Loose Leaves

Once again the headhunters are busy, capturing talent and delivering their trophies to the boardrooms of the capital. Since professional Records Managers (as opposed to ‘let's pretend’ PQ accountants) are a rare species, the hunt this last year has been particularly tense. Only by offering thrilling inducements has the ‘big game’ been caught. In the majority of cases, the headhunters' brief is short and simple: to bag a records manager who will set up a system out of chaos and then run it efficiently. This is a tall order. In the majority of cases the existing records management systems are a veritable Augean Stables, the corruption and confusion has now reached such a depth as to prompt urgent attention from top management. A Hercules is required and, if to be attracted, his or her labours will need to be rewarded handsomely. Not so long ago, the going rate for a Records Manager able to organize a system from scratch was of the order of £20,000. Since this inducement commonly resulted in the recruitment of a Hercules more after the manner of Aristophanes than of Aeschylus, a process of salary inflation deriving from scarcity took over. A few months ago, one leading firm of city recruiters were offering £70,000 + for a manager skilled enough to organize a market‐maker's backrooms. Although no doubt exceptional, this level of remuneration (which, when taking the ‘package’ into account, topped six figures) reflects the growing desperation felt in business for the type of executive who really can make order out of chaos and a filing system out of a heap of contract notes.