Staff wars

Now is the perfect time to take on the faltering private sector in the battle for the best staff.

As a rather gloomy 2009 brings the so-called noughties to a somewhat depressing end, the UK is still wallowing in recession, while the US and parts of continental Europe have successfully fulfilled the criteria which show that they are officially on the road to recovery. The apparent reason for the UK’s extended malaise is that our economy was uniquely hit, almost simultaneously, by a four-pronged assault in the form of the credit crunch, the recession, a faltering housing market and rising unemployment.
As far as the latter is concerned, the job market is showing signs that it is finally turning around, with the Recruitment and Employment Confederation and KPMG’s latest (at the time of writing) monthly figures revealing that October enjoyed a third consecutive rise in both permanent and temporary job placements. These figures are obviously encouraging, though they do relate to the UK job market as a whole. So, how has the slightly detached world of recruitment in higher education been faring? To get a more specific viewpoint, UB spoke to Elliott Rae who is Head of Education Practice for executive recruitment specialists Veredus.

“To a large extent the public sector, and I include universities within that, has been pretty unaffected,” he says. “HEIs are still hiring across professional services and academic leadership roles. The candidate market is quite buoyant, especially in professional services, because there are lots of people, particularly from the private sector, who are seeing roles with HEIs as being very attractive.”

Rae believes that with the amount of talented people who are currently available at a peak, HEIs need to act immediately and shout from the rooftops about the benefits of a career in higher education in order to take advantage. “First of all, there’s still relative job security compared to parts of the private sector, and there are some really exciting, interesting, demanding roles in HE. Also, there is going to be a real focus on issues such as value for money, professionalising services and managing change - lots of things that typically the commercial sector has done very well.

“Also, salaries now are quite competitive, especially as people working in the private sector aren’t going to be getting bonuses for the next few years. Plus the sector can offer final salary pension schemes, a more generous leave entitlement and a much more attractive environment for people with young families. Universities really need to sell this full range of benefits and not just focus on remuneration.”

While this message is undoubtedly important, how the information is actually put across is equally crucial. As Rae explains: “One of the main mistakes I see universities make time and again is that they don’t communicate the challenges in the language of business; they really need to avoid getting tied up in HE jargon all the time. One of the ways I’ve tried to counter this is to start deliberately designing roles, such as chief operating officer ones, to have a broader appeal.

“Also, one of the hardest things is communicating the breadth and scope of roles in universities to candidates who perhaps have a degree but that’s all they know about modern universities. Getting the complexity and the degree of challenge over to candidates, some institutions have typically not been very good at that and are underselling themselves. People also sometimes perceive these institutions as being slow and bureaucratic and in many cases that’s just not true anymore.”
While there is clearly much optimism with regards to HE recruitment, it would be remiss not to also mention the dark cloud on the horizon. Indeed, even KPMG’s Partner and Head of Business Services Bernard Brown, who was buoyed sufficiently by their recent statistics to say that “the UK jobs market looks healthier today than at any time in the last two years”, felt the need to add the following caveat:

“We are still to see the impact of the looming public sector recession, which will play out over the first 12 months of a new parliamentary term.”

This “public sector recession” will of course hit universities hard, as future budgets are significantly reduced with the result that HEIs will finally get a taste of the problems that have so far been avoided by the sector. Rae concurs, saying: “There will be substantial cuts in public service spending over the next five years; there’s talk of something like 20 per cent across the board. That’s why a number of institutions are looking now to reduce their costs, and I actually think that a number of them will contract over the next two or three years by between 10 and 20 per cent.”

While HE has undoubtedly ridden out the worst of the recruitment problems that have hit the rest of the nation there is no doubt that harder times are ahead. However, with a job market that is currently flooded with talent, it will be the institutions that act now to get the best people on board while they still can that will remain buoyant later on.

Recruitment report:
While Veredus’ Elliott Rae offers a valuable viewpoint from outside of the sector, advice has also recently been released from a source a little closer to home. Back in October Universities UK published ‘Appointing Senior Staff in Higher Education Institutions’ which was produced with input from the likes of the Committee of University Chairs, GuildHE and the Universities and Colleges Employers Association. Impressive credentials, but what does it actually do?

“The guidance highlights practice and procedure which will help universities secure the best possible candidate from the widest possible pool of talent, in a manner that is both fair and transparent,” a spokesman told us. “It focuses on the recruitment of senior staff, including university registrars and secretaries, holders of office who report to them, and all members of the senior management team. It also provides comprehensive advice and guidance on how best to maximise the effective and efficient use of executive search agencies.”
The report is apparently aimed at a general readership in order to provide an overview of the whole process of recruitment at a senior level, as well as information about the specific tasks needed to perform a successful appointment.

It can be downloaded for free at: www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/Publications/Pages/AppointingSeniorManagers.asp....