Author Archives: Intersect

As the year draws to a close and we look forward to the Christmas break it’s a good opportunity for us to reflect on 2017 and what the jobs market will have install for us in 2018.

It has been a very busy year for Intersect Global.
Demand for both permanent and contract staff has been strong and the skill shortages our industry faces have continued to become increasingly apparent and challenging.

As Crossrail’s completion date draws closer other major projects such as HS2 and Hinckley Point will increase in activity and it will be interesting to see how employers cope with their recruitment needs.

Its seems like significant changes are on their way for the contract workforce operating in the private sector, by way of changes to taxation.
Having recently attended a consultation meeting with HMRC on this matter it appears that industry has 18 – 24 months to prepare its self.

Here is a quick summary of the latest results from Jobs Outlook:

53 per cent of employers would have to take action if the recent budget introduces new measures which would increase their staff costs because of changes to taxation such as IR35, and one third of employers would have to increase their prices,

The latest Jobs Outlook survey of 600 employers also shows:
• 42 per cent of respondents expressed concerns that not enough permanent workers would be available to meet their demands and 40 per cent say the same for temporary agency workers.
• 80 per cent of employers say they have none or just a little spare capacity in their organisation to take on more work without new staff.
• 22 per cent of employers still plan to hire additional permanent staff in the next four to 12 months.

We would like to thank all of our clients, candidates and suppliers for their continued support and would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy New Year.

Former home secretary Lord Blunkett has vote to force the government to “pull its finger out” on skills to prevent a labour shortage for the UK’s major infrastructure projects.
Speaking to Construction News, the Labour peer said the government must get colleges and education providers “geared up” to offer the construction skills needed for projects such as HS2 and the expansion of Heathrow.
“If we don’t plan now to get the careers advice in place at schools and get apprentices increased we are going to be in real difficulty,” he said.
On the prospect of Brexit, Lord Blunkett said the situation “adds a real urgency to the immediate future”.
Arcadis has estimated that UK construction could lose up to 215,000 workers by 2020 under a hard Brexit.

The Labour peer added: “Either we get our act together with diversity, with women, with people who have been unemployed for a long time coming back into workforce, or we end up with a massive shortage.”

Lord Blunkett, who also served as education and employment secretary in Tony Blair’s government, warned:
“We could end up putting the work out for other countries, which in my view would be a catastrophic outcome.”
The Labour peer, who is chairman of the Heathrow Skills Taskforce, was speaking to coincide with the launch of an online forum to gather views on the airport’s future education, employment and skills strategy.
Four logistics hubs are expected to be set up by Heathrow across the country to create 180,000 new jobs, including 10,000 apprenticeships, as part of the airport’s proposed expansion.
As part of his role on the taskforce Lord Blunkett has also met leaders from other major infrastructure projects, including Tideway, HS2, Crossrail and Hinkley, to discuss tackling the skills strategy.

“It’s clear we’re all in the same boat trying to plan ahead for major investment and skill shortages,” he said.

“What we hope to do is time the requirement for particular skills in such a way that people can transfer from one major project to another.”

On the government’s new T-Levels, designed to give parity to technical qualifications, Lord Blunkett said they are a “contribution” but added “unless they are actually implanted very quickly they are going to be behind the timeline”.

He added: “Part of the job of the taskforce is to persuade the government to pull its finger out and make this part of the follow through from the industrial strategy green paper.”

The leaked document on the government’s Brexit immigration plan, obtained by The Guardian, is a frighteningly stark reminder of the threat to construction, once we leave the EU.

While the proposals are in a draft form and yet to be discussed by ministers, it is still a timely reminder that the sector cannot afford to waste any time in working out how it would deal with a sharp decline in EU labour.
Let’s remind ourselves of the numbers.

Nearly 10 per cent of the UK’s construction labour force is from the EU, with that figure rising to around a quarter in London. Indeed, Arcadis has estimated that UK construction could lose up to 215,000 workers by 2020 under a hard Brexit.
The leaked document suggests that all but the most highly skilled labour will be deterred from working in the UK.

The question is: what percentage of construction workers will be classified as ‘non-skilled’?
Much of the media coverage of the leaked report has focused on workers in hospitality and agriculture, but undoubtedly there are large swathes of construction that could get caught by this definition.
Whereas an engineer from Estonia may be given some leeway, a labourer from Lithuania could be treated differently – if the government is to get anywhere near hitting its immigration target.
With general labourers, our industry is still highly dependent on that kind of workforce and that’s where we will see pressure, come what may.

Defence secretary Michael Fallon has said people with the “right skills” will still be welcome in the UK.
The challenge then is for the industry to convince the government of the merits of workers employed in the construction sector.

“The government would be wrong to demarcate skilled workers as professionals rather than tradesmen,” Mr Farmer added. “Craft is something that is absolutely about skills; it’s more about working with your hands, but it is a skill.”

The other issue is the timescale for the changes. If the leaked plans become a reality, Britain would end the free movement of labour immediately following its exit from the EU. There is, however, mention in the document of a phased implementation, which would give some breathing space.

Ultimately, the government appears set on the idea that this is an opportunity for British firms to employ more native workers, is this really achievable? Personally I am not so sure.

It is hard to believe we are soon to approach the half way mark for 2017, the year has flown by so far and activity here at Intersect Global seems to reflect the general buoyancy of the civil engineering & construction sector at the moment.

The Recruitment and Employment confederation have recently released the latest job out look report, this information is gathered by corporate members of the REC so should give an accurate and valuable insight into where the jobs market is at the moment here in the UK.

I thought it would be useful to a share a snap shot of the latest findings :

42 per cent of employers who have had difficulty recruiting candidates have increased the salary on offer, according to April’s JobsOutlook report.

In an attempt to attract candidates after failing with an initial advertisement, 80 per cent of employers re-advertised the role, while 24 per cent have resorted to lowering the requirements of the role.

The REC’s latest JobsOutlook survey of 600 employers also reveals:
• 22 per cent of employers plan to increase permanent headcount in the short term (the next three months) and medium term (the next four to twelve months).
• Construction, engineering/technical and health/social care are the three sectors where employers most expect a shortage of candidates for permanent roles.
• 19 per cent of employers plan to increase temporary agency headcount in the medium term, and 12 per cent plan to do so in the short term.

As ever Intersect Global have a range of interesting career opportunities available. Many of the roles we are working on are not advertised, if you are considering a career move or looking for your next contract assignment please give us a call on 020 76820668.

All the best.

If you have been following the Construction News coverage of women in construction this week I am sure you will agree the statistics presented highlight worrying questions about the state of gender diversity in the industry.
That women make up a fraction of the workforce is not new news. That women continue to fill a fraction of leadership roles with little sign of improvement should be a concern.
In 2014 CN reported that the percentage of women working in the industry was just 12 per cent and there were only 21 women on the boards of the top 20 UK contractors.
In Q4 last year, women formed 12.8 per cent of the workforce, but CN analysis reveals there are fewer women on the boards of the top 20 today than there were three years ago.

That’s not to say contractors are to blame – the situation isn’t much better among property developers, engineering consultants or architects. This is an industry-wide issue.

In 2015, the Construction News barometer found that half of leaders at the UK’s biggest contractors believed their companies employed sufficient numbers of women and those from ethnic minorities. This clearly was not the case, there are signs now that the conversation is changing, moving away from, ‘Do women want to work in construction,’ to questions like, ‘How do we offer flexible working, return-to-work schemes and why does gender diversity lead to better business?’

Just as the industry needs more men to campaign for gender diversity and ridicule outdated views, it needs visible female role models.
If more women can get into senior positions in construction, she says, perhaps there will be a snowball effect.
We also profiled women this week enjoying careers from crane operators to technical directors. The industry is not short of people willing to change and to shape the debate.
And while HS2’s commercial director Beth West rightly points out that “no woman wants to be on a board just because she’s a woman”, for this industry to change, women who are successful leaders can inspire others to consider a career in this industry.
International Women’s Day is an opportune time for us to devote widespread coverage to the issue of gender diversity in this industry.

Intersect Global are members of organisations such as WISE, Women in Science and Engineering and have been actively trying to play our part in the helping improve the diversity of women within our industry, there is a long road ahead to bring things to an equal footing but we really hope that one day this will be a reality.

In other news we are currently working on updating our website and hope to be able to share that with you in forthcoming weeks. In the mean time you can still browse live vacancies on our site. Not all our live vacancies are advertised, if you wish to have an initial chat with us about your next career move please give us a call on 020 76820668.

Intersect Global have enjoyed a very busy start to 2017 with a number of significant permanent appointments being made and an equal measure of contractors placed too. The civil engineering and infrastructure markets are buoyant and the skill shortages make for a extremely tough market.
We thought it would be good to share the Recruitment & Employment Confederation’s latest poll results as to what is likely to be in store for this year.

Three quarters of UK employers (76 per cent) expect economic conditions to be more challenging in 2017 compared to 2016, according to a poll of employers by the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC).

There are signs that the jobs market is slowing. The REC’s latest JobsOutlook survey of 601 employers predicts a softening in short-term hiring. Employers intending to increase their permanent staff headcount within the next three months has reduced to one in five (21 per cent), down from 24 per cent reported last month. Similarly, demand for permanent staff has reduced in all sectors except health & social care and education.

Skills shortages remain a challenge for businesses. Half of all employers (50 per cent) anticipate a shortage of suitable candidates for some permanent roles this year. Employers anticipate that roles in engineering & technology, health & social care, and hospitality will be particularly affected by skills shortages.

Despite harsh economic conditions, businesses remain self-confident. Three quarters of employers polled (74 per cent) say that their business will perform better this year compared to last year.

REC Chief Executive Kevin Green says:

“Employers know that choppy waters lie ahead but are confident they can tough it out. The jobs market has performed better than expected since the referendum. Businesses have held their nerve and we need this resolve to continue as fresh challenges arise in 2017.

“Hirers are already finding it difficult to fill vacancies and this will intensify. The UK is at near-full employment and the available talent pool is shrinking. Economic volatility could make individuals more hesitant about moving jobs this year, which would add to the problem.

“With the government confirming that employers will have to contend with new immigration controls when we leave the EU, organisations in sectors which are reliant upon workers from Europe will have to adapt quickly to survive. It’s difficult to see how the NHS will cope when access to nurses from Europe is curtailed. Likewise, businesses in construction, agriculture, hospitality and manufacturing will need to face up to harsher conditions in 2017 and beyond.”

If you would like to discuss your next career move with Intersect Global, please get in touch.
Please note the jobs on our site are just some of the live requirements we are working on at the moment.