether you are looking for your next permanent role or thinking of becoming an Interim manager, the info below will give you food for thought!
Demand for Interim support continues to be a country mile above pre-covid levels. Last year was the highest volume we ever delivered since we started in 2008 and this year doesn’t look like it’s slowing down!
A standout area of growth has been Interim Technical Assignments.
Much of this is due to the retailers getting back into the factories and picking up on slipped standards, or maybe just making a statement i.e. “Hey there, I’m back !!”.
Another area that has spiked in the last couple of months has been Interim Planning support. There are many producers suffering from low service levels. Much of this is due to the challenges with material availability and labour shortages which can be a complex problem to navigate, especially if you don’t have established systems or planners. We are on a big drive to find more Interim Planning professionals. If you know any good ones send them my way, they are like gold dust!
There’s also a lot of strategic Consultancy work out there due to the current market conditions, much of which is a few days a week e.g. manufacturing health checks, due diligence, business strategy reviews etc.
On the perm recruitment front, demand also remains high, whilst candidate availability is low. Engagement is key! We carry out a passive search (approaching candidates already in jobs) which is proving very successful. Over the past year, candidates are a lot more open to moving when approached in this manner.
Another point is getting the salary right from the start. Correlating with inflation and high demand for candidates, we have seen salaries rising through our bench marking process which I can share with you.
An area we are placing significant focus on is Gender and Ethnic diversity in the manufacturing sector, which I’d be delighted to share with you. We track every role and have targets in place running in parallel with improvement plans. We are above the industry standard but that’s a low target…
Give us a call on 01775 729590 if you’d like to discuss any of the points above or are in need of support.
Speak soon,
Den
