posted 29th March 2023
As we approach the end of Q1, what can we say about the IT recruiting market and our performance within it? Certainly to be in the MSP and Cloud space, and working primarily with clients dealing with a SME and SMB client base, is a great benefit at this point. Big tech is going through a period of re-adjustment and downsizing as profit, rather than size, is their new mission and goal. Strangely having continually recruited through the pandemic these companies have now curbed their recruitment and are now making significant redundancies in order to reduce costs.
That is not the case within the markets in which TSR operate at all. The demand for sales staff and technical staff within the Managed Service, System Integrator, Cloud Computing, and Cyber Security sectors is really strong. The demand for people to interact with the people who use the technology; the banks, law firms, recruitment companies, schools, and every other type of end user, is incredibly strong. Be it Account Managers, Customer Success Managers, Service Delivery Managers or technical staff such as 1st/2nd/3rd Engineers, Project Managers and Engineers, Service Desk, or Service Delivery Managers, demand is really robust.
However, the debates about what these roles should look like continue. The biggest change has been about home, hybrid, or office-based working. The next thing that seems to being moving is holiday allowance. The standard 20 days plus bank holidays seems out of date for experienced staff. Negotiations that used to be primarily about salary and benefits packages now always involve these issues. We have a Midlands-based client who, having moved to a remote working model, feel the choice available to them has been transformed, as has their ability to grow. People in places such as Bristol, Manchester, and Sunderland have joined who would not have been interviewed before. We also have companies demanding 100% office attendance who struggle to recruit and are losing existing staff to more flexible competitors.
Having finally committed to 100% remote working ourselves (we gave up our final office at the end of November), we are now experiencing the combined financial benefits of no office costs, plus a reduced headcount, as we only work with the staff who can offer the standard of service that high-end clients need while working independently. The profile of the clients that we work with has also increased significantly over the last 12 months. This is through recommendations and the inability of many of our competitors to do what we can do. Recruitment is an easy business. Doing it well is hard. We have proved if you ensure the people who deliver the service are experienced and principled then you can provide really effective solutions.
The actual numbers are a 42% increase on Q4 and a 36% increase on Q3 of 2022. The average fee is up by 24% on the whole of 2022. The highest salaries of IT candidates placed were £100,000, £90,000, and £75,000 - all IT sales roles. The £100,000 role was a Sales Management position within a top 5 SI. The technical roles that we have placed are primarily 3rd Line and Project Engineers with regular Service Delivery and Service Desk roles. This has all been done with a 50% decrease in the number of consultants.
The big challenge moving ahead is how do we onboard new consultants? So if you are an experienced recruitment consultant, with a full home office set up, self motivated, and hard working who wants to earn £60,000 + a year, and not just a basic salary, then we would be really keen to talk!
Until next time,
Gary Sargeant, Managing Director
You can get in touch by emailing us at contact@tsrltd.co.uk or calling us on 020 3837 9180. We look forward to hearing from you soon!