Public sector on hold

With the coalition government focusing their attentions on reducing the UK deficit, it will come as no surprise to anyone that the public sector is in the firing line for job freezes and cutbacks.

It is anticipated that there will be cuts across Whitehall departments of up to 20% for external communication roles, and since the election, we have already seen a reduction in press and PR roles. Interims are already being affected as projects get pulled or put on hold, and the cost implications associated with recruiting interims means that opportunities are likely to reduce in the near future.

Public sector employers appear to have been well aware of the looming cutbacks.There has been a steady increase in the number of opportunities for fixed term contracts and permanent roles, while daily contractors have been decreasing. Of those contractors who are on daily rates, many are being switched over to fixed term contracts when they have worked for more than 3 months. In this way, departments are ensuring they are being cost-effective, as well as protecting their workforce as much as possible.

Nevertheless, there are a number of ongoing change programmes taking place in the public sector which is helping to buck this trend. As government departments come under even more pressure to become customer-centric and more accountable, we are seeing more internal communication roles come onto the market. Jobseekers who can show demonstrable experience in employee engagement and large scale business transformation programmes will be in greater demand. While Prince2 is not an essential qualification, more and more employers are finding it desirable, and jobseekers who have this qualification alongside hands-on project management experience will stand out from the competition when going for a role that involves a change or business transformation programme.

In a bid to increase cost-efficiencies, we are also hearing an increasingly common catchphrase around the civil service: ‘More for Less’. In some cases, this refers to pushing down salary expectations – which with a plentiful supply of jobseekers on the market, is not an unrealistic expectation. However, it also refers to the increase in multi-disciplinary roles on the market. Where once roles were siloed into the different disciplines, we are now seeing demand for integrated marcomms people, which encompass a much broader range of disciplines. This is allowing employers to get much more out of each of their employees, and successfully delivers on the efficiency argument.