What has been the REAL impact of the economic downturn on IT Managers and their teams? How can we (recruiters) help? Sydney IT Managers explain...

Yes, we have seen it all over the past months – redundancies, recruitment freezes and frustration. HOWEVER it is not all doom and gloom! We can learn a great deal from times like these. In fact I would dare say that they are fundamental to our growth, both from a personal and a professional level. Before we can begin to seriously make positive changes in the name of development, though, we do need to understand the subtleties of the situation. How has the behaviour of IT Managers changed? What changes have their team members undergone? What would they like to see from Sydney’s finest (us recruiters of course)?

We asked and this is what we discovered...

There has been a definite swing towards contract hires when our managers have needed extra hands on deck. There has also been a strong tendency to recruit in-house (either directly or by outsourcing to their internal HR teams). Open communication with their teams has proven a fundamental ingredient to limiting any potential collateral damage brought about by uncertainty. In some cases redundancies have caused a period of decreased moral and disruption of daily activities, however frequent and open communication has paved the way to a rapid recovery. One very positive impact of the downturn has been the ability for managers to “catch-up” and “clean-up” and thus move into the realm of proactive management rather than purely reactive management.

Recruitment practices have definitely changed with an increase in “cowboy” tactics driven by desperation. But it doesn’t have to be so. Managers are looking to partner with their recruiters and thus we should be constantly striving to become those sought after TRUSTED ADVISORS to our clients providing them with invaluable insights into realistic salary/contract rate expectations, quality and availability of candidates, and realistic time-frames. I would say that niche specialisation is even more important than before! Managers are interested in flexible payment models that are better tailored to their needs. They want information on hiring trends in other sectors and they thirst for the provision of education and training for their teams.

Now is the time for re-innovation and renaissance! The beautiful thing about a downturn is the fact that it is always followed by an upturn. Let’s get ready!

SAUL RECRUITMENT - SUPPORT & INFRASTRUCTURE SPECIALISTS!!