IT & telecoms recruiters are seeking out high-skilled niches as demand drops and clients move to recruit direct.

The increase in candidates with more generic skills bases has put pressure on candidate salaries.

Sid Barnes, associate director Midlands and South West at Computer People, told Recruiter: “Perennial skills shortages seem to have remained constant, as candidates with accreditations or qualifications in high-demand areas such as business intelligence or specific skills
continue to find themselves sought after by employers.”

Internal resourcing staff have taken advantage of the increase in candidates to reduce recruitment costs.

Louise Gallant, recruitment manager at education software suppliers RM, told Recruiter the company’s cost per hire was “very low” at the moment.

“One of the things which struck me is that we haven’t used an agency in six months. Everything has been direct,” she said, adding the “huge volume” of vacancies the company has in project work could be filled because advert-toapplication levels were so high.

Dale Swords, business development director at perm IT recruiter Understanding Recruitment, told Recruiter he had noticed the change in behaviour from clients: “Clients are changing their hiring strategy, with many now choosing to attract candidates through alternative sources,
rather than going straight to the agencies as a first port of call.”

However, Swords said top skills such as C#, SQL, ASP and .NET retained their value and were still in demand from clients.

The number of jobs advertised online in March dropped 41% on the previous year, according to Monster’s Employment Index. The telecoms sector faced a similar fate, dropping from 118 to 68 index points.

Hugo Sellert, head of economic research at job board Monster Worldwide, told Recruiter: “Overall online recruitment in the UK fell again in March, reversing the moderate growth seen in February. As with most industries, job opportunities for IT workers fell, continuing the downward trend in the sector.”

The drop in demand has put pressure on salaries, research from government skills council eskills found salaries for IT user support technicians, telecoms engineers and IT operations technicians fell during Q3 and Q4 last year.

Swords said candidates with non-niche skills had faced salary pressure. “Candidates with more generalist skills have definitely had to review their salary expectations and on the whole are being realistic about this.”

Matthew Bishop, manager of the telecoms and networks division of multi-sector recruiter Blue Pelican Group, told Recruiter the telecoms sector had seen an upturn in contractor vacancies over the last two to three weeks.

Bishop said the area of process automation was important at the moment, including workers who are aware of specific processes such as IT Infrastructure Library and service delivery.

Top talent in the telecoms sector is also being targeted by employers who are using the downturn to upskill, as pay freezes and redundancies free up soughtafter personnel.

Gavin Chase, practice head of telecoms, media and technology at CNA Executive Search, told Recruiter he had shaped his client list around high-flying candidates’ expectations. “They may be making redundancies, but they are hiring. Clients are willing to invest in talent, even in a downturn, and businesses are recruiting in the direction they want to go in.”

Increased competition for a shrinking IT market has put pressure on fees, as recruiters fight for marketshare.

Swords said: “We are coming up against issues surrounding price which has been driven by many of our competitors offering very low fees in order to win the business.

“We feel we are priced competitively for our service and experience, and there is clearly a danger of undervaluing your service if you purely talk around price.”

[email protected]