Insight into the Current Recruitment Landscape

Gi Group owned recruitment company, Encore Personnel, have launched their latest quarterly summary of the recruitment landscape.

The following is authored by Encore Managing Director, Pete Taylor.

Hello and welcome to Encore Insight – our concise, quarterly summary of what’s affecting the recruitment landscape right now and our advice on how to get ahead of the game when it comes to navigating these trends for your business. Each quarter we’ll start with an overview and then deep-dive into trending topics across our specialisms (Industrial, Driving, Engineering, Managed Services, Energy and Professional Services recruitment).

As we enter Q4, the ‘R’ word is at front of mind for every business. What will this predicted downturn look like for recruitment? Given the melting pot of adverse conditions that have led to the economy shrinking (record high inflation, the fall-out from the pandemic in terms of impact on employee mental health, skyscraper energy charges, childcare cost crisis) it has been fascinating to see an all-time high in hiring activity almost across the board. We’re dubbing it ‘extra unusual’ – a contracting economy as the backdrop for a record number of active job adverts.

So, to answer the question about the impact of a recession, we’re watching our markets more closely than ever before. We look to our customers’ pressures and challenges as a blueprint for how we future-proof our services, refreshing and adapting our approach as often as necessary. We need to respond quickly and effectively to their staffing needs, meeting their individual requirements head on, even if that means throwing the rule book out of the window and flexing our solution on the spot.

A slowdown in hiring activity is inevitable in a slowdown – we’ve been here before (we’re 20 years old this year, and we’re still growing) – and we know the gold-standard recruitment agencies will rise to the top, drawing upon their years of experience, established presence in their regions and quality of service. Customers need to know that we are there for them in exactly the same capacity when they require 20 staff as when they require 200.

If Q3 of this year has taught us anything, it’s that these challenging labour market conditions are here to stay for the foreseeable future. The pandemic has irreversibly changed the way employees view their employers, flexible working has taken root in almost every industry and in order to grow, employers need to partner with a recruiter that can be agile but long-sighted, reactive and proactive in sourcing the right people for their business when they need them most.

In this edition of Encore Insight, we’ll take a deeper dive into how to prep your business from a staffing perspective for what’s to come. We’ll also be offering advice of how to attract and retain Gen Z and how your business can prepare for a recession.

If you’d like to talk to one of our expert consultants about how we can support your business to thrive through these trying times, give us a call, connect with us on LinkedIn, or pop in to one of our branches – we’ve got a branch in all Midlands cities, as well as consultants active in Yorkshire and a brand new branch in Warrington in the North West.

Note – Encore Personnel was acquired by Gi Group Holding in October 2022