By Lauren Mackelden, Features Editor, Onrec
2 in 5 people set to look for a new job in January; with 7th January predicted to be the year’s job-hunting peak says Job Bounties
7th January 2013 marked the predicted job-hunting peak of 2013, according to new research from recruitment experts Job Bounties. As the first full working week after the festivities began, an estimated 11.84 million people were expected to begin a new job hunt, in what has been dubbed National Job Hunt Day 2013. Employees are driven by “back to work blues” and the desire for a fresh challenge in the New Year, and employers need to fill roles post-holiday. This meeting of supply and demand leads to a job market that is predicted to be more buoyant and mobile in January than throughout the rest of the year. James Uffindell, CEO and Founder of Job Bounties, commented: “Monday 7th January is the recruitment equivalent of the ‘Cyber Monday’ online retail surge before Christmas”.
Onrec surveyed recruiters to see if this predicted trend came true for them and what the impact will be on the market and their business:
Tony Vickers Director Balance Recruitment Ltd
"Whilst it is still fairly early in the month, like for like comparisons show that across all the sites used to promote vacancies, January has seen a 50% uplift in responses received per advertised post, compared to December 2012. Much of the traffic to our website and related job boards are for those candidates applying for a specific role rather than just browsing the job pages and as such, these figures demonstrate a clear long-term dissatisfaction amongst employees and a genuine desire to move on.
The use of sophisticated software has undoubtedly had its positives on the industry. The recruitment industry as a whole is more accessible to employers and candidates. It’s easy for people to track jobs on their phone and keep in touch with recruiters. In addition, job seekers are able to identify themselves as ‘open networker’ or ‘open to opportunities’ without much suspicion. It has become the norm to have an active LinkedIn page to which recruiters and employers can search and identify skills at the click of a few buttons.
However, whilst online and social media platforms have given employers a new direct recruiting model that many companies are adopting, this automatically results in less budget allocated for recruitment fees due to the cost of establishing and maintaining direct recruitment models. For those that use agencies alongside this, the commission rates are being squeezed significantly which unfortunately impacts the quality of work and time spent on mandates, specifically regarding actively headhunting and networking."
Simon Aarons, Owner at PingITJobs.com
"Word on the “Recruitment Street” suggests that January is the month for job change, career evolvement – a fresh start and something new. PingITJobs.com has indeed seen a surge in traffic which is most welcome for a new entrant into the job board market place. We expect traffic to increase but moderately so for the early stages of the year. Candidate sentiment at the moment on both the Temporary/Contract market and the Permanent market is one of prudence. With some instability in the economy, people may very well prefer the comfort of familiar surroundings. This does not stop people coming to the site to see what roles are available for those that find a great opportunity, they do tend to apply. Getting them placed and generally encouraging a candidate to move may very well be the greater challenge."
Barbara Kolosinska, sales director at C&M Recruitment Consultancy
"Although the outlook for the economy remains uncertain, the coming year appears extremely promising for the recruitment sector and should certainly provide a more positive 12 months than we saw in 2012. However, the main challenge appears to be in finding ways to optimise mobile recruiting strategies in order to attract appropriately-qualified new candidates.
This month has so far seen a significant increase in traffic to the C&M site (up by 72 per cent compared to December 2012 and up annually by 12 per cent) and this is likely to be due to people choosing the New Year as a perfect time to start their job hunt. We typically see an increase in traffic at the beginning of the year, but this still bodes very well for the recruitment sector in 2013.
We have also seen more candidates using social networks as a way to find new positions recently. The amount of people taking this approach is only likely to grow further and we have increased our presence on sites such as LinkedIn as a result of this. Social media and employer branding is set to become even more important as we progress through 2013.
While searches on mobiles still only account for 21.48 per cent of all traffic to the C&M Recruitment Consultancy site, this is nearly double the 11.17 per cent share from a year ago. It is increasingly evident that more and more people are searching for a new job on their phone or tablet and therefore recruiters need to improve their mobile offering in order to attract the top talent."
STATS from C & M Recruitment Consultancy:
Jan 1st – 15th 2013:
- Overall traffic to the C&M site up 12.14 per cent annually
- Mobile traffic (including tablets) up 115.67 per cent annually
- Overall traffic up 71.59 per cent on the same dates in December 2012
- Mobile traffic (including tablets) up 119.70 per cent on the same dates in December 2012
Richard Nott, Website Director, CWJobs
"The start of a new year is a prime time for recruiters, large volumes of candidates choose this time to also start afresh in their careers. Mid-January traffic figures indicate that CWJobs.co.uk is set for a busy month. Currently attracting 294k unique users to the site, these mid month figures are only 16% lower than the total figures for December 2012 (352k). January totals are expected to reach 550k - 26% higher than January 2012.
With January leading to rising levels of jobseekers looking for work, coupled with an already highly populated market, competition for vacancies is rife. The jobs market is more competitive than ever so recruiters should be encouraging candidates to find new ways to stand out in order to gain competitive advantage. The perceived skills gap within the IT industry puts great pressure on recruiters to fill vacancies with quality candidates, but by better showcasing their skills, finding these candidates could be much easier. For example, requesting that candidates submit additional materials or links to compliment their CV is a great way to assess a candidate’s suitability. As the volume of applicants climbs, finding new ways to identify quality candidates will be a key focus for recruiters this year."
Rob Searle, Commercial Director, CareerStructure.com
"Recruitment in the construction, engineering and built environment industries has faced hard times over the past few years, bearing the brunt of the recession and continuing to face speculation over its plans to boost recovery. Recruitment in the sector remains strong, mid-month web traffic figures from CareerStructure.com indicate a rise in unique users with the onset of the New Year. Currently (mid Jan), the site is attracting 166k unique users – only 6% shy of December’s overall total (174k). The month is expected to total 245k unique users, a 16% increase on the same period last year.
These are encouraging figures and although indicative of the time of year, hopefully also suggest a boost in interest in entering roles in the built environment sector. Concerns have been raised following reports from the start of the 2012/13 school year which indicate that students are veering away from careers in this sector and opting instead for roles in more ‘glamorous’ industries such as media and beauty. With rising levels of unemployment though, the built environment needs to do more to encourage students into roles in construction and engineering; industries that do currently have vacancies available, as opposed to other more popular, and therefore saturated, markets.
For those who do take on roles in the built environment sector, the possible salaries are highly attractive. The average starting income for a Junior Building Surveyor for example, is £25,278 per annum, and for a Junior Site Engineer is £29,038. The opportunities in this sector for candidates are rife, despite its struggles, so close monitoring of these figures in the coming months will be key to identifying growth."
Robert Hohman, CEO and founder of Glassdoor
"We expect to see an increase in traffic as many are feeling more stable about the job market. According to the most recent Glassdoor Employment Confidence Survey, 48% of employees expect their current employer’s company outlook to stay the same in the next six months and only 40% believe they will get a pay raise or cost-of-living increase in the next 12 months. While little movement is happening in the workplace, we are starting to see employees evaluate if now is the time to see if the grass may be greener with another employer. In fact, one in five (18%) plan to look for a new job in the three months and it’s often common for people to head back to work after the New Year with a fresh focus on their career outlook. At Glassdoor alone, we’re seeing more than 13 million people visit the site each month. They're looking to find the latest job listings, uncover what it’s like to work at particular companies, and see if they know anyone who works at companies hiring based on their Facebook network.
Based on the activity on Glassdoor, we’ve definitely seen a notable uptick in the use of social media among both job seekers and employers. For example, employees and job seekers are sharing workplace and interview reviews on Glassdoor – this form of social media crowd sharing helps others looking to get information from those in the know about a particular job and company. On the employer side, we’ve seen more and more employers look to get involved in online conversations so they can help influence and be heard by the candidates they’re trying to reach. As of today, Glassdoor has more than 800 employer partners – a 7X increase from the year before. This underscores the hunger everyone in the employment space has to connect the right companies with the right candidates.