Trends in Recruitment: Top Takeaways from the Last 10 Years

The recruitment industry is a fast-paced market that is continuously changing, therefore, it is important to ensure businesses review the top takeaways from over the years to see what has worked and what has progressively changed. With this in mind, we have reviewed the top takeaways and trends in recruitment over the last 10 years.

1. Increased competitiveness

There are currently just under 35,000 registered recruitment businesses in the UK with approximately a thousand new start-up agencies being formed monthly perhaps reflective of the confidence of the sector compared to other areas of the economy.

We believe this is great for the end clients. Go back 10 years and the market was far less fragmented with several very large blue corporate companies. Now end clients want a far more personalised service, and a greater understanding of client requirements, culture and organisation. It’s a much more personalised service now and thankfully consultants on the whole are acting as consultants should, understanding client requirements and giving both candidates and clients what they want. Specialist agencies now dominate the marketplace.

2. Job Boards

Most millennials and Generation Z-ers wouldn’t recognise job boards as they were around a decade ago. The long, mundane lists of links through which job seekers once had to dig have been replaced by sophisticated platforms that can match job seekers and employers with one another based on skill sets and mutual alignment.

There are also more job boards available today. This means there are many job boards and social media sites recruiters need to engage with in order to find the right talent and with so many resources and tools available, niche platforms may be more effective in helping agencies find the talent they’re looking for.

3. Process change – rise of Recruitment Process Outsourcing.

RPOs were seen as the enemy 10 years ago, recruiters believed they would be gone as quickly as they arrived. Unfortunately, or fortunately not and they seem like they are here to stay and have made a significant impact into the recruitment sector. There are now numerous RPOS that promise to reduce client spend on agencies, streamline processes and take away administration.

4. Social Media

When social media recruiting first rose to prominence, LinkedIn was the platform of choice for recruiters and candidates alike. Considered a professional social network, LinkedIn uses this distinction to differentiate from competitors like Facebook and Twitter.

As of the summer of 2023, LinkedIn officially 930 million members in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide – an astonishing and impressive feat. This growth, at a time when engagers were starting the doubt the platforms longevity, has to do with a major shift in the use of the platform. Instead of being just a networking site, LinkedIn shifted to a content platform.  With 100,000 new articles being published every week, LinkedIn is producing content at a frantic pace. This presents creative recruiting teams an opportunity to change their LinkedIn identity, and attract candidates on the platform in new ways. Failing to take advantage of the ‘new’ LinkedIn will almost certainly cause organisations to lose top talent to their more digitally-focused competition.

5. Flexibility and Benefits

Despite the current cost of living crisis pushing real wages forward by 7.2% from Feb to April 2023 (the largest growth rate seen outside the pandemic in 2021), flexibility and benefits are the biggest change in candidate expectations in the last few years. Working from home, increased benefits, flexibilty around working hours all shape a candidates attitude towards a prospective employer. The Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act 2023 has completed its passage through Parliament and now awaits Royal Assent. In particular, this will make the right to request flexible working a day one right.

If you are looking for a business to support your recruitment agency why not schedule a call to discuss your required services with one of our team members, or fill in a contact form online.