Press Release: Hire the best people before they are snapped up says Katie Bard recruitment

Companies who hire ‘the cream of the crop’ in the New Year will ensure 2010 is a year to remember, a Birmingham recruitment expert believes.

Verity Stokes, divisional leader at Katie Bard in Waterloo Street, says research indicates that companies which hire at the right time see a surge in productivity and performance.

Recruiting earlier than most will also mean avoiding having to hike up salaries when the talent pool has reduced, she said.

“The recent McKinsey War for Talent survey showed that companies which were quick off the mark and invested time in the recruitment process ended up with staff who delivered major improvements for their business,” Ms Stokes said.

“The survey showed that companies which had hired well saw a 40 per cent increase in productivity in operations roles and a 49 per cent increase in profit management roles.

“It is fairly obvious that hiring the best equipped, motivated people will make a business stronger – but if firms wait until the post-recession wave of recruitment then it will become harder and harder to get the best person for the job.

“When the job market becomes saturated, it makes it difficult for people to stand out. It means a firm must resort to offering higher wages or bigger benefit packages, without necessarily attracting a better quality of individual.”

Ms Stokes said that although Katie Bard has yet to see a widespread upturn in recruitment, many companies are already ‘upgrading’ the quality of their staff.

“Even when the recession was at its worst, we saw 25 per cent of our best candidates find jobs within six weeks,” she said.

“There are two types of businesses doing that. The first type has been resistant to the recession and is expanding – the second has not been as resilient but are thinking ahead.

“They are positioning themselves to come out of the recession with a workforce that will ensure 2010 is a profitable year and a new foundation for growth.”

Katie Bard is expecting an initial upturn in recruitment interest during January – but predicts the sustained recovery will begin during the spring.

But Ms Stokes said many human resources departments are already putting in the groundwork to ensure they get the right people.

“One aspect of recruitment our company has been focusing on is how interviewers can improve the way they question candidates,” she said.

“It is very easy in the digital age to perfect a CV and learn how to say all the right things – so it’s important to get beyond that and find out what really motivates a person and what they will bring to the table.

“We held an ‘interviewing masterclass’ event recently in Birmingham and had nearly 100 HR people attend.

“If we had held it six months ago, I doubt it would have attracted half that – because people were just not thinking about the job market.

“But people are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel now and preparing to make their move in the market.”

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