Post-COVID good news for recruitment agencies

May 12th, 2022 | Industry News

Two recent surveys show that both permanent and contract vacancies increased in the twelve months to February 2022. This has translated into better sales revenue for the sector, increasing 49% year on year for permanent vacancy and a remarkable 80% for temporary and contract vacancies – an obvious response to the hiring landscape created by COVID. Online recruitment software demonstrates that to convert revenue to profit, recruitment agencies need to improve not only their attraction and placement of candidates but also their administrative functions so that they are able to streamline processes, spend less on back office and engage good candidates at the time and place of the candidate’s choosing – combining web based recruitment software with the very best recruitment CRM allows agencies to become the first choice for both candidates and clients.

The situation in the USA is very similar, with the US Bureau of Labor Statistics reporting that 240,000 more temporary help vacancies were on offer in February 2022 compared to February 2021, but this level of hiring is expected to decline as the year continues. However, it still suggests that 9 out of 10 jobs lost during the pandemic have been regained, although the sectors may have changed dramatically. As in the UK, hospitality employment is still well down on its pre-pandemic level – with the USA having 1.5 million fewer jobs in the sector than before the pandemic began. Recruitment software is increasingly being used in both countries to track and suggest transferable skills – and in the UK in particular, agriculture-based jobs are an issue. A cross-party committee of MPs recently published a report on labour shortages in the food and agricultural sectors, highlighting the seriousness of the shortages, which could not only affect the UK’s food security, animal welfare and even the mental health and stress levels of those working in the sector.

Remote working and ‘return to the workplace’ are also issues that offer some good news. Recruitment agency software is showing that jobs offering remote working are amongst the most searched for, and that work life balance has become a key determinant of whether people are willing to take on a new permanent professional role. This means that companies need to establish clear policies about their remote working potential and that SAAS-based recruitment agencies have an edge in dealing with these often younger and more mobile professional candidates as their online presence has an inbuilt remote working approach that makes them appealing to candidates.