The North East seems to be faring particularly badly in the
economic downturn. Damian Hayes, head of permanent IT recruitment
at NetworkersMSB, a specialist IT and telecoms recruitment
consultancy with offices across the UK, says companies in the North
East are recruiting fewer staff than comparable organisations in
other regions, although he is now seeing a downturn in the number
of vacancies in other regions as well.
Sue Ormerod, a managing consultant with
Newcastle-upon-Tyne-based consultancy Nigel Wright Recruitment says
that much of the recruitment that is currently taking place is
driven by projects involving governance issues, such as
data security and disaster recovery, with the Oracle contract
market particularly buoyant and rates holding up well. Hayes
confirms that Oracle is much sought after in the permanent market
as well, along with .net and Java. "We are also working with
clients who are looking to bring in infrastructure expertise and in
particular IP telephony," he says.
Another trend, says Ormerod, is for employers to upskill rather
than downskill when recruiting, choosing to spend a little more on
a third-line support person rather than second-line because they
feel it will add much more value to their operations. At the same
time, she thinks, the market has been muddied by recent
redundancies at
Northern Rock and other financial institutions in the region.
"As people who have been made redundant or who are currently
unemployed get taken on, they do not leave a gap behind them," she
points out. "And it is easier to find a large volume of candidates,
but quality is still hard to find."
That is the experience of IT service provider Knowledge IT. It
employs about 75 staff at its offices in Washington, Tyne and Wear,
and Leeds, primarily in infrastructure support and deployment.
George Sanger, the company's sales and marketing director, says it
has been able to take on excellent help desk and first-line support
staff who have been shed by large employers in the region, but that
it still struggles to find candidates with good high-end technical
and business skills.
Such is the shortage of experienced candidates, says Sally
Waterston, a director of Waterstons (an IT services company based
in Durham with technical consultancy, development and business
consultancy divisions), that "if we come across someone who is
fantastic, we will take them on even if we do not have a
vacancy."
Because of the difficulty in finding experienced high-quality
candidates, the region is a good place for graduates looking for a
start with a smaller employer. "We take on a lot of graduates and
grow our own people," says Waterston, "and our shallow hierarchy
means people get a huge amount of trust and responsibility and
there is no ceiling on their aspirations. Our current technical
director started out as a graduate and was made technical director
after five years, and we have no limit on the number of people we
make executive consultants."
Waterston thinks the focus on graduates is also a consequence of
the many excellent universities in the region and the fact that
many people who move to the North East to study stay once they
graduate because they like the area. "The North East offers so much
culturally that you get in London, and there is beautiful
countryside, but it is much quieter," she explains.
However, salaries in the North East are typically lower than
elsewhere. "It is below the national average for a number of
technology skill areas, and that is a major reason why companies
looking to hire in the North East are failing to attract
candidates," says Hayes. "One recent example is a Newcastle-based
client who is looking to hire a voice over IP specialist but is
offering a salary budget of £30,000. Appropriately qualified
candidates are earning more than £35,000 in other areas of the
country and in excess of £40,000 in the South East." As a result,
he says, "We are seeing people being more mobile and more prepared
to work further afield for a better salary."
Yet, Ormerod says that for many IT staff in the region, this is
not really an option, because they are landlocked. "A lot of people
come back to the region because they have children and need
childcare assistance from grandparents, or because they have
elderly relatives they need to care for. It is a big upheaval for
them to move out of the region, and if they do, they often move
back," she says.
Commuting even within the region can also be difficult. "It is
just a little bit too far to commute on a daily basis even between
Newcastle and Leeds," she says.
This "captive market" is probably one reason why salaries remain
low. Hayes thinks another factor is that many organisations in the
region seem to be constrained by inflexible pay scales and cannot
make exceptions to secure the IT staff they need. However, others
recognise that they are competing in a national market. Waterston
says her company pays competitive salaries compared to companies in
the South East, although housing and the cost of living are
cheaper.
In addition, companies in the North East compensate for slightly
lower salaries by being more willing to offer training, and by
working hard to hold on to staff. "Because we cannot find people
who already have the skills we need, we are putting a lot of people
through training," Sanger says. "There is a risk when you train
people that they will take those skills elsewhere, so we make sure
we look after people to keep them." Ormerod confirms that with a
talent war for the very best people going on, HR departments in the
region are working hard to retain staff, and have very good
development plans in place to help people progress.