Recruitment and hiring insights: June 2024

It's hard to believe we are already in the second half of the year. So let's take a look at what June's recruitment insights can tell us, and what we've seen from the last 6 months.

The first half of the year has seen significant change, from a stagnant market at the start of the year, to an emerging confidence from both business and candidates.

With the general election out of the way, and the announcement that inflation has remained steady at 2%, we are seeing increased confidence in the market and economic growth is on the up. The South West has seen a 6% increase in vacancies from last month and a 17% increase since March. 

We monitor the job boards across the region so that we can quickly spot any signs of change in the market. Role availability is up 6.3% on May, continually increasing from the start of the year.

What is interesting is the huge shift we are seeing in where candidates are seeking roles. LinkedIn continues to grow as the place to find both candidates and roles, running a close second behind Indeed. Despite diversifying their offering, we have seen both Reed and Total Jobs reducing their offering over time. What's prevalent here is the shift in candidate behaviour, using social platforms to discover new opportunities and engage with businesses.

Interestingly, while applications are up (more on this in a minute), we see a greater level of sourcing of candidates to jobs over straight applications – our consultants are matching candidates to jobs they haven’t applied for. With so much noise out there, it is often hard for candidates to find the right roles to apply for. Our data shows 68% of vacancy fills were matched rather than applied for. We’ve seen this go to 73% in the last two months vs 57% on the prior two months.

 As mentioned, advert to application has also increased in the last few years, with just 12 applications per role in June 2022 compared to 22 in June 2024. Despite fewer jobs on the market compared to recent years, we are seeing increasingly quality candidates and with our thorough screening process, our CV-to-interview rate is steady at 2:1 for the last 12 months.

We do expect that as we head into the summer, we will see a dip in the market, despite growing confidence in the economy, as business leaders, decision-makers and candidates head on holiday. This should return to normal by the end of August, with an expected rise in roles in September. 

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