State of the OME "Nation"

OK - so here is the broad economic news from a young, growing but still relatively small player in the UK recruitment advertising marketplace - has recession grabbed us, are we sailing serenely onwards - can you read anything in to our performance to indicate wider trends - see below

• We are doing OK in terms of monthly revenues and still growing. July 2008 was our biggest ever month - followed by October 2008. (we launched in May 2006)
• 90% of our clients are still actively recruiting - with a couple of organisations that have a freeze or as near as damnit. Fortunately for us we did not have much exposure to Finance/Financial Services
• This recruitment activity tends to be normal stuff rather than big projects - huge store opening programmes etc.
• New business has driven our year rather than our existing clients' growth. We have had a great year in this respect - i think worth looking at why for a second

1. We are a young dynamic business - we bloody should be successful in new business - its not a very exciting (or rewarding) place to be if not
2. We have focused very hard at it as we are concerned about the wider picture and we have invested heavily in staff this year - so we need to make sure they have some work to do!
3. But i think fascinatingly - OME/online recruitment represents a cost saving approach to recruitment. yes we are innovative and quality should be high - but ultimately we save clients money and reduce cost per hire. This downturn is undoubtedly driving people online although it may not feel like it for a bit. The most positive thing about this year - is i am utterly convinced about this point. Anecdotally - 50% of the new client meetings we attend tends to feature a version of the HR mgmt telling us how much was spent on recruitment last year (including all rec con/agency fees) - and the mission is simple - helps us dramatically reduce this figure.

• Most of our billings are based around core products of Job Board Media, SEM, Campaign Mgmt, Consultancy fees (including Technical). The more esoteric cutting edge stuff has sat out there unsigned off - and i kind of agree with those decisions if budgets are limited.

So not sure it tells anyone quite what is going on out there - but for us its OK - but would like it a bit better please!