Digital Media News by Rachel De Roeper

The market is rapidly moving.

There is the constant need for talented, experienced permanent candidates, including contractors.

This week I have spent much of my time speaking to and trying to source people in the following sectors

1. Motion Graphic experts with a high level of After Effects, to work with a superb London Multimedia Agency. Ideally this is a permanent role.
2. Digital Media Planners and Project Managers in London (always a shortage of PM’s with the accreditations (Agile/Prince 2).
3. Web Developer role AS3, PHP and WordPress, an excellent opportunity, but finding the right combination of skills, tends to be an interesting one.
4. Digital Media Sales Executives from either Digital Advertising or Digital Publishing backgrounds.

With the holiday season upon us, often at this time there is a lull, with candidates and clients being away- no complaints, as everyone needs a holiday; but I suspect, this has a counteractive affect on urgency.

The industry seems to have over-ridden the recession and bounced back with a vengeance, as with all of our divisions the pre-downturn levels have returned and this service sector is looking strong.

After the Recession

At Icon we think we were one of the lucky recruiters as even in 2009 we managed to post a profit all be it modest, this was largely down to efficient business planning.

Fast-forward twelve months and the outlook is far brighter. Clients are returning to pre-recession staffing levels as companies that survived the storm prosper in a changed marketplace.

The conference industry in particular has seen robust return to growth as firms seize on opportunities created in the fallout of the recession. Demand for dynamic, entrepreneurial managers and producers, capable of starting portfolios in new sectors is a sure sign that the industry is returning to full health.

The story is the same internationally and to a certain degree it was always stronger than the UK market; conversations with major clients in the US have revealed that after an exceptionally difficult 2009, with one of the hardest hit firms shedding one-in-four jobs, they now have their eyes on expansion.

Areas less affected by the economic crisis have continued to grow with the demand for talent in Asia and Australia seemingly relentless. Low taxation, high quality of life and seemingly limitless opportunity is proving an irresistible draw for quality candidates. The international boom is so pronounced that make one-in-five of our placements are now overseas. And with little sign of demand decreasing we are as excited as the candidates we place about the opportunities to be had in new markets.

So in brief the industry has shown itself as robust and now the breaks are firmly off and its back to business as usual for our clients, candidates and us.

The Half Way Point Looms

We are now approaching the half way of 2010 and it is clear to see that things are almost back to normal within media.  The growth plans that companies shelved during 2009 are now back in full swing leaving a healthier feel to the Conference Industry.  Smaller start ups who bravely launched during the economic recession are now reaping the rewards with new sectors being launched.

Almost recession proof sectors such as Pharma, Defence & Energy continue to thrive and are proving successful commercial topics for the conference industry both in the UK and overseas.

Whilst recovering sectors are now starting to become prominent again ushering in a feel good factor that had been missing since 2008.

Were looking forward to this continuing for the rest of the year and beyond.

What will 2010 bring?

Whilst it was announced a number of times that the economy is slowly but surely growing again the conference and events market has become extremely busy and maintained this pace since late 2009.

This year has already seen several new launches take place meaning multiple recruitment needs.  Even most of the more cautious clients of 2009 have began opening up new roles leaving a general “feel good factor” around the conference and events industry.  Also a few of our long standing clients who did well during the 2009 times have seized the opportunity with unprecedented UK and international recruitment drives.

As the election took place yesterday and the fall out from this is still being decided the horizon is still predicting a fairly sustained and sensible recovery and we hope the momentum and growth Icon is enjoying remains with us.

Summary of 2009

During the year of 2008 a lot of people were aware of the recession in the USA and that it was heading to the UK.

2008 was a record year for the business at Icon but Q1 2009 it became apparent that many of the bigger clients would actually be shelving recruitment and looking to lay off staff.  Q2 showed a ray of light as smaller conference companies launched with new portfolios.

This enabled our smaller clients to recruit giving them good options in terms of skills & experience from the wealth of candidates that were on the market.  At the end of Q3 things quickly started to move forward as more and more conference companies began to grow again, suddenly many of the plans that had been on hold were now being acted upon.

With our diverse media portfolio of clients we were drawn more into the overseas recruitment market for much of 2009 assisting the overseas offices of existing clients in places such as Singapore, Australia and Dubai where at the time the need for our service was still high.  Towards Christmas, a notoriously quiet time for many of our UK clients hiring of new staff was consistently higher than expected giving renewed optimism that the markets were finally recovering and a stronger 2010 was looming.

It seems in effect 2009 was not as bad a year as it could have been for the industry and we are delighted to see our business in excellent shape and our clients.