Welcome to Issue 5 of Recruitment Trends & Industry Insights

Hi I'm Joanna Oakley CCWP MCIPD . With over 20 years of experience in the staffing and recruitment industry, I am a Transformation and Change Consultant and the Owner/Director of Argylestone Consulting Ltd . I help multinational staffing firms and local recruitment businesses implement technology and operational change and transformation programmes to drive growth and productivity.

TRENDS

Market Update

Signature Recruitment shared their latest market update recently, including a collection of data sourced from the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC), CIPD, KPMG and the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Stats at a Glance:

• UK employment rates are estimated at 74.5%, this is below estimates of a year ago, but increased from the last quarter.
• UK unemployment rates are estimated at 4.2%, above estimates from a year ago and decreased on the latest quarter.
• The UK economic inactivity rate now stands at 22.2%, above estimates from a year ago, but largely unchanged in the last quarter.
• Estimated vacancies fell by 26,000 on the last quarter to 884,000, however, they are still above pre-pandemic levels.
• There were 100,000 working days lost in June 2024 because of labour disputes.
• Annual growth in total earnings (excluding bonuses) was 5.4% in the last quarter and annual growth in employees’ average regular earnings (including bonuses) was 4.5%.
• Early estimate of payrolled employees for July increased by 24,000 on the month and by 252,000 on the year, to 30.4m.

INSIGHTS

The cost of holiday breaks

It's common for all of us to take breaks from work, many of us will have returned from what was hopefully an enjoyable summer break, in the UK next week have the October Half Term followed by another two weeks for Christmas and New Years. But have you ever stopped to think about the cost of these breaks? As recruiters we don't earn money while we're on holiday or PTO and when we return to work, everything seems to grind to a halt. Getting back into the swing of things can be a daunting task and for some, could take weeks.

But what if your holiday cost you an entire quarter? It's expected that there will be a decline in placements and revenue due to the break in activity.

Productivity Loss: Research shows that employees can lose between 20-40% of their productivity during the first week back after a vacation. This is often due to the time required to catch up on missed work, re-establish routines, and overcome post-vacation inertia .To ensure a steady flow of placements and keep your pipeline full, it's crucial to continue meeting with high-quality candidates and clients. These are the key factors that lead to successful matches.

Quarterly Decline: Recruitment firms often see a 10-20% decline in placements during and immediately after major holiday periods, like Christmas and summer, due to reduced client engagement and candidate availability .

Pipeline Impact: It's estimated that for every week of inactivity, it can take two to three weeks of active work to rebuild a healthy recruitment pipeline. This highlights the compounded effect of taking time off without prior planning .

Let's break it down with the following example: Take a recruiter running a permanent desk, we only make money when someone gets hired. And people only get hired if they are interviewed by the client. But client-candidate interviews can only happen if we secure qualified job orders. And how do we secure these job orders? 

By conducting prospect or sales meetings. Furthermore: People can only get hired if they accept job offers. Job offers are only made to qualified and high-quality candidates. And those high quality and qualified candidates are usually found through thorough interviews with us the recruiters.

So, in order for our desired results (placements, fees, and income) to happen, it's essential to maintain consistent activity in our pipeline. Taking time off can cause this pipeline to dry up.

However, there is a way to avoid this scenario. Here is a simple strategy for keeping your pipeline healthy even during your time away. Two weeks before your holiday begins, set some goals for yourself. By the time you leave for your holiday or PTO, aim to have arranged: Ten client sales meetings and ten candidate interviews for the first ten days after you return.

It's much easier to call clients and prospects and schedule a meeting for three or four weeks in the future. The same goes for scheduling candidate interviews. Be transparent with your clients and candidates, let them know that you'll be away for a couple of weeks but assure them that as soon as you return, you'll get things moving. And stick to your plan. Some meetings may end up being cancelled, however, instead of coming back to a dormant desk and having to start from scratch for weeks (or even months) before seeing any results, you'll hit the ground running. On your first day back from vacation, you'll already have two client meetings scheduled. And another one the following day. Plus, you'll have fresh candidates to work with right away.

Pre-Holiday Planning: Recruiters who schedule meetings and interviews before their holiday see a 25% faster recovery in productivity levels when they return, according to research by the REC (Recruitment & Employment Confederation)

That's all you need to do - and make sure you follow through. By the end of your first week back, you'll be fully engaged in your work once again. Remember, it's about being productive. So go ahead and enjoy your holiday, just make sure that your two weeks off doesn't lead to six or eight weeks of downtime.

 WHAT I'VE BEEN WATCHING

The Jetty starring Jenna Coleman

The Jetty is a 4 Episode BBC Crime Thriller starring Jenna Coleman and I would definitely recommend it if you haven't seen it yet!

Have you been watching?

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