November has seen the beginning of an exciting end to 2011: we have increased the temp workforce again and have received a large number of exciting new jobs to work  on for  some household names within the specialist divisions . We have also managed to put the ground work in on some exciting initiatives for 2012 / 2013 . 

For me personally, our most successful news for 2011 has been the continuing growth of business from many of our clients across market research, broadcast and language recruitment, and an unprecedented increase in the number of candidate referrals we are getting (This year has been the best ever) .

Whilst we have always had a relatively high rate of referrals, it seems that the hard work has paid off and we are not forgotten by many of our candidates. For us, the job market has gone against the grain of the forecasts we see in the press, and there has been a significant rise in the number of jobs becoming available within larger organisations as well as dynamic  smaller specialists. In just under 11 months we have seen revenues increase by 28%.

The market research job market is still extremely buoyant particularly within the areas of consumer/ technology/ media  and online research. Some of the major research players have suffered as  specialist boutique agencies have snatched their business from them. Many clients have changed agency and moved to a smaller specialist as  they have felt that the bigger firms  offer less flexibility and creativity in their offering and as a result perhaps a lack of creativity. This has also had an impact on the aspirations of talented candidates who want to work for businesses who are genuinely interested in innovation and development.

Certainly bigger international agencies are able to offer immediate access to a global market and also claim to offer a holistic service to their clients. But the press is always highlighting the fact that individuals who are extremely talented in market research often seek something more entrepreneurial   which can offer them the genuine chance to make a difference to their clients. Business is often given to small suppliers on the back of recommendation and we have heard more and more often of successful researchers  stating that the work they get has usually been on the back of recommendation.

The recruitment process for bigger firms needs to change if they are genuinely keen to secure the talent they feel they need to add value to their business and make a difference to their clients. The whole approach of sending out market research job specs via online portals, with limited access to detail about individual roles and teams, dehumanises and removes any sense of  attraction to the most talented of people. It is hard to relate to a job spec if you don’t know more about the tea,, the projects and what the role is there to do for the business.

Unfortunately many onsite recruiters think that it is enough to just send out a job spec with the name of the business, but to make a real difference we  feel that in order to  attract the most talented of people, departments, roles sectors ned to have their own individual identity. Too many times have we had candidates reject the idea of working for a major player in the MR industry because of a bad experience that a friend or former colleague had within a different department or team.