Acorn’s Marketing Director comments for the Western Mail as ‘Wales Top 300’ is published

“The forecast for the recruitment industry in 2011 provides a mixed bag of uncertainties and opportunities – some of which only impact on certain sectors of recruitment, and others which are more general and affect us all. In general, the headline for the recruitment sector is the introduction of the Agency Worker Regulations in October – no one is clear yet precisely how these will be expected to be implemented, and the delay in the Government announcing its guidelines means UK plc has less time to prepare for them. Notwithstanding this, it is clear that both employers and recruiters will have their work cut out to ensure there is minimal impact on the ability for businesses to operate as flexibly, and as competitively as possible.

Across the board, as growth continues only slowly, pressure remains on margins, and the weaker agencies (in particular) will continue to find it tough to operate as cash flow, debtor days and lending facilities remain a problem. And we have yet to fully-appreciate how this might be affected when the public sector cuts make their mark deeper into the supply chain. There are some opportunities for agencies with a greater capacity, such as in IT and energy / renewable sectors, where there are still significant skill shortages for employers.And with high-end positions generally, there is a slow-down in the numbers of people willing to move jobs; impacting on availability of the good applicants for some roles.

Overall in terms of temporary positions, recruiters are expecting to see growth in areas such as hotel / catering, technical and engineering, IT, logistics, clerical and construction. For permanent recruitment IT, construction, nursing and some management areas should also experience continuing growth.

As for Acorn, we look ahead to 2011 with some optimism; we know trading is still going to be tough, but we welcome the New Year on the back of our most successful year ever; and as a proud Welsh-headquartered business, we look forward to further acquisition opportunities and organic growth right across the UK.”