The senior end of the HR market has begun to see signs of activity, with more vacancies coming onto the market in recent months. This is being fueled by organisations keen to get back to pre-recession levels and needing a firm hand at the steer to ensure growth and development plans stay on course.
Albeit inconsistent – the South East remains a difficult market for senior professionals – there are encouraging signs that senior professionals are being offered more opportunities, particularly in London, the South West and the Midlands. With a lot of restructuring continuing to take place within the larger organisations, there is increasing demand for top level recruitment, such as HR Directors, Heads of HR and ER. In particular, we have seen this to be the case in the FMCG sector across the Midlands and the North. In the South West, we are seeing a significant number of HRD roles, especially within the Housing sector.
In London, there has been a concerted rise in activity at the senior managerial level. This is in marked contrast to the beginning of the year when most vacancies tended to arise at the junior or mid managerial level. Demand at this level is focusing on professionals who can oversee tactical operations but are closer to the strategic agenda, as businesses make great overtures to plan for the long-term. Opportunities can be found for both generalists and specialists, possibly linked to businesses seeing accelerated growth plans but also those re-building strategic capability and future leadership succession plans
