Demand for specialist roles has increased in the last quarter, despite an overall slowdown in the labour market. The Totaljobs Hiring Trends Index, which offers an up-to-date view of the labour market and recruitment trends, has found that whilst three-quarters (78%) of businesses recruited in Q4, this has dipped from 84% in the previous quarter. What’s more, the study shows that only 30% of employers increased their recruitment efforts at the tail end of 2022 –a fall from 35% in the previous quarter’s figures.
However, whilst recruiting has slowed in a number of sectors, hiring for specialist and more senior roles remains strong. Nearly one in five (17%) businesses have reported that they will increase their spend for hiring specialist roles, vs 15% this time last year.
The sectors most anticipating an increase in specialist hiring spend were education (27%), IT & Telecoms (21%) and transport & distribution (20%). The sectors falling behind this trend were retail (10%) and legal (9%).
Commenting on the findings Steve Warnham, senior researcher at Totaljobs said: “While there might be signs of a slowdown, the pull for top talent means the market will remain tight. The impact of an impending economic slump will look very different to 2008.
“The cost-of-living crisis continues to be the main driver behind candidate behaviour, with over half of those looking for a new job putting a higher salary as a top priority. Job seekers are looking for security and transparency so striking the right balance between pay, workplace culture and benefits will be vital to standing out in the market over the next 12 months.”
Hiring trends over the last three months (October-December 2022):
The top three job functions recruited for this quarter are operations (25%), technology (22%) and sales (16%), according to the 1,000 HR decision makers surveyed by Totaljobs and YouGov.
The average time to hire has shortened to 6.4 weeks, down from the 6.79 weeks it took in Q3.
Looking ahead to the rest of the year, despite economic uncertainty, hiring confidence remains steady with the majority (53%) of businesses confident they’ll find the people they need in Q1 (same as the amount of HRDM specialist surveyed in Q3 about Q4). Over a quarter (28%) even plan to increase recruitment in Q1 (vs 26% who answered in Q3 about in Q4)
Cost of living continues to challenge businesses
The research found that rising inflation and the cost-of-living crisis remains the number one challenge facing businesses right now. Almost half (49%) of businesses expect staff demand for higher salaries (due to rising living costs) to have the biggest impact on their operations this year.
41% said the impact of inflation on business costs was a top challenge, and 39% called out the inability to offer a pay rise in line with inflation. Totaljobs recent research with UK workers found that seeking a higher salary was the number one motivation behind searching for a new job.
