The future looks bright

“The outlook for the UK economy is less than rosy, but a recession is not looming” according to the Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM). I personally suport this belief and while things will get tough for a while, recruiters who have a positive cash flow and are able to weather potential client payment problems could do extremely well.

According to the latest growth forecast by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) the UK's gross domestic product (GDP) should increase by 1.7 per cent this year and 1.3 per cent in 2009. While both of these figures are lower than previous estimates, the CBI warns against being overly cautious. Richard Lambert, the CBI's director-general, said: "We should avoid believing a recession is inevitable, or talk ourselves into unnecessary trouble."

I say, "If there is grow to be had, it had better be mine!"

However, and of much more of a concern to recruiters, the report also predicts that unemployment will increase to 1.79 million by the end of 2009, meaning around 150,000 people will lose their jobs between now and then. Recruiters need to be fast on their feet to offer solutions for employers and workers alike.

One initiative to pre-empt approaching issues might be to implement a confidential ‘Staff Flow Forecasting’ exercise with your major clients and help them flex if times get tight. Feel free to contact me if you want an insight into what you could do here.

I worked with one agency recently that was wonderfully innovative in the way it worked with one of its key clients that had just lost a major order and needed to make staff redundant. The Agency agreed to take excess permanent staff onto their own books as Temps and give them assignments (some back into the original employer) until the situation improved. The client underwrote any downtime and preserved key skills and good people until replacement business was found.

Complacency is the chief killer in an economic down-turn, creative thinking is the key to survival.

Gareth