The Rise of the Recruiter

I’d like to share with you some insights and facts before i get started...

The world’s population hit 7.9 billion and is expected to reach 8.1 billion by the end of January 2024. In Australia the annual growth was 2.4% (624,100) taking the Aussie population to a total of 26,638,544!

I have worked in recruitment for 8 years but last year i personally experienced a significant increase in the number of professionals who approached me, seeking my assistance in finding a new career opportunity.

Around 58% of those approaches was due to a company restructure, redundancy or threat of redundancy. The other 42% was made up of people employed who approached me because of the cost-of-living pressures, work-life balance concerns and/or feeling burnout from the increase of workloads (as a result of the redundancies made in other business units).

After some research I was surprised to learn that in November alone, 64 Key players in the Technology space made a total of 7,026 layoffs in Australia.

Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon took the global lead with an average of 9000 to 12000 layoffs according to Layoffs.fyi report.

It doesn’t sound like a lot compared to the global population numbers and it is definitely not as high as it was Post-Covid but in 2021 this figure was around 15,000 whereas in 2022 it was 164,969. In October 2023, Kaliba published an article that reported a total of 224,503 tech-related layoffs. Surpassing the total number of tech layoffs recorded in the entire year of 2022.

I was even more surprised to learn that over 40% of employers reported a rise in staff taking sick days and/or carers leave with employees taking an average of 6 days sick in the last financial year.

Looking ahead to 2024 it’s predicted to be a more challenging year for employers and workers according to News.com.au and why it is important for employers to consider strategic HR Measures to control costs, enhance productivity, attract, retain, and nurture skilled employees. ?

There is however some good news, and whilst a third of Australian companies anticipated lay-offs in December last year there’s also a notable rise in recruitment intentions, jumping from 61 per cent to 71 per cent for 2024.

Sarah McCann-Bartlett, CEO of AHRI, sheds light on this paradox.

“Some of the factors that may be driving recruitment are ongoing high employee turnover rates, leaving essential roles vacant, and proficiency gaps among employers. This points towards recruitment as an ongoing backfilling activity rather than a response to, or driver of, business growth,” she said.

You are probably thinking ''we have an internal function, and we don't need an agency''…

According to Aptitude research over 70% of companies increased investment in internal recruitment functions last year compared to 58% in 2020. After a spike in internal hire activity and related innovation at the peak of the pandemic, internal hiring drives have tailed off leaving an untapped opportunity. Rates have slumped to just 24% of all hires on average, one of the lowest rates of internal hiring seen in years. Meaning external agencies do and will still play a pivotal role to compliment, safeguard and support them as we head into the new year.

It is also worth mentioning that the above factors resulted in higher volumes of applications for roles compared to the previous years. Tools like CHATGPT saw candidates automating resumes and cover letters based on job descriptions, using all the right buzz words and technologies, but these methods were not necessarily an accurate reflection of technical ability. The higher volume of job seekers meant a higher volume of work for all recruiters! Increasing the time to qualify, shortlist and offer.

Having an external agency can help with that workload and at no extra cost! Specialist recruiters with networks built around Niche skills means you have access to the talent faster. It also means your hiring managers and internal recruitment teams have more time to focus on other crucial aspects of their roles and fulfil those tasks to the best of their ability.

Agencies offer the ability to cast a wider net and qualify talent which ultimately reduces the risk of your business being able to deliver for customers and helping to safeguard your workforce should you lose critical skills. Especially since these candidates are not always easy to find and not always actively applying!

That leaves us to my final point - Engaging with the talent in the best possible way you can! You might already use a recruiter but are you both delivering the best candidate experience?

Over 30% of highly skilled professionals I spoke with in my network told me that they were either approached after they already had an offer from another business or that they rejected an offer due to poor levels of engagement.

Job seeker fatigue is also a challenge, so many people I spoke too were deflated by their experiences in the recruitment process (internal and external):?

a)???? Didn’t get a response to their application.

b)???? Automated responses to applications or rejections.

c)????? No feedback from interviews or no communication for long periods of time.

If you are an employer, hiring manager or even a recruiter supporting a customer then you know finding talent can be difficult and especially when you need specific technical skills and so having the right recruitment process and engagement in place is just as important as your methods of attraction! Time, communication, feedback, and information are crucial!

If you’d like to discuss any of the points mentioned in more detail or if you’d like to explore how and why Logical should be that strategic partner, you can reach me on 04219 66295 and let’s connect!