Beringer Tame Blog
Beringer Tame Blog
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Insight
Once upon a time there was a small, independent recruitment firm which specialised in ecommerce and digital marketing and business was good.
One day they woke up and COVID-19 had struck; people went home, businesses closed doors and the world went quiet. Jobs were cancelled and the phones stopped ringing... but not for long!
It was super hard for a good few months back in 2020 but during 2021 there was a freeing up of some excellent candidates and the creation of a plethora of roles within digital as the world evolved.
Now, as (sadly) some big tech companies start to lay off staff we foresee the same happening again.
But, as the wise Benjamin Franklin once said "from adversity comes opportunity" and there is now an excellent opportunity to acquire good talent if you have a business that looks safe in the longer term.
(James Minter)
We are a positive bunch at Beringer Tame and we are fantastic at recruiting digital and ecommerce talent. We thought that filling jobs for our clients was going to be easy during the pandemic, after all the pool of talent had grown due to the unfortunate rise in redundancies, but we realised pretty quickly that this wasn't going to be the case.
April, May 2020
June, July, August 2020
By June, we realised that there was a clear supply & demand issue - a role which earlier in the year would have been easily filled within 2 weeks, was now much more challenging. By August, top talent had already disappeared into new jobs and those we headhunted told us that 'now was not the time to make a move'.
They say hindsight is a wonderful thing, and of course it is.
Looking back at what happened to the talent network at this time seems obvious now, but we learned important lessons.
During 2021
2021 was a bumper year - there were plenty of jobs - and using our expertise we managed to fill them. Candidates and clients alike felt safe in the (almost) post-Covid world. Things were looking very positive indeed.
Early 2022
So far, this year has been ... interesting!
With political unrest in the east, the global cost of living crisis and tech firms in crisis, we've had a bumpy start to the year. However, we have still been filling jobs.
Has it been harder? Yes
Is talent available? Yes... if you're offering stability, above market remuneration, career prospects, flexibility AND work-life balance.
During the 2008/9 recession, digital unfroze - it was seen as the focus for growth and being a recruiter in the digital space, we survived and thrived. Similarly, in 2020 we are seeing a renewed bounce in digital and ecommerce and we were prepared to be ahead of the game.
Learning: Yes recession is scary, but in boom-or-bust bust times, it seems yet again that digital is at the forefront of the boom - and if your business is recession-proof, you're onto a winner!
Lockdown exposed many businesses' vulnerabilities, resulting in huge redundancies as British firms became fuelled by "elevated economic uncertainty" (especially those in the arts, entertainment, accommodation, food and travel industries). The knock-on effect was that the candidate marketplace became very quickly saturated with both skilled and unskilled job seekers - all looking for work.
In May 2020 the number of job vacancies advertised online started to increase (ONS) and the UK economy started to "re-open" in July 2020. Digital and ecommerce recruitment began to grow from May 2020 as businesses continued to digitally transform and build their online offering.
However, this plethora of talent flowing around the market was short-lived. The creme-de-la-creme - the top 20% - disappeared back into new roles within a month.
Speed is of the essence. If you need to employ digital talent, do it fast and efficiently. If you don't, someone else will.
As we head into 2022, times are again tough and we're reading in the press that many businesses which thought their momentous growth over the 'Covid years' was normal, have yet again been shown to be vulnerable now that the market has settled - just look at Klarna/Gorillas.
However, it's important to remember that things are still buoyant in the e-commerce & digital marketplace. There are new digital trends to watch and consumers to think about, but if you play your cards right, you'll ride this next wave and come out the other side.
Individuals who were (and still are) in secure jobs are (understandably) reluctant to move elsewhere. People will generally play it safe and keep their heads down unless they have a low-risk-high-value option.
Know what you're offering - whether that's salary, job scope or even benefits!
If you want to encourage talent to your company you need to be top of their mind, making them an offer they can't refuse... and which trumps their current situation.
If you're looking to hire a role in e-commerce or digital we'd love to chat and take you through how we can help find you the perfect candidate. Or if you're looking for a new job, check out our current vacancies or send us your CV.
Originally published Sept 2021
Updated June 2022
Photo by Jaël Vallée on Unsplash
3 December
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