Beating a Bear market
“In a boom market, anyone can make money, to grow when the economy turns, that’s the real challenge.”
The latest economic data to be released, will be of concern for recruiters, more than anyone. The economy is contracting. Whilst there has been a bounce in hiring over summer, this should give room for pause, for businesses, thinking about their next twelve months. Stick or twist, expand or contract? But even if recruitment is tidal, can a recruiter beat the tide? I would argue, with data, they can.
Let’s start with the basics. In a boom market, corporates expand internal talent teams knowing they will be recruiting aggressively, so look to drive down cost per hire by bringing in recruitment internally. When the market turns, talent teams get let go. Now is the time therefore to review your terms with your clients. Look to see ones which have thinned out their internal talent teams. They will be the ones who need your services when they are hiring, more so than the ones who haven’t.
Then let’s talk about pain points. One of my favorite business books of all time, SPIN, looks at how, as business people we need to zero in on the number one problem, a customer or client has, and then show why the solution we offer, will be painless. With that, the number one problem facing many businesses is that despite the economic conditions, there is still a war for talent, and attracting candidates is an issue. So, lets talk about then using data to profile which skills are most in demand, which areas are surging the most right now.
That’s how we can help. As a sample chart, you can see that what we have done here is at a generic level, profiled across headline professional categories, vacancies as a % by function, comparing August, to the year to date. We instantly see the uptick in IT this month. Indeed YTD IT was 27.5% of all professional vacancies 50k+, whereas in August, it has risen to 32.3%. In contrast, marketing has shrunk from 17.3% to 16.5%. etc.
Working with us, we can do this kind of analysis, by individual skills and role functions, to enable you to identify which candidates you should be looking to target now, in the knowledge this is the area the market is surging in demand for, right now. Doing that means that when you are then talking to your clients, you have built the candidates in the skills, they will struggle to source internally, giving you the leverage you need, to win them as clients, on preferable terms.
In the same way, you can do the analysis in terms of jobs being shifted regionally. Last week I touched on this in my post, which jobs are being kept in London. The point being, stand out using data. Be an expert in your field, through having reporting tailored to your market. Stand out as a result and beat the tide.
The data referenced above has been sourced from Vacancy Analytics, a cutting-edge Business Intelligence tool that tracks recruitment industry trends and identifies emerging hotspots. With 17 years of experience, we have a deep understanding of market activities in the UK and globally.
Unlock the full potential of Vacancy Analytics and fuel your business growth by booking a 30-minute consultation!
p.s. By the way, if you are a fantasy football fan, why not join our league this season? With over 50 people already registered, we will be doing prizes for the winner and for the manager of the month if we hit 100+. Get involved!
