Beatrice Bartlay Managing director and founder, 2B Interface

“The loss of 490,000 jobs in the public sector will be felt but many of these will be down to natural attrition, people leaving posts and retiring with no replacements.

However, the private sector will have to step up to fill the gap. If this is the case, recruiters need to gear up for private sector jobs, offering both permanent and contract recruitment, especially as in the last quarter the private sector has created over 300,000 jobs which is the largest increase in private sector employment in 20 years.”

Mark Harwood Audit partner, Baker Tilly

“Recruiters placing public sector employees in the private sector will need to work hard on candidate selection, training and post employment support to ensure that the transition is successful.

It will be challenging placing many of those candidates. The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) estimates that total job losses arising in the economy as a whole as a result of public sector cuts may be 1.6m.

Recruiters will face issues managing their own businesses. This is the time to look at options such as invoice discounting, working capital management, and consolidation as a way of reducing costs and eliminating competition.”

Bill Tomlin Executive director, Verridian Recruitment

“Many skilled workers will have directly transferable skills and will be able to move role for role. This applies to many operations and infrastructure workers such as finance, HR or IT.

In addition there will be many who may have to re-hone their skills to fit, but good people always have choice and are always in demand whether in the public or private sector. There will be opportunities for public sector workers with the right core skills and competencies to retrain for a career in finance. As the new Retail Distribution Review (RDR) legislation comes into effect in 2012, many financial advisers will be required to undergo additional training or stop practising altogether.

Candidates with high quality people skills and the aptitude to gain additional academic qualifications will be able to achieve a basic standard for entry and will find employment opportunities, with financial sector employers willing to consider this kind of lateral hire.”