Evenbase’s latest Quarterly Recruitment Review reveals:
- The average number of vacancies advertised has risen from 5.7 to 7.7 per business
- 70% of vacancies are advertised online
- CV uploads grew by 9% this quarter
- 43% of jobseekers think that their job situation is worse than it was a year ago
- Job boards remain businesses’ number one method for finding staff
- Businesses are focused on no-frills job board services, rather than added extras.
Global digital recruitment group Evenbase releases its latest Quarterly Recruitment Review (Summer 2012), detailing changes in UK recruiter and job seeker behaviour. Conducted on a quarterly basis by an independent research agency, the latest report is available to download for free now: www.evenbase.com/RecruitmentReviewSummer2012
Evenbase’s Quarterly Recruitment Review indicates a welcome boost in recruitment compared to the Spring. While not all businesses are hiring, those that are, seem to be hiring more people – the average number of vacancies advertised per business jumped significantly this quarter, from 5.7 to 7.7 . Of the business types surveyed, more SoHo businesses (10-49 employees) are trying to fill vacancies this quarter, whilst SMEs and Corporates remain more cautious in their hiring activity.
The percentage of online vacancies reported also grew, from 54% last quarter to 70% in the current research and 9% more employers reported using job boards than newspapers ads, the biggest gap we’ve seen yet. These are clear indications that the recruitment industry is placing more faith in online resources and is reflected by online job boards continuing to be the most popular resource with both job seekers and businesses.
However, the size of a business inevitably has a big impact on the recruitment methods it favours. For example, SoHos reported a reliance on personal and social networks, their most used method by some distance and almost twice the number reported in the corporate world, which favours recruitment agencies above all else.
Despite the reported increase in advertised vacancies, few job seekers feel positive about their job outlook this quarter, with 43% now feeling that their job situation is worse than it was a year ago. However there is an uplift in outlook for younger respondents, with a quarter of 23-30 year olds reporting a more upbeat view of their current jobs.
This quarter’s most visible trend for candidates is a marked upturn in the number of people uploading CVs to job boards as CV uploads grew by 9% this quarter; demonstrating more confidence in the power of job boards rather than direct approaches to get job seekers the results they need.
Mike Wall, MD of Evenbase’s Job Boards division, comments; “In difficult economic times, both businesses and candidates want to keep things simple. Just as candidates rate CV uploading highly over innovations such as applying for jobs via social media, businesses are focused on no-frills services that they know get the job done, rather than invest time and money in added extras. The basic features actually being used by businesses seem to have taken a slight upturn, with vacancy advertising at its highest level since last summer and the use of job boards to display print adverts nearly doubling from 6% to 11%.”
Wall continues, “Although some companies appear to be advertising significantly more vacancies than they did last quarter, their efforts are not being rewarded with a corresponding lift in mood among job seekers. It will be interesting to see if a delayed response to the vacancy increase combined with the national mood boost from the Olympics will see an uplift in candidate confidence in the next Evenbase Quarterly Recruitment Review”
The Evenbase Quarterly Recruitment Review (Summer 2012) is available to download now for free: http://www.evenbase.com/RecruitmentReviewSummer2012. The next Quarterly Recruitment Review will be available from October/November 2012.