Member Article

Recruitment among growing industries?

It’s labour market focus week on Bdaily. Here, Daniel Younger of CY Partners looks at three emerging industries and what recruitment issues they currently face.

Creative and Digital

Employment within the creative and digital industries has increased by over 50% in the last decade. This industry contains a broad mix of businesses each having the need to fill specific roles including web design, development, multimedia creation and programming, applied technologies, social media, SEO and digital marketing strategy. With significant growth in recent years, the creative industries contribute 6% of GDP and employ over two million people in the UK alone. The sector is also forecast to play a much bigger role in coming years; as they say digital is the future.

An issue arising within the industry is that the nurturing of creative talent beyond school is dwindling as people choose ‘safer’ career options. This can lead to many companies having to shell out more money on an experienced web developer, for example, rather than finding a developer straight out of university who they can train and mould to fit with the company ethos better.

However, over 50% of digital firms do employ graduates. The agencies themselves are very diverse and some are obviously much more established than others so it is hard to generalise on what they look for from candidates specifically. What’s often seen as the norm in the creative and digital industry is that many companies recruit on attitude and raw talent rather than academic qualifications. This can be a major bonus for those wanting to make it within digital but perhaps feel they are not qualified enough.

This sector is also a firm believer in apprenticeships, many of which can lead to permanent roles within that company. Like many companies that invest in apprentices, they believe in them as they want people to be more prepared for account/client handling as well as executing great campaigns.

Emerging Technologies

Under the science and engineering arm sits emerging technologies. By ‘emerging technologies’ we mean those technologies that are emerging from the science base, that are at an early, pre-commercial stage, and that have the potential to enable innovations that
will truly disrupt the marketplace. The digital camera and medical imaging systems are good examples of such innovations. Emerging technologies enable something to be done that was previously not possible, or was possible only in theory, and can lead to new products and services being adopted by existing industries, or may result in new industries. Emerging sectors such as this one are the key to the UK’s future as an innovative and engineering nation.

The real future lies in developing high-value, niche products which often incorporate or are made using high-technology methods and materials. Where this is stinted is in its shortage of people with the necessary skills to drive development forward at the pace required.

At CY Partners, we specialise in finding difficult to find, high-quality scientists and engineers. These disciplines, which have underpinned the UK’s economy for centuries are not being valued and in an attempt to make them more accessible, are also being diluted in terms of the depth of the skills required.

Big competitors such as China and India are taking a very different tack, producing increasing numbers of highly qualified graduates. The UK needs to adopt this approach to assist with this growth and be a leader in this field because these technologies are a key growth area for the North East economy. A growing number of companies, including spin-outs from university research departments, are starting to now driving international markets.

Medical Devices

The Medical devices field is where creative people invent and develop products for use in the medical sciences. The medical-devices sector is one where the UK has been seen as carving out its own leading position. This is because the UK’s strength lies in people with strong backgrounds in technology and healthcare within the scientific industry.

The medical device field has a broad range of products, including coronary artery stents, orthopaedic devices, dental products, surgical products and bone transplantation products. Some of the larger companies create a variety of medical products. Smaller companies may make only one or two products. You can work at a company that doesn’t manufacture any products, but has a heavy research dynamic. Working in medical devices usually means working in private industry. There can be a lot of money to be made in the field of medical devices, so the competition is fierce! Companies often seek applicants who are well trained in engineering, medicine and/or biology.

Even though the UK is seen as a leader in this field it has been slow on the uptake.

The biggest threat within this sector is funding of research, or lack thereof. However, the technological outlook is good. Improvements in battery performance and power harvesting for example has seen astonishing growth and with this comes smaller, faster implants with greater capabilities within the next decade, while looking forward it’s predicted that artificial organs will join advanced prosthetics in the surgeon’s toolbox of replacement parts.

Meanwhile, improvements in information technology and more efficient management of personal healthcare have the potential to improve the way hospitals treat their patients.

Benefits to companies in these sectors using a specialist recruitment company:

There are many benefits to be gained by using a specialist consultancy, but here are a few:

• Assistance with current market values to attract top candidates
• Wider nets of targeted candidate attraction
• Process streamlining (reduction on time spent studying applicants’ CV’s)
• Saving time by only interviewing the top candidates
• Ongoing advice and relevant market expertise
• They don’t pay anything unless the right candidate is found.

What can candidates do to help themselves get a job in these sectors?

The above sectors look for the same things as many others; passion and enthusiasm for a role and previous experience. If candidates don’t have experience then they must possess a strong academic background. Other aspects to be mindful of include:

• Being aware of your own strengths and weaknesses to help you spot areas that you need to work on
• Play to your strengths
• Gaining hands on experience could be crucial on the road to securing a job in these sectors
• Try contacting some local organisations in the sector where you might volunteer or get some work based experience
• As well as experience, qualifications can be essential especially for medical devices

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by CY Partners .