Q2 Update

Q2 is looking much more positive on the hiring front. We will complete assignments in France, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands….. and many of our clients are feeling better about market conditions moving forward.

The banking sector remains flat, but technology, particularly among pre IPO companies seems to be keeping its head above water.

Let’s hope this positivity continues!!

Tech Firms to start cutting R+D?

PARIS/NEW YORK (Reuters) – Technology executives say they are prepared to cut more costs if the downturn proves more prolonged than expected, but finding places to get further savings won’t be easy.

The obvious place to look is research and development budgets, which are typically the last things to get cut at tech companies that thrive on innovation.

But with no guarantees that an economic revival is on the horizon, there are signs that thinking could change.

Alain Dutheil, chief executive of wireless chip maker ST-Ericsson, said it is difficult for the company to justify its “huge” R&D spending with revenue under so much pressure.

“If this economic situation does not improve, we will take further measures. If we cut, it’s going to be on R&D,” he told the Reuters Global Technology Summit.

Many companies that participated in the summit, which took place in New York, Paris and Tokyo this week, have laid off workers as they weathered the worst economic slowdown in decades. German software maker SAP’s cuts were the first in its 37-year history.

To what extent the recent spending cuts will set innovation back remains unclear. Executives said tech firms can help lift the economy out of recession by creating new products that give consumers and businesses a reason to buy again.

Corning Inc CFO Jim Flaws pointed to new technology like flat panel TVs that are lit by LEDs instead of fluorescent tubes as one of the new innovations that will drive demand for TVs. And he pointed to a new type of glass that Corning developed for touchscreen electronic devices as evidence of the company’s commitment to innovation throughout the downturn.

Corning, the world’s largest maker of glass for LCD panels, has cut costs in its manufacturing operations, mothballing half of its production capacity in December.

Since then, however, Flaws said Corning has begun to bring some of its production lines back on-line and rehire laid off workers to meet demand for flat panels and fiber optic cables.

PAY FREEZES, PARTNERSHIPS

Chip firms SanDisk Corp and ARM Holdings have continued to invest in next-generation products and technology even as they cut costs in other parts of the company, executives said at the summit.

ARM reduced headcount by 3 percent at the start of the year and does not anticipate any more job cuts. CEO Warren East said any further savings will come from “tight financial discipline, pay freezes, restricting all sorts of discretionary expenditures.”

SanDisk has also made multiple rounds of job cuts as it suffers through a severe downturn in the flash memory industry, which has contributed to billions of dollars in losses.

Q1 2009 Update

How did the first quarter go??

Well it went OK – enough revenue to keep ticking over, and a decent pipeline going into Q2, things could be much better, but the fact is we are still in a very healthy position as a company….. phew!

On the very positive side, we have increased headcount, with further plans to bring in more senior recruiters during the new quarter – watch this space!

So yeah, a solid 7 out of 10.

What we’re listening to……….

It would be great if this was a post about us listening to regular economic podcasts straight from CNN or listening to some self improvement tapes, but it isn’t. Here’s a selection of bands getting playtime in the Capital2 Solutions offices:

Kings of Leon

The Cribs

Chalatans

Radiohead

Vanessa Paradis

Joy Division

The Jam

IndoChine

The Ramones

The Streets

Happy Mondays

LTJ Bukem

Arctic Monkeys

Oasis

Air

Cocoon

Feist

Killers

Libertines

Capital2 bosses speak at HEC Paris

February 12th, Capital2 Solutions founder Sam Kirby gave a talk to the 2009 MBA class at  HEC Paris (France’s top business school). The subject was the Hiring Markets for 2009 / 2010 and the hour long presentation gave rise to some healthy questions and debate at the end of the talk.

Additional Geographical and Sector Focus

As we have expanded our team, we have added in consultants with new areas of expertise. As well as our core markets of banking and technology in Southern Europe and the UK, Capital2 Solutions is now well placed to deliver on recruitment assignments in the following territories:

• Germany
• DACH and Eastern Europe, including Russia
• Middle East
• South Africa
• Singapore

We have also added the following sector specialisms:

• Mobility Solutions (including Telco)
• Renewable Energy

The idea is that through growth, we are able to increase our service offering, without distracting from our ability to deliver world class recruitment solutions.

2009 is shaping up to be a difficult year, but our commitment to our clients’ needs, coupled with our flexibility should enable us to thrive in an increasingly challenging market.

Obama

Moving stuff eh………. these are extraordinary things we are witnessing.

Let’s hope all the promise and (to repeat ourselves) hope doesn’t wither amongst the cynical reality of world politics and lobbying.

Recruitment Market 2009

So how are things shaping up for 2009?

Well, there’s overwhelming consensus that hiring will slow down across the board. Profits are down, therefore budgets are down therefore hiring slows….. logical. Our core markets of banking and high technology are broad enough to enable us to react effectively to this, but we’d be stupid to think that next year will be easy.

How does this affect the way we work?

Well generally in tough economic periods, there are a lot of candidates on the market (redundancies etc), and fewer new jobs being created. The inverse is roughly true in boom times, where there are lots of jobs compared to the number of suitable candidates. This means we as a company have to do 3 main things:

1. We work harder to find new roles to fill, and try to keep tight hold of our existing (hiring) client base.
2. We have to ensure that the ratio between being asked to hire a role and actually filling it is as close as possible to perfection.
3. We need to maintain an accurate and large database of active candidates to ensure we react quickly in the event of being retained by a client. This can even take the form of partnerships with 3rd party researchers or RPO companies.

So we will be affected. We service the banking and technology markets, both of which will be squeezing suppliers (ie us) hard over 2009. That said, our management team have already come through one serious recession – no reason they can’t come out the other side of this one smiling too!!!!

Who said France’s always on strike?

It all started in 1948…

“NANTERRE (AFP) – Le conseil des prud’hommes de Nanterre se penche mercredi sur la requête atypique d’anciens mineurs des houillères du Nord-Pas-de-Calais, qui veulent voir leur préjudice reconnu soixante ans après leur licenciement à la suite d’un mouvement de grève durement réprimé en 1948.”

The following are for this week (17/21nov.) only:

• “Le Sénat a adopté dans la nuit de lundi à mardi le relèvement de 60 à 65 ans de l’âge limite d’activité en vol des pilotes malgré une grève de quatre jours à Air France contre cette disposition, qui a pris fin lundi à minuit”
• “PARIS (Reuters) – Deux syndicats de cheminots, la CFDT et la FGAAC (Autonomes), ont décidé de reporter de mardi minuit à vendredi minuit leur appel à une grève de 24 heures à la SNCF afin de continuer à négocier sur le réforme du fret.”
• “L’UNSA Police et le Syndicat général de la police/Force Ouvrière (SGP/FO) appellent les policiers à manifester mardi à Lyon pour “la défense de leur pouvoir d’achat”, “la sauvegarde des 35 heures” et contre “la réduction des effectifs”, selon leurs principaux mots d’ordre.”
• “A trois jours de la grève dans l’Education de jeudi, les deux premiers syndicats du primaire, le SNUipp-FSU et le SE-Unsa, déplorent le manque de dialogue social du ministre de l’Education Xavier Darcos, et lui reprochent son “attitude”, dans des communiqués distincts lundi.”

As long as it’s not raining…

Recession? The end of Free market capitalism? Run for the Hills!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Having blogged quite a bit earlier this year on the sub prime issues, we have stayed away from doing so purely because it has been impossible to keep up with the various banks collapsing, being taken over, nationalised etc. We also predicted the recession was part of a cycle… this has been proved to be an optimistic view.

At time of writing the US congress’ bailout bill has yet to be adopted (defeated when put to the vote), the european nations are burying their heads in the sand and the markets are in turmoil. So is it time to start stockpiling food and living in your cellar?

Well, no, not really. What the past few days have shown us is that governments do not actually subscribe to the ‘free market’ theory as so famously championed by Greenspan. When it comes to the crunch (and to vote losing economic hardship!) governments will intervene on the markets to prop up failing institutions. Is this right?

Well yes and no. Yes if ordinary consumers’ property and savings are in danger. No if the bank has speculated purely to accumulate wealth for itself. Call us old fashioned but we feel the purpose of a bank is to finance the economy, not to make themselves rich to the detriment of the rest of the economy. Some of the greed that has been exhibited has been quite astounding. But hindsight is a wonderful thing.

Where to now? We think the economic situation will not bottom out until the summer of 2009, and then will begin to show growth for the last quarter of the year. It will be a tough period for many, but if this means a return to the parsimonius and non debt-reliant outlook of previous generations then this can only be a healthy development.

Good luck everybody!