Permanent staff appointments increase at fastest pace for four months in December
Report on Jobs January 2018:
According to the IHS Markit and Recruitment and Employment Confederation’s (REC) report on Jobs, permanent staff placements increased at the quickest pace since August at the end of the year as recruitment agencies reported on strong demand for staff. At the same time, growth of temporary/contract billings remained sharp despite softening since November.
Key points from the December survey:
• Permanent placements rise at quicker pace as contract billings continue to expand sharply
• Demand for staff moderates slightly but remains robust
• Further marked decline in staff availability contributes to steep increases in pay
Kevin Green, REC Chief Executive says: “The number of people finding jobs via recruiters is growing, even while the overall employment rate is plateauing. This suggests that more employers are turning to recruiters to help them fill vacancies as candidate availability continues to fall and recruiting good people becomes that much harder.”
“Employers as a response to these candidate shortages are offering increased starting salaries to attract staff but while this has been the case for some time it isn’t translating into significant wage growth across the economy yet.”
“Early in the New Year, people often think about changing jobs, so employers are going to have to think carefully about how they can both retain existing capabilities and find the new hires they need as competition for people intensifies. Bosses should consider going to wider talent pools and to be inventive about how to improve their employer brand and make themselves an even more attractive place to work.”
The demand for staff in Accounting and Finance jobs led a broad-based expansion of demand for permanent workers in December. This was closely followed by I.T. & Computing jobs and Engineering jobs.
Key Permanent and Contract/Interim staff skills reported in short supply included:
• Accounting/Financial: Accountants, Audit, Estimators, Finance, FP & A, Paraplanners, Payroll, Risk, Tax, Treasury
• Engineering: CNC, Design Engineers, Electrical, Engineers, Mechanical, Simulation, Technicians, Vehicle
• IT/Computing: Architects, Automation Testers, CAD, C#, DevOps, Digital, Gaming, IT, IT Security, Java, .NET, Oracle Fusion, PHP Devs, Python, ScrumMasters, Software Developers/Engineers, Web Developers
Martin Crapper, Managing Director at Redline Group comments:
“Historically, the end of the year could be a sluggish time, but not the last few years in the technology sector. Redline had an above average number of offers in the final week before Christmas, employers anxious not to delay getting those scarce candidates secured and committed. Even the number of new vacancies was above average, indicating continued appetite for growth and expansion within the technology sector."
“We’ve noted a continued rise in the permanent salaries offered, and contractor pay rates required to secure employers’ chosen candidates. Redline analyses all declined offers to look for trends and improve our advice to employers about how best to position their ‘Value Proposition’ to applicants. Whilst salary remains the largest factor (27.6%) , this has reduced since 2016, the increase in declinations has come from candidate choosing ‘better job or company’ (21.1%) and location (19.7%) – strongly indicating that candidates are looking not only at salary but the ‘right’ company/career and work-life balance.”
If you’d like a copy of Redline’s Declination Survey, drop us a line to info@RedlineGroup.com