With election polls pointing towards a change of government this week, a survey of
senior executives by management careers site TheLadders.co.uk has found that 64% are optimistic that a change of government will bring improvements to the job market.
The poll of senior management employees from the UKs leading companies also found that the party that best represented the needs of the job seeker was the Conservatives (37%), followed by Labour (30%) and the Liberal Democrats (19%). Although the Liberal Democrats fared less well, their economic spokesperson Vince Cable certainly made an impression with business people - he was voted the politician most senior managers would like to hire for their business.
When asked which politicians executives would most like to see working in their business - based on their performance in the job - the current Prime Minister only came sixth. The top 5 were:
1. Vince Cable (45%)
2. David Cameron (35%)
3. Nick Clegg (32%)
4. William Hague (31%)
5. Ken Clarke (29%)
The top reasons for choosing those above were because they were ‘strategic, a good thinker' (28%), exhibited ‘personality, dynamism and motivation' (19.5%), and had demonstrated a ‘good performance in their current position' (15.6%) - all attributes that are clearly valued by Britain's leading executives. 70% of those polled thought that business people would make good politicians however 76% do not rate politicians as business people, perhaps demonstrating Vince Cable's popularity - with a solid business background, he was once a senior economist at Shell.
The specific policies related to improving the job market that managers would like to see in the winning party's manifesto are:
1. Funding to business to recruit job seekers over the age of 50 (47%)
2. Temporary tax relief for employers hiring to fill new roles (41%)
3. Action on retraining job hunters in transferable skills (39%)
4. Investments in schemes to help businesses employ the long-term unemployed (36%)
5. Focusing on jobs for British nationals (30%)
Derek Pilcher, Managing Director of TheLadders.co.uk says: "There's a great deal of expectation riding on the election and particularly for the job market which has taken a huge hit during the recession. With unemployment currently standing at 8% and the lowest it's been since 1996* it's really important for our politicians to also demonstrate their business skills in helping provide a more secure job market and - hopefully - a return to prosperity."
Occupation: The online leader in executive jobs
TheLadders.co.uk is the UK’s leading online recruitment service catering to the hi-end £50K+ job market. Launched in January 2008 the London-based company is the first port of call for senior executives to keep their finger on the pulse of the elite job market, with a suite of services including access to the most £50K+ jobs in one place, links to the UK’s biggest corporate employers, agencies and headhunters, CV critiquing and customised profiling, regular email alerts and an environment to prospect for new opportunities within the country’s biggest industries – finance, sales and marketing, legal, technology and operations. TheLadders.co.uk is owned by TheLadders.com. Founded in 2003 by Marc Cenedella TheLadders.com has grown into the largest specialty employment website in the world, with over 1,900,000 members and over 35,000 recruiters. TheLadders.com is headquartered in New York with European headquarters in London. To see more, please visit www.theladders.co.uk
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