The first six months of 2022 have presented unprecedented challenges across the economy, driven almost entirely by the very distressing situation that has unfolded in Europe. Extraordinary inflation rates across energy, food and fuel have had a direct impact on us all and these present hugely challenging dilemmas for both employers and employees. Industrial relations action is accelerating across the UK with a significant narrative in relation to compensation and benefits and there remains an acute shortage of talent across a diverse range of business sectors, including aviation.

Unemployment figures have remained consistently low in both the UK and US markets. These figures, combined with high levels of organisational attrition, continue to drive healthy levels of demand in what we continue to categorise as a highly candidate driven market. Client assignment activity across both our HR and Marketing practice areas has increased steadily, with a particular focus on retained leadership assignments.

Identifying and attracting high calibre talent has become extremely competitive, particularly as organisational retention efforts are increased. It remains, for now, a highly compelling market for candidates to make a career transition and develop their HR or Marketing careers further.

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‍Human Resources:

‍We are pleased to report a significant increase in client assignments across HR with a very strong focus on retained leadership assignments.  Client assignments have included the appointments of a UK Chief People Officer into a tier one Global Consulting firm, a Group Head of HR into an international commodities business and a Global HR Operations Specialist into a large cap private equity firm.

Client assignments at leadership level have been driven by natural attrition, increased candidate mobility and in response to firms enhancing capability across various HR COEs like shared services. We have experienced very strong demand in the reward space in response to ever greater regulatory complexity and we have actively partnered a range of firms in the Lloyds of London insurance market as they seek to enhance their total reward capability.

The interim market has steadied slightly in quarter 2, however, we continue to partner firms across transformational change activity with a strong focus on HRIS and HR Operations projects. We also continue to partner clients with key gap coverage assignments, including maternity cover.      

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‍Marketing:    

‍Over the last six months, our Marketing practice has supported a highly diverse range of clients across the Investment banking, Technology, Real Estate and Consultancy sectors. Client assignments have included the appointments of a Senior Events Manager into a Global US Investment Bank, a Group Marketing Manager into a leading Tech business and an Events Marketing Manager into a leading management consultancy.

Marketing assignments have been largely growth/performance related, and it has been encouraging to see a significant rise in demand for events specialists post the pandemic. Activity at Manager level has been particularly prominent across areas such as social media, digital and content.

Competition for talent across marketing is significant and fast moving; candidates are typically active across numerous search processes. Our Marketing practice continues to map markets proactively and assignments are highly research led, identifying talent from our clients’ competitor landscapes.  

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Our Community Partners:

‍We are pleased to report that programme activity levels at The Outward Bound Trust continue to thrive and gather momentum post the pandemic. Initiatives such as funding outdoor education events for the children of key workers and young carers demonstrate how innovative the Trust has been in engaging broader areas of our community.

Team members from Miller Byrne, will be travelling to the Trust’s outdoor pursuits centre in Aberdovey, Wales later this year as part of a supporter visit programme. This is an opportunity to take a look behind the scenes, meet OBT staff and directly engage with the young people participating in outdoor education.

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‍Diversity, Equity & Inclusion:

‍We are pleased to report a significant increase in diversity across our research, shortlists and placements. This has been achieved by the enhancement of our research capability and by actively engaging in discussions with our clients in relation to diversity pipelines. We have achieved a great balance across gender diversity and made significant progress across areas including ethnicity and social mobility.      

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We are growing – Join us!

‍Both our HR and Marketing practices are growing, and we would be delighted to hear from experienced Recruitment Consultants who would like to join us as part of that growth journey. For further information or to have an exploratory catch up, please contact us at info@millerbyrne.com.

We would like to extend a huge thank you to the clients and candidates we have partnered with over the last six months. We very much look forward to continuing these partnerships

Wishing everyone across our networks a safe and very enjoyable summer!

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‍Barry & Jamie

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