Recruitment Update: New Data Revealed in Latest Survey

According to the latest data released from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), it would appear that professional hiring has flatlined. With that in mind, Raffingers looks at what might have triggered such a dramatic standstill in the recruitment sector.

Research revealed that in January-April 2016 the employment rate for people aged 16-64 reached a staggering 74.2%, the highest it has been since comparable records began in 1971. Although this would appear to be celebratory news, there has only been a 0.1% increase in the employment rate from November 2015 – January 2016. It is possible that the reason why professional hiring has flatlined so suddenly is because of the pre-Brexit fear, and so as we wait in anticipation for the aftermath of the Brexit to kick in, it will be interesting to see how the recruitment sector adjusts.

However, despite this period of uncertainty, it is promising that the recruitment sector still stands as strong as ever, on average, weekly salaries within the professional sectors, excluding bonuses, increased by 2.3% from January-April 2016, in comparison to the previous year.

Furthermore, the unemployment rate of 5.0% is the lowest it has been since August-October 2005. Despite these figures being extremely promising, it does mean that it is becoming increasingly difficult for recruiters to find skilled candidates and remain at the top. For guidance on how you can attract top quality candidates, read our article ‘How to Attract Top Talent to Your Business’.

Competition for candidates is still strong and recruiters need to continue to look at the ways in which they source candidates, as well as new ways they can add more value to their clients. From the 2015 CIPD survey on Resourcing and Talent Planning, it appears that companies are beginning to use fewer agencies, but are building stronger relationships with the agencies they do use. Therefore, for recruitment agencies to maintain their working relationship with their clients they need be: building close relationships with their clients,  fully understanding their client’s recruitment needs, selling their client’s value proposition successfully and sourcing talented candidates. With the current period of uncertainty, strong working relationships are going to be the key to future growth and success.

*Source:

ONS: UK Labour Market: June 2015 - http://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/bulletins/uklabourmarket/june2016

CIPD, Resourcing and Talent Planning 2015 - http://www.cipd.co.uk/binaries/resourcing-talent-planning_2015.pdf