2009 revisited

2009 saw the South African recruitment industry hit harder than we can remember. For job hunters, it's been a frustrating year of submissions and waiting with little or no response from agencies or companies. And yet, somehow newspapers still spoke about the shortage of skills untill very recently.

Just like most other industries, the recruitment industry was hard hit by the economic recession that rippled from overseas into South Africa. Retrenchments and closures made their presence clearly felt.

Perhaps the most frustrating symptom of the insecurites in our industries has been the indecision on behalf of companies. Part of recruitment in Gauteng has always been the fickleness of some industry sectors who just as soon advertise a vacancy as cancel it, change it, or relocate it to another province. However, this past year has seen more freezing, thawing and re-freezing of vacancies than our polar caps. (It's been Global warming of a whole other nature!)

Even well established companies with a vast historical network of client connections have felt this as we commuted through the very rough and extremely choppy seas of the 2009 job market.

Under such tremendous pressure, the already existant trends towards online marketing and recruitment were taken up a few quick notches, leaving unprepared agencies rather bewildered in the vaccuum of no CVs and no clients. For many it was as if suddenly the lights had gone out, and we're not just talking Eskom's cuts which saw it's own share of fits of fury at black screens and pending CV submissions.

Like a falling dominoes game, agencies saw industry after industry wobble reflected in the CV submissions of candidates who would settle for anything remotely similar to what their career of choice is, just to stay employed. It's been a buyer's market for employers, but the latter were simply not buying.

So what do we take from a time such as this, a year such as 2009? IMM Recruitment will certainly prove to have benefitted from this in the long run since, always looking to market trends, we had already predicted the move to online recruitment and began to position ourselves early in the year. We can confidently say that our marketing strategies have reached more companies than in any previous 12 month stretch. Coupled with IMM GSM super initiatives like the re-building of our Association for Marketers and the creation of an every strengthening sales force, the IMM GSM flag has flown higher than before, and with it, IMM Recruitment.

The key in times such as these is to find the strength to weather the storm, and tie down everything that moves, then begin to build the ship for an extended journey. IMM Recruitment is optimistic. We believe that the spices and silk of prosperity are already in view, as more and more companies begin to breathe a little more easy this month, and staff planning resumes.

It is difficult to say just when the clouds will lift completely, but certainly 2010 is a year of promise, judging from what already sits on the books.

If you haven't already done so, submit your CV to IMM Recruitment today. View www.imm.co.za/recruitment for details on a branch near you, and a taste test of things to come.  Stay in touch with our changes and vacancies via twitter, or link up to us via LinkedIn.

As the year end holidays speed towards us all, we wish you a very peaceful and safe year end. May 2010 shine onto your career of choice.