So the latest TUC survey shows that whether you can feel the benefit of the economic recovery is dependent on where you live in the UK. No surprises there. London powers ahead followed closely by Manchester and Birmingham, but for most people, in most places, all they know is that life is still tough, writes Clive Jefferys, JMA Network.
The report concludes that most of the population is 'hanging on grimly to the same job' and not willing to risk change, unless there are substantially improved rewards on offer.
While this may well be true across employment as a whole, within the mix many types of qualified professional are already on the move and certainly within telecoms this is true. Deloitte's yearly analysis reveals that recruitment advertising has increased by a whopping 25% and 85% of companies want to continue to expand their headcount.
At JMA, our new salary offers are up by 11%, but of 102 vacancies on our books a month ago, 83 are still open. Apart from the positions that we filled, it seems that most companies are not having much luck.
The UK workforce continues to peak at an all-time high due to a risk averse, static candidate market, yet in just three months unemployment fell by an incredible 375,000 driven by seasonal and temporary hires.
Here's a good example of this conundrum. One of my friends has just got the go ahead to run a £50m property redevelopment in Central London. Yet despite all this economic positivity, he will have to prefabricate as much as he can, because he cannot recruit enough skilled workers to do it onsite.
So who are the winners in our battle to attract new staff?
Well, this year's round of telecoms awards reveal an awful lot... we had 11 Finalists and 7 Winning Companies from our client list.
How did we come to work with those organisations? Simply because they offer great jobs, great pay, give greater worth to well matched candidates, and value what we do to make it happen too.
They are companies that are fast moving and decisive in word and deed, and that's what our candidates want to buy into. Perhaps if more companies followed this example, next year they could be winners too?