'Recession-moves' not always simple

12-Nov-2008

Recruiters are concerned about the growing number of candidates entering so called “rewarding” sectors for the wrong reasons.

Following the collapse of major financial institutions and the number of unemployed people growing by the day, John Dunn, director at Arete, Verb Group’s senior placement arm, told Recruiter he had witnessed a 20% increase in teaching registrations over the last three months.

He said that it was wrong for people to turn to teaching as a way of riding out the recession, as it could lead to morale being damaged across the profession. Dunn explained that it was relatively easy for financial professionals to switch to teaching as they can be taken on as instructors on an instructor pay scale if schools cannot find a qualified teacher. But he added that the reality of being a teacher may not match up to candidate’s expectations.

“You might think you will be offered autonomy and teach how you want to teach. The reality is there is a lot of control in the classroom. Teachers have to teach to the national curriculum to meet standards that are inspected by Ofsted. It might not be as easy as people might think.”

Sarah Illingworth, director at not-for-profit recruiter Charity People, said that there are large numbers of people who want to move into the charity sector for the best reasons in the world and bring with them enthusiasm and transferable skills. But the culture of a major financial institution or blue-chip company is very different to that of a not-for-profit organisation, she added.

Illingworth said: “The ones with transferable skills, such as staff with direct marketing skills can make the move into the charity sector because the skills required are quite similar.”

There is a lot of demand for legal and finance positions within the charity sector, she added, because of the transferable skills.