Property: 2011 round-up and look ahead to 2012

Although macro economic factors are still affecting the appetite for recruitment, 2011 saw an overall improvement for our property business within Michael Page. Like a lot of other organisations we saw a temporary slowdown in the final quarter of 2011 but 2012 activity is very encouraging with numerous organisations looking to strengthen their teams.

2011 saw a client driven market for ‘functional’ roles but, as always, top talent remains hard to attract and secure. Some reluctance still exists when candidates think about making a move but in a recent survey Michael Page Property conducted, over 72% of candidates said they would still be looking to move should the right role exist.

With our property business focussed on a broad range of roles in client side and general practice firms we’ve seen an increased demand for functional expertise in:

As a rule, candidates with a proven track record and significant exposure to a particular sector are still being proactively approached and ‘courted’ for such roles.

The start of 2012 has been busy and the initial signs look promising for the year ahead. Throughout last year and now into this one, it appears that hiring activity for property jobs has started to pick up, with businesses feeling more confident to make new hiring decisions and increase headcount.

Nick Powell, a director of Michael Page Property, commented on the forecast for the coming 12 months:

“I see the year improving as we go on, but not without occasional shocks from macro events. However, there’s now a definite realisation that this will be the norm and businesses can no longer hold off making hiring decisions based on events elsewhere.”

For more information on our current property jobs, or to discuss your hiring needs, contact us today.