Wave Pulse: Applications surge by 41%
Hello and welcome to November’s Wave Pulse, where we get close to the beating heart of the recruitment industry, enabling us to gain insights into what's happening in the market now and what's likely to happen across the proceeding months.
Each month, we share 3 pieces on:
📊 The pulse of the market
📰 The pulse of the industry
🗣️ The pulse of the people
Enabling you to keep a finger on the pulse of the recruitment market and the economy.
📊 The pulse of the market
October 2024 Recruitment Trends Snapshot
October 2024 saw an 11% increase in job postings and a 41% surge in applications, with Education and Manufacturing standing out as key sectors but still needing more jobs available for those candidates.
1/3 increase in job competition since 2023
Adzuna’s UK Job Market Report shows the competition for roles increasing, with Jobseeker per vacancy increasing to 2.08. That’s up from 1.49 compared to September 2023. It also saw:
An uptick in UK vacancies to 861,085 jobs
Average advertised salaries rose +0.24% MoM to £38,984
Average time to fill a role remains unchanged at 35.8 days
Graduate roles were up +4.6% MoM, the highest this year
Mutual distrust between jobseekers and recruiters over use of AI
Research from 1,149 job seekers and 673 of our CV-Library customers uncovered a mutual distrust between job seekers and recruiters over the use of AI.
Candidates believe they are being screened out by AI, but 3/4 of responding recruiters don’t use it. On the flip side, recruiters think AI is responsible for the shortage of quality or relevant applications, while almost three-quarters of applicants say they don’t use it.
Introducing clearer communication between recruiters and candidates on how technology is used could help resolve this issue.
📰 The pulse of the industry
AI in the Workplace: Handle With Care
Gi Group, explains how AI can shape the future of the recruitment industry and why this societal shift shouldn’t be ignored.
Cracking the U.S. Market
Many UK recruitment agencies dream of cracking the US market. However, despite the upside, it’s a tough market.
In this episode of the Recruitment Mentors podcast, they speak with Sophie Reed, founder of JL:Pro who shares her insights for recruiters looking to expand.
RecTalk Live at the Rec Expo
If you attended the Rec Expo in Birmingham earlier this month, you would have seen Nitin and his RecTalk podcast recording live. One of those conversations was with Brad Shackleton.
In a 3-minute blitz, they give an overview of the event and what recruitment agency owners should be doing to set themselves up for success in 2025.
🗣️ The pulse of the people
The budget was released last week, and it’s fair to say that has dominated the recruitment world in the UK. While we won’t stray into the politics of it, here are 3 key takeaways for you to understand how it might impact your agency 👇
CV-Library offers a few hot takes on the budget and the potential impact it’ll have on specific industries, employment law and recruitment in general.
Something that might have slipped the net is changes to how umbrella companies currently work. Many eagle-eyed folks spotted more information in the full budget report, with changes that might impact recruitment agencies from April 2026. This is an important one to read up on.
There is always one 😂 0 points for originality.
