Career advice, insights & tips for HR professionals

Market update from Macmillan Davies Hodes 09/08/2011

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Graduate recruiters in demand
Where are all the HR generalists?
Global yet local HR
War for talent still going strong

Graduate recruiters in demand

With recent press reports suggesting that medium term employment prospects remain, at best, uncertain, organisations could be forgiven for thinking that HR talent is plentiful – and available. However, in reality this is usually not the case. It's a given that employers want the very best talent and if those people are secure in a role, tempting them to move against a backdrop of economic uncertainty can be a real challenge.

The HR function has evolved exponentially over the last two decades towards a business critical and commercially focused discipline which sits at the very heart of an organisation’s overall strategy. On this journey to being organisation centric, HR still needs a good balance between strategy and delivery which calls for specific skills such as project management and the ability to balance expertise in key areas such as talent management, employee engagement and recruitment.

In terms of specific skills shortages, we are seeing ongoing high demand for graduate recruiters as organisations compete to attract the brightest and best graduates. Compensation and benefits specialists are also in short supply – particularly within the financial services sector where increasing regulatory pressure on compensation structures is driving the need for institutions to remodel their remuneration packages and strategies.

Additionally, we have seen a renewed focus on learning and development across a range of industry sectors driving demand for L&D specialists who really understand the formula for return on investment.

Where are all the HR generalists?

As ever, we are also experiencing a real lack of HR generalists driven partly by the historical adoption of the Ulrich model. It’s increasingly difficult for the HR business partners of the future to gain the solid commercial and business acumen and breadth of experience necessary to gain not only gravitas but also an influencing role and a seat at the top table. These are people who need pull all the strands of an HR function together and understand the outcomes of the different elements of HR and how they can affect the business.

While issues such as gender imbalance, diversity and equality have been hot topics for a while, they often hit the headlines for the wrong reasons and we have recently seen more of an emphasis, at senior level, on risk management from a proactive rather than reactive stance. We are finding that employers are looking for senior HR professionals who understand the balancing act of managing risk with best practice and turning those ‘hot topics’ into positive attraction strategies which can enhance the employer brand.

Global yet local HR

Globalisation is still a big consideration and for multinational organisations. HR has to be run globally but delivered locally and so we are seeing demand for senior level HR practioners who have an adaptive style to effectively work with different cultures, work styles and legislation.

This has had a knock on effect of increased global mobility among candidates and we have experienced an increased need to look beyond traditional borders for talent in locations such as the Far East and Australasia.

War for talent still going strong

Where we have seen organisations investing heavily in employer branding and engagement programmes, we have also experienced very lengthy or disjointed hiring processes which can lead to a disconnect with the engagement of new talent.

Clients’ wish lists are lengthy and very specific with an understandable reluctance to compromise. So while the economic climate may remain uncertain, the war for talent within the HR sector is still alive and well.