Recruitment and hiring insights: November 2024

November was an interesting month in the employment market, following the announcement of the budget last month. As expected we saw some drops in role availability and there was a general feeling of tightening in the market. However, we are having encouraging conversations with businesses. Some businesses are using this as an opportunity to look into other areas of their workforce and hire into new and innovative positions, considering where their market will grow in 2025 and prepare for these changes.

Applications per role dipped in 2024 compared to year on year results, but only slightly less than 2022. We feel this is reflected across the wider employment market, which is navigating the impact of the upcoming changes to National Insurance contributions for employers. More employees may feel uncertain in their roles, and with the upcoming holiday season, awaiting the settling of the market with a view to move in January / February.

This is also reflected in the regional role availability which dropped across all platforms in the South West in November, with a 13% decline on October, which had already fallen below Septembers statistics. This is in part a seasonal impact, and with the added economic pressure, this is not surprising and we expect to see this rise again in the new year. 

Given the challenges businesses face in the economy, and some hesitation from candidates as a result, our team is working harder than ever to find and place top quality candidates. We found 76% of the candidates we placed using our expert search tools, considering candidates from across our database, CV sites such as Indeed, social media platforms and our own networks. 

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