THERE are more candidates than jobs, local recruitment agencies report.
All agencies still have vacancies on their books but are no longer able to accommodate everyone looking for work, said director of ASA Recruitment Tim Booth.
‘Before, the main problem for us was finding a candidate for a job,’ he said. ‘But now we have lots of candidates.’
The fear of ending up out of work has resulted in more people remaining in their current posts.
‘Business has been quiet,’ said Mr Booth. ‘People have been tending to stay where they are and not move job unless they have to. They want job security. I think this will get worse.’
Problems in the finance sector had caused the biggest difficulties, he said. Some recruitment there had been frozen.
‘Banking is the main industry here, so there are less jobs. It is worse in the UK and they are being hit harder, but it is affecting us, too.’
Approved Personnel has also felt the change.
‘We haven’t seen a drop in our members,’ said senior manager Steve Gibson. ‘But there are more-limited options in jobs. The areas that have been cutting back are the banking and investment sectors. Investment companies are not employing due to the economy. As shares have fallen, there is much less confidence in investment.’
But there are still jobs available for the right people, according to Melissa Campbell, director at Dream Jobs.
‘There are lots of candidates and there are also jobs,’ she said. ‘There are still jobs for the right people, but it is competitive.’
Prime Recruitment director Julia Le Tissier agreed.
‘Employers are being more careful about who they employ,’ she said.
‘They are only replacing essential roles.
‘Fewer general clerical staff are being employed at companies as they have been redistributing the unskilled work among current employees.’
Better education could be key to making candidates stand out, according to Martel-Dunn Recruitment.
‘We have been helping some school leavers who don’t have A-levels but their options are very limited,’ said managing director Sandra Martel-Dunn.
‘People have got to have skills and an academic background, because it is only going to get more competitive in the job market.’
Article posted on 26th January, 2009 - 2.29pm
3 Article Comments
I can understand Mr Gibson’s and Mr Booth’s comments, that as a recruitment agent they have more candidates than Jobs, which is understandable in the current climate, especially in the finance industry.
In Guernsey we are very fortunate that historically you could leave one job and walk into another with the same pay or even a rise. Anywhere else in the world you would have to work your butt off to have this privilege.
The Article not shown on this web-site that reakky annoyed me in yesterdays press was the current unemployment situation.
This is rubbish, majority of the people in Guernsey who are jobless, are either unemployable or can’t be bothered to get a job. It was listed in yesterdays press a number of Jobs that are currently available but these people just want hand outs. One person featured in the article was unemployed due to being bored in his last job. No-one in their right mind should leave a job through boredom.
These people are an embarrassment to our Island and think themselves lucky they don’t live in parts of the UK where there are no jobs.
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Well last year the finance industry were quoted as being short of 700 or so staff (a push for more licenses).
All those jobs evaporated!, whilst we are told by the CM that funds invested in Guernsey in the last quarter were up!!
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Devil’s Advocate
Not all of those jobs have evaporated. Many will have done, others have been filled through picking up staff who have been redundant in the sector, and others remain unfilled. Its unlikely that too many of the latter will be filled from those currently unemployed due to the nature of the vacancies and the skill sets of those who are unemployed.
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