Hire or lower?

I've only just seen Andrew Smith's info about the jobs market in UK PR and marketing. So what really is going on with the jobs market in tech PR at the moment?

A few trends spring to mind. One (and true in the media too), is people are leaving to go freelance. Fair enough, if that's their path, and good luck to them, but it's a risky time to do it. Another is that people continue to use interviews with other agencies to lever rises from their existing employers. Scumbags! Another is people accepting jobs and then backtracking when they change their mind. Naive and discourteous.

Despite the gloom of a fall in the requirement for PRs, most agency bosses I know are still falling over themselves in this sector to attract and retain the best people. Chief economic soothsayer Wadds may wax lyrical about the poop hitting the fan and yes it probably will, but while there's cause for concern, agencies should be keeping their heads and thinking long term about the quality, loyalty and satisfaction of their employees.

One thing that does strike me as true is that a fair chunk of the UK's tech PR workforce needs to think long and hard before making career decisions in the current economic climate, and make moves for the right reasons. Few have worked through a real recession before. Most have enjoyed years of prosperity, the freedom to change jobs without fear of being cut, and had employers chasing them for their signature.

I came into the labour market in 1992, when we were still gripped by the tailwind (picture that) of a nasty recession. I qualified with 29 other journalists - nine months later, more than half were still unemployed in either press or PR roles. At the end of my first week at work, having scooped the front page lead and started to make my feeble mark, I was offered voluntary redundancy (sod off said I).

So if you're the kind of PR who thinks you can hold your employer to ransom, flit between jobs until you find something that's "really you" and mess both recruiters and interviewers around while they fall at your feet, it's time to wake up and smell the frothy latte.