Recruitment market climate still buoyant

3:47pm Friday 22nd August 2008

RECRUITERS are being more cautious with their budget, but there are still plenty of vacancies advertised in the UK, research has shown.

It appears despite the financial climate, the employment market is still buoyant.

When asked what methods recruiters previously used to attract candidates more than half (57 per cent) of recruiters surveyed admitted to having used recruitment consultancies, the same amount used their own website and 54 per cent used jobs boards.

Now, nearly two thirds admitted it is much harder to recruit with less money to spend, which might be why more recruiters are turning to their own websites to promote vacancies, running the risk of missing out on the best candidates.

Joe Slavin, of fish4jobs, said: “It is evident recruiters are being more cautious with their money, but recruitment will continue to be an important cost unless the jobs market slows down.

“This is great news for job seekers as there are still plenty of vacancies available, although everyone should exercise caution before leaving jobs hastily.”

With Christmas recruitment plans just around the corner, it makes sense recruiters plan in advance their seasonal recruitment, knowing the best candidates are snapped up very quickly.

More than 80 per cent of those surveyed felt the current climate won’t affect the recruitment of seasonal staff, with employers looking at ways to retain existing staff over the Christmas period to save spending more money.

There is good news for candidates looking to find short-term contracts over the Christmas season, as many retailers and warehouses have already budgeted to recruit for Christmas staff and will be starting their campaigns as early as August and September.

Statistics from the fish4jobs website show the most frequently searched for job categories among jobseekers in the same period were: secretarial, retail, driving and transport, IT, construction, healthcare, distribution, education, customers services and accountancy.