UK Recruiters report on 2019 performance | Recruitment News UK
• In an eBoss exclusive, we look at recruiters’ sentiments about performance in 2019. Are we looking at another record-breaking year?/strong>
• UK recruiters are among the best for managing the work-life balance. So how can we help to improve the working lifestyles of our candidates?
• This badly written job listing is our recruitment fail of the week. How did they get it so wrong?
Revealed: The True Performance of UK Recruiters
An exclusive study by eBoss recruitment software finds Britain’s recruiters are continuing to match expectations. But even agencies are now beginning to report concerns about the future of the market – as skills gaps widen.
UK Recruiters could be set to enjoy a third consecutive year of record-breaking performance in 2019. That is the finding of a new study carried out by eBoss recruitment software.
In a survey of more than 600 business leaders, consultants, and industry experts, eBoss found broad confidence for the year. At the same time, respondents appeared to acknowledge that the good times were unlikely to last forever – unless there was a significant change in the UK jobs market.
The study posed the single question “Will skills gaps impact agency performance in 2019?”. Respondents were given a series of multiple choice answers, and asked to select one which most accurately described them.
eBoss found that 16 per cent of those surveyed had been able to match client expectations for new skills throughout 2019. A further 28 per cent said that they were meeting their targets. However, highly skilled candidates were now becoming unavailable faster than in previous years.
Almost a fifth (17 per cent) of agencies said that they had plenty of candidates. However, sourcing in-demand skills among them was becoming more of a challenge.
Just 6 per cent of recruiters believed that their performance in 2019 was likely to suffer due to a shortage of skills.
. . . But could the clock be ticking on UK recruitment’s boom-time?
At the same time, data shows that recruiters are growing increasingly aware of tightening within the UK labour market. Almost one third (33 per cent) of respondents reported that they had seen a decline in overall candidate numbers in 2019. This is not just for the top talent, but among all skill levels.
We have seen in recent weeks that even entry level positions are offering higher salaries to attract applicants. The figures released today might suggest that recruiters will face some testing times in the months ahead.
Recruiters advised to consider margins for future competitiveness
A reduction in available candidates may find an already lean jobs market contracting further. Recruiters will therefore be under pressure to make sure that they make every resource at their disposal count.
The eBoss study forms part of a wider initiative to provide deliverables to a competitive UK jobs market. In terms of performance and placements, eBoss has developed a set of new features for the recruitment database which makes candidate tracking and skills discovery even easier. As skills fall into short supply, no recruiter wants to be left behind because they were unaware of an applicant’s newly acquired skill-set, or a long-time candidate becoming available again. With improved automation and note-creation, the eBoss recruitment CRM is working to address today’s challenges in the recruiting sector.
READ MORE: How advanced recruitment features translate into faster placements and improved outcomes.
Robert Ward, Director of Sales at eBoss recruitment software said: “This study shows that recruiters are broadly confident about their fortunes in 2019. It’s great to see that confidence is so high among our clients and that it is being matched by performance – even after two consecutive years of astounding results.”
“A busy jobs market, combined with increasing competition for new talent is keeping the industry buoyant. I would not be entirely surprised if both margin and volume increased this calendar year.”
Responding to reports that candidacy numbers were falling across the board, Mr Ward said: “We’re at historical levels of employment in Britain. It seems clear that, in terms of available skills, we are very much in a sellers market right now.”
Why UK recruiters manage the work-life balance better than anybody else
A new study by employer satisfaction website Glassdoor named recruitment as one of the best professions for a work-life balance. How can the industry assist others to achieve a healthier way of working?
We have seen in the past how a poor work-life balance can impact productivity. It is such a concern among UK workers that many cite a better lifestyle balance as a top reason for seeking a career change.
Usually, any improvement to your working lifestyle is expected to go hand-in-hand with a reduction in wages. Whether it is going part-time, moving to a four-day week, or flexible hours, earnings tend to take a hit. But is this always the case?
Not, according to Glassdoor. Their new list of the top fifteen roles for lifestyle satisfaction showed many jobs above the national average salary.
Amanda Stansell, economic research analyst at Glassdoor, said: “It is possible to find a job that pays good money yet doesn’t take over your life.”
A welcome sign is the fact that recruiters claim two out of the top fifteen best jobs for lifestyle balance. Recruitment consultants placed seventh, with a work-life balance rating of 4.3 out of five. Not too far behind were their recruitment managers, who were happily awarding their job 4.1 for lifestyle harmony.
But, as recruiters, we want to understand the expectations of every profession. So which other roles claimed the top spots for lifestyle satisfaction?
Top Roles for Work-Life Balance
Job Title | Typical Salary | Work-Life Balance Rating |
---|---|---|
Sales Development Representative | £27,000 | 4.6 |
Research Fellow | £34,000 | 4.6 |
Customer Success Manager | £40,000 | 4.5 |
Marketing Assistant | £20,000 | 4.4 |
Engagement Manager | £48,000 | 4.4 |
Data Scientist | £46,000 | 4.4 |
Recruiter | £25,000 | 4.3 |
Copywriter | £29,000 | 4.2 |
Web Developer | £31,000 | 4.2 |
Audit Manager | £52,000 | 4.2 |
Recruiting Manager | £40,000 | 4.1 |
Operations Analyst | £30,000 | 4.1 |
Executive Assistant | £37,000 | 4.1 |
Product manager | £52,500 | 4.1 |
HR Business Partner | £49,000 | 4.1 |
What does this data tell us?
Roles which offer a greater degree of autonomy tend to represent a healthier work-life balance, too.
Also: be nice to your agency manager when you leave the office tonight. They probably dream of your work-life balance!
Hotel chain’s job listing is a recruitment fail
An awful job listing has been branded a “dystopian masterpiece” by social media users.
As recruiters, we are all aware of the need to hit the right tone with our online jobs listings. A well-written advert can be the difference between a successful placement and an empty inbox. It is always a little excruciating then, when we stumble across one that gets it wrong in a very public way.
That was the misfortune that fell on hotel chain Radisson this week, when their poorly-targeted job listing for a vacancy in their Glasgow premises was discovered by users on social media.
The post, which calls for applicants with an “ageless millennial mindset”, commits pretty much all the cardinal sins of bad advertising. It oversells its offering, it miscommunicates important elements of the job description and generally makes working for the brand sound terrible and unappealing.
Starting off in shouty all-capitals with the proud boast that “WE CONNECT WITH THAT AGELESS MILLENNIAL MINDSET”, the advert then goes on to claim that: “Radisson RED sees things differently.”
How differently? Well, for one: “We don’t have ‘staff’ we have ‘Creatives’.”
Getting it this wrong reminds us that the purpose of job listings is to connect
Apparently, millennials find being called staff demeaning. They are also not fond of clear job descriptions, either – if this advert is anything to go by. It continues:
“Present; in the soul of house, in the action, happy moving from the RED Sky Bar alive with music, to the events areas and a book reading, over to the lobby where a group are looking for a restaurant recommendation. The phone rings reservation, you’ve got it and now you are flipping an omelette, catch it! This place is alive and you love it. Smile. Photo.”
“Throughout the hotel you make it clean, cook on the stoves, serve the coffees, shake the cocktails, book tours, make reservations and check guests. Always laughing with guests, playing the odd game and even a little bit of mischief now and again, but that’s generally OK, at RED we demand it.”
The advert then fails to provide the location of the job, while exposing the text as a pre-written template:
“Come join us and Make Every Moment Matter and make RED the place to be in (City).”
The awful write-up has been enthusiastically dismantled by irate Twitter users, who described the listing as “an absolute dystopian masterpiece”.
One poster asked “Why is there an omelette anywhere near a phone[?]”. Others found the “demand” for mischief “sinister and overbearing”.
The appalled reaction highlights the one thing that vacancy adverts have to get right every time: connecting with your target audience.