Economic downturn, the need for perspective and quality recruiters

The bad news on the global financial meltdown is relentless.

In response a spate of local reports paint a pessimistic outlook on employment and hiring:

• Hudson report found national employer sentiment has slowed for the third consecutive quarter
• SEEK Employment Index – Online job ads fell 4% in September
• Manpower-Melbourne institute’s Monthly Employment Report, expects employment growth to decrease by 1.8% in Oct
• RCSA Business Confidence report – recruiters confidence drops to its lowest since 2001

It is easy to be distracted by the news of the day.

The reality is, regardless of short-term economic dips the fundamental challenges faced by recruiters remains intact. Finding good talent is still critical and requires hard and innovative work. Besides, skill shortage doesn’t go away overnight because the economy suffered.  The problem of ageing population is still with us (See Mercer’s new Workforce 2012 report). National Unemployment rate in Australia hovers around 4.3% (wake me out when it hits 5%), half the country still reels under unemployment rate of 3.0% and below (Not all regional economies are the same).

If we, however, did move into a recession or a long period of downturn, than it is even more important for employers to pay attention to recruiting good talent, people who will ensure business survive or even thrive during a down period.  One benefit of an economic downturn, if any, is it highlighted the stark difference between recruiters who deliver real value and run of the mill players who just shows up to ride the boom times.