I’m getting asked a lot at the moment about my predictions for the next year but without a crystal ball I’m reluctant to commit too much as this year has seen so many unexpected twists and turns. In times of a recession it is very difficult to predict what will happen over the coming days or weeks let alone months but what has been interesting is watching how organisations innovate and diversify to achieve their aims. I think we’ll see more of this, especially in the early stages of next year, but I’m optimistic that things will start to improve throughout the year and with this I think we’ll see some companies returning to more proactive, dynamic activity, which will be exciting.

Interestingly, the research we run quarterly with brand tracking agency HPI shows an increase in the number of active job seekers in November 2009, who appear to be growing in confidence regarding finding a new job. This is mirrored by an increase in vacancies, which is likely to be playing a key role in the increased candidate confidence. The younger generation seem most optimistic about 2010 although this could be due to them having little experience of going through a recession or perhaps having fewer responsibilities than the older demographics.

It goes without saying that 2009 has been tough for pretty much everyone, particularly the recruitment industry, but this year was also one of the busiest in Jobsite’s history. We worked on widespread activity such as Jobs-by-Twitter, our Johnston Press partnership, launch of our news centre Insider and our behavioural targeting service. These projects and partnerships were all new ways for us to attract candidates, increase vacancy numbers and applications and make job hunting and recruitment quicker and easier.

The economic climate also presented us with opportunities to work on topical projects, such as the Redundancy Advice area we created to help jobseekers affected by redundancy, and JobAid, which we launched in November, to provide free vacancy advertising for charities or organisations looking to fill voluntary positions. This helps them to reduce their operating costs and focus more of their resources on the important work that they do.

Whilst budgets were tight we continued our brand campaign in 2009 with the second burst of our TV advertising in January, our adverts showing during Take That’s tour in June and becoming the main sponsor of Premier League football team Portsmouth FC in July. People might have thought this activity was strange during the recession but we’re very much focused on long term strategy and research shows that brands who continue advertising in a downturn are better placed to grow as the economy improves.

So what lies ahead for 2010?’ I hear you ask. Well, based on the trends we’re seeing from HPI it seems likely that both job seeking and recruitment will continue to slowly increase. In line with this we’ll be focused on attracting new candidates from all regions and sectors with our adverts returning to TV in January.  We’ll also be making changes to Jobsite and looking at site re-designs, new products and services, international expansion and new partnerships across the wider Jobsite group, to help ensure job hunting remains quick and easy for both existing candidates and new job seekers. So, whilst I don’t have a crystal ball I think 2010 will certainly see more positives than this year and am excited at the prospects that lie ahead. An early Happy New Year to you all.