Q1 Review

May got off to a busy start and we enjoyed catching up with many of you at Learning Technologies. Our conversations there, with many different people from both the vendor and corporate worlds, confirmed what we have seen on the ground, that 2023 has got off to a slightly sluggish start and a more cautious mood is prevalent when it comes to hiring. We saw an overall decrease of 10% in vacancies in this quarter compared to Q4 in 2022.?

We explore the reasons for this further in our new quarterly report for the L&D sector the L&D Barometer, but the main challenges that we face now are:??

• The pandemic supercharged many digital transformation projects as it became a necessity to allow employees to work remotely, these projects are by and large completed or have moved into a less frantic phase.?
• The economy continues to narrowly avoid going into recession and another increase in interest rates has put more pressure on borrowing for businesses as well as consumers.?
• After a period of unprecedented growth, the focus for many businesses now is moving towards thinking more strategically and looking at how to maintain a sustainable level of growth. We see this reflected in hiring figures where the numbers of vacancies for digital designers and digital content developers have fallen, but there is a rise in vacancies for senior leadership positions and sales roles.??

But it is not all doom and gloom! The slowdown must be viewed in the context of the incredible growth that L&D has experienced in the last two years or so. The industry continues to thrive, even during what might have been a slower quarter of hiring activity - and the end of the quarter saw an upturn, with vacancies still being filed relatively quickly. There is still healthy demand in the sector, and we have witnessed early signs of returning confidence amongst our customers as we progress into Q2.??

It will be interesting to see how we fare this quarter and to compare quarter-by-quarter results in our next edition of the L&D Barometer, which will be published in July?

If you are looking for a job in L&D then you can sign up to our job alerts to get informed of the latest opportunities in the sector or get in touch to discuss your career objectives.?

If you have a role that you need to hire for then please call us on 01527 579647 for a discussion or drop us an email??

Here’s to a prosperous and successful Q2!?

Thanks,??

Nick????