Nearly 60 percent of recruitment consultants believe it’s harder to recruit right now because of Brexit uncertainty, with a further 55.4 percent worrying that there isn’t enough talent in the UK to fill their vacancies.
That’s according to latest data from CV-Library, the UK’s leading independent job board, The study, which surveyed 200 UK recruiters, found that there are a number of key areas that recruitment consultants are concerned about right now, including low budgets (38.2 percent), the current economy (34.6 percent) and uncertainty around Brexit (31.6 percent).
Despite this, 77.7 percent of agency recruiters plan to increase their hiring efforts in the next six months, with 60 percent stating that they are ‘somewhat confident’ about their recruitment efforts right now.
Lee Biggins, founder and CEO of CV-Library comments: “There are certainly mixed messages around how the recruitment industry is really fairing right now. In fact, a study released last year shows that that the number of recruitment agency start-ups in the UK was higher in April 2018 than at any time over the previous six years, proving that it’s still seen as a lucrative market.
“That being said, while the industry remains buoyant it’s clear that recruitment consultants are struggling to hire and the economy is a huge driving factor behind this. Our own job market data does show that application rates are down when comparing data from 2019 with pre-Brexit figures, however they are up year-on-year, which suggests that the market is moving in the right direction.”
Alongside the above, the study also found that nearly two-thirds (62.8 percent) of recruitment consultants say hiring more staff is their main priority right now, followed by improving quality of hires (54 percent) and reducing time to hire (38 percent)
Biggins concludes: “It’s important to have clear objectives when hiring and to use the right tools to help you meet these goals. The best suppliers should understand your needs as a consultancy and work on tailored packages to help you get the best value for your budgets; especially if you’re a new recruitment business.”