5 Christmas wishes for the South West jobs market in 2023

Jo Caine – Senior HR & Executive

If I could have just one Christmas wish, it would be for the continued success of our business community – prosperity for the South West region. Now is not the time for retraction, for retreating into our shells as the recession hits – it’s time to keep up the momentum we’ve been building. Slow and steady always wins the race.

Of course, we’ll need to see employers welcoming an influx of talent to fuel the community’s success. There’s a wealth of ambition here in the South West, and we must avoid stagnation at all costs – let’s move onwards and upwards!

 Lynsey Skinner – IT & Technology

In 2023, I hope to see employers continuing to appreciate the abundance of benefits of hybrid and remote working. We’re already living in a hybrid working world – we’ve already seen that it can work, and honestly, it’s the future of the tech sector.

Candidates don’t just want flexibility, they expect it – it’s not up for negotiation. If organisations aren’t willing to facilitate remote working, they’ll struggle to lure in the highly-specialised tech professionals they so desperately need. Besides, remote contracts enable employers to dip into national and international talent pools, increasing their number of prospective hires ten-fold.

Dani Osborne – HR, Marketing & Senior Office

My Christmas wish would be for clients to really open their minds to transferrable skills and the benefits of moving from one sector to another. Whilst it’s great for someone to have experience in a similar organisation, so often local businesses are passing up the opportunity to meet highly skilled individuals because they come from different areas of commerce.

As well as the obvious personal attributes which are beneficial to most roles, knowledge of tools and techniques can be applied to all sorts of situations – even unfamiliar ones. Employers often overlook this, and in a skills shortage, they are often missing the best people.

Sophia Damshenas – Law

I would like to see law firms give more flexibility to both qualified and non-qualified employees in terms of hybrid working. In addition, I would also like to see more people from South East firms relocating to the beautiful South West, so that we can bridge some gaps in terms of skills and discipline shortages in certain legal markets.

Firms are crying out for qualified Residential Conveyancing Lawyers, Commercial Property Lawyers, Family Lawyers, Private Client Lawyers, and so on, but locally the movement is stunted, to say the least!

Jo Howell – Finance & Accounting

My wish would be for a stable and confident 2023. If the economy and markets are happy, then then the recruitment market will continue to gain confidence, and just like a Christmas jigsaw, the pieces will all fall into place.

I think it will be key for businesses to embrace candidates across the spectrum of age and experience, and be flexible to add value and train staff in areas that prove the most difficult to recruit. From there, they can promote from within and move people upwards, recognising what their staff have achieved over the last few years – after all, it’s been a two-year decade.

It is the season for giving – reward, retain and keep people happy and engaged so you are less likely to need to recruit. Be good, pay it forward, and it will come back to you.