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Jo Skipper
Permanent team
Sydney Office
UK HR Market 2007
The UK HR market continues to be buoyant, particularly at the junior and mid-management levels, while the senior level also continues to be busier than in recent years. Demand from all sectors remains high, particularly within financial services (both investment banking, retail banking and a particular growth in insurance), professional services (particularly consultancies and law firms) and IT/Telecoms. As a result of this, there continues to be a real shortage of candidates at all levels, particularly up to Senior Management level, and particularly for those roles requiring specialist skills. Graduate recruiters are at a premium at all levels, and good in-house and legal recruiters, as well as front office generalists are also in great demand.
With demand for talent at an all time high, good candidates are in a very strong position, often with multiple offers to consider. As a result, financial rewards are increasingly attractive for the most sought after candidates, which is having the effect of pushing salaries up across the board. Organisations that do not react quickly to strong candidates during the interview process are also losing out. As well as salaries increasing, more and more organisations are starting to focus on their benefits packages to ensure they are competitive in a tight market.
The interim market continues to be busy, although as is the case with the permanent market, there is a real shortage of good candidates. This tends to be the best route for an Australian candidate to take since, while it is still rare for most organisations to sponsor candidates, most organisations will recruit on an interim basis (assuming the visa is in place). Companies are still very wary of taking on someone permanently into a generalist role with no UK experience, as there is a concern about the lack of employment law knowledge which is essential in most generalist roles. Candidates with specialist experience, particularly OD, L&D and recruitment may find it easier to secure a permanent role. This is also the case with very junior candidates as roles at this level are very administrative and do not require any depth of employment law knowledge. That said, more and more interim clients are starting to take on non-UK candidates, with the realisation that any knowledge gaps can be ironed out quickly. The market will often dictate how readily clients will accept non-UK, so be prepared to accept fluctuations in market activity. We would always advise candidates to look at the CIPD website to read up on employment law information before any interview.
Reward professionals often have good skills that are internationally transferable. At the junior end analytical data skills, MI reporting and HRIS knowledge is very often system specific but not country specific. Junior reward analysts are relatively easy to place but interim is the usually preferred approach (which tends to fit in with this demographic who are usually travelling for a year or two). More senior candidates, from an in-house background, are more easily placed into consultancies than into another in-house role. This is mainly due to the international nature of the projects they can then be deployed on as Asia-Pac knowledge is thin on the ground in Europe. This can also prove to have some real financial advantages.
Most Australians tend to choose to settle in either London or Scotland, and there are far fewer to be found in the regions. In Scotland, Australians tend to do very well because clients like their work ethic. The main advice we would give about the Scottish market is that salaries tend to be quite a bit lower than in London (the trade off is the work/life balance which is perceived as being much better in Scotland) and the Scottish market is very competitive. As a result, candidates need to be realistic about salary expectations - those looking for more than £30,000 tend to find it more challenging to find work because clients expect more at this level i.e. management experience or specialist knowledge.
It is extremely difficult to secure a role in the UK without a relevant visa. Ancestral and highly skilled migrant visas are preferred, however, clients with interim roles will consider candidates with a working holiday visa. This allows Australians to remain in the UK for 2 years, but to work for only 12 months of that time and there is no limit to the number of employers during this period. Again, this tends to be more relevant for specialist or junior generalist roles, more senior generalists will continue to find the lack of employment law experience a stumbling block.
On a very positive note, Australians tend to be very popular in the UK, mainly because clients like their work ethic and interpersonal skills. As a rule most Australians will eventually find an HR position in the UK, sometimes at a sideways level, or after a longer period of time than anticipated. Once established in a role, they tend to be very successful. The best advice is to be open to all options on arrival, and to go to as many interviews as possible to get a foot in the door, and that first role secured. Despite an increase in technology such as videoconferencing, it is unlikely that candidates will secure a position in the UK until they arrive.