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The Brighton ‘brain-drain’

Richard Hill is a 28 year old Brighton resident who works at the cutting edge of new technology. He’s bright, articulate and highly skilled, in fact exactly the sort of person that organisations in the town would give their eye-teeth to employ. But unfortunately they can’t, because every weekday morning Richard is on the 6-53 from Preston Park heading for an early start at his job in London.

Despite the fact that Brighton is now one of the most vibrant places in the UK with good accommodation, great social life and infrastructure and a thriving local economy, too many of our best people have given up the idea of working here. And for companies like my own, the specialist recruitment consultancy, MRL Group, that desperately need this level of talent to fuel growth, it’s a major headache. So, given the horror stories that pour out of practically any commuter at the slightest provocation, why do so many Brightonians spend up to three hours hiking backwards and forwards to the capital every day?

The problem seems to stem from the fact that, while Brighton has developed a fantastic reputation as a place to live and have fun in, it still suffers from the old perception that seaside towns can only offer lower paid, low skill jobs. And, unfortunately statistics seem to back this feeling up. Apart from at a relatively few large companies in the area, such as Amex, there seems to be a ‘glass ceiling’ for jobs locally. Graduate level roles, for example, only tend to pay around £15-16,000, as opposed to £20,000 in London, whilst executive level pay is around a third less than at the other end of the commuter line. As Richard puts it, “I earn about £10,000 more in London, which is more than enough to compensate for commuting. And there are just so many more opportunities up here – something which has allowed me to double my salary in the three years I’ve been coming up here.”

Yet working in Brighton doesn’t have to mean compromising on your career. The town is now home to a wide spectrum of exciting businesses – everything from PR to new media to professional services firms. Perhaps where employers are going wrong is that they are simply not shouting loud enough about what is on offer. If you’ve got a story to tell, you have to tell it – as I’m trying to do right now.

To grow the MRL Group from a standing start a decade ago to an international company with five overseas offices today, we’ve had to attract and retain precisely the sort of people who are ‘natural’ commuters. Because of the nature of our business – specialist recruitment for companies in such areas as technology, finance and energy around the world – we look for highly motivated and informed recruitment consultants. And, given everything that I’ve said already, we’re acutely aware that they aren’t exactly hanging around on street corners. We’ve fought back against the Brighton ‘brain-drain’ by playing London at its own game. That’s meant paying London level salaries, despite the fact we’re ten minutes from the beach, and providing the sort of opportunities for career development normally not seen outside the capital. That’s meant properly thought out training programmes, whole company get-togethers where we bring in staff from offices as far afield as Dubai and Singapore, project teams that transcend national boundaries and treating staff like ‘grown ups’ capable of making sensible commercial and career decisions. It’s also meant being imaginative and innovative when it comes to hanging on to good people. Take, for example, one of our consultants who was under pressure to move to France to live closer to his French wife’s family. Rather than trying to strong-arm him into staying in Brighton we got him to put a business plan together for setting up a new office and then funded him to open our new operation in the south of France. The way we look at it, if you look provincial and act provincial you get provincial people. Instead we’ve followed the lead of Insead, one of the world’s top business schools, which always says that it doesn’t matter where it’s based because it’s a truly international business. We take the same view – we could be anywhere – London, Tokyo, Chicago – it’s just that we happen to like being based in Brighton!

If we can do it, why can’t you? Even the most enthusiastic commuter is acknowledging that the trains to London are getting busier all the time, so now is the time for action if you want to make your business more than just another SME. Think what you can offer, your image and how you can tap into the goals and ambitions of that mobile talent pool. It’s time to fight back – Brighton 1, London 0!

David Stone is managing director of international recruitment firm, MRL Group, which has its head office in Hove – www.mrl-group.com

If you’d like to work for MRL Group, see our list of current opportunities

For more information please contact David on +44 (0) 1273 320 860 or email careers@mrl-group.com for a confidential discussion.