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We all know that recruitment has been tough for employers over the last few years. The challenges stem from the pandemic with employees taking early retirement, changing careers, and looking for different work/life balance.
But with LinkedIn reporting that 75% of UK professionals are looking for a new job in 2024, are recruitment trends about to change?
What recruitment trends are we seeing UK-wide?
Before we delve into the Midlands, let’s have a look back over the changes across the UK to see how the workforce has altered. Reports, understandably, vary depending on the focus. However, key statistics being reported include:
- 5m people were reporting long-term sickness as the main reason for their economic inactivity—a rise since 2019 of 28% to 2022.
- Those claiming benefits have reduced since 2020 to around 3.6% of the working-age population. (Figure 2)
- PAYE data reports more workers on its payroll now than before the pandemic.
- The number of vacancies in the UK fell by 49,000 to 934,000 for the 18th consecutive period in January 2024.
Which, on the surface, points to a more positive outlook. However, in practice, we’re not seeing that across the markets as a whole. And when you look deeper at LinkedIn’s rising jobs list, the data is gathered over the last five years to pre-pandemic days. Potentially showing more positivity than the market currently feels. Especially when we take into account what we’re seeing daily.
While it is positive that 74% of UK professionals are looking for a new job, suggesting that we’re now more comfortable post-Covid. However, our experience says that the recruitment market is still waiting for those professionals to begin the search in earnest. We’re not yet seeing that positivity makes it easier for employers to recruit or employees to find the right role for them.
How does that translate to Midlands recruitment trends?
While on the face of it, it seems an encouraging national picture for employers but what of the Midlands? The LinkedIn job survey, interestingly, doesn’t focus on any Midlands city. Potentially due to the higher rate of recovery than the capital or smaller cities such as Bristol.
What we can see is that Birmingham, Derby, and Telford (Figure 2) all have lower benefit claim level increases than other cities. Although Coventry has had a significant increase since Covid. Potentially indicating that more people are in education or work within the majority of the Midlands compared to other regions of the UK.
Other key statistics showing the move to some positivity in the Midlands include:
- A second consecutive increase in permanent placements in the Midlands
- The second-fastest rise in temporary staff behind London
- Aerospace, defence, and engineering sectors are on the rise
- IT remains the largest skill in demand
This supports the larger UK picture of some positivity but is very nuanced to role, skill, and sector. It suggests that employers and employees are thinking differently about the roles they take on e.g. temporary over permanent but while our permanent placements are on the rise, we aren’t necessarily seeing these placements filled at the same rate as they are created.
What does this mean if you’re struggling to recruit?
If you’re reading this post and are struggling to recruit you might be wondering will things ever change? Unfortunately, we aren’t fortune-tellers but we do think that the move to an employer-led market will take time and one we can’t see for the foreseeable future. But we do still have a series of broad recommendations as while our advice is tailored to each business we work with, we do have some thoughts to help:
- Review your job description. Is it clear enough to attract the right candidates?
- Examine the gaps in your business. Can you look at different roles, job titles or skill levels to widen your recruitment pool?
- Check your company brand and culture. Are you marketing yourself enough?
And finally know when to invest in a recruitment consultancy. Job market trends are our ‘bread and butter’ and keeping up to date with the highs and lows of each sector enables us to do our jobs better and find you those ‘good eggs’. For further help and advice email [email protected] or [email protected] or visit www.goodeggrecruitment.com.
