Sourcing talent in a skill-starved market

It’s no secret that employers across the UK are crying out for candidates to not only facilitate future growth strategies, but also simply keep the wheels of their businesses in motion. The number of open job vacancies across the economy now stands at 147% above level recorded just before the pandemic, with 1.3 million roles currently sitting open.

The reasons behind the ongoing skills crisis are complex. There has been an Exodus of EU talent since Brexit, inward migration to the UK plummeted during the Covid crisis, and many older professionals left the workforce at the height of the pandemic, never to return. Figures from the Office for National Statistics illustrate that 250,000 more over-50s are now economy inactive when compared to before the pandemic.

Here at APSCo, we exclusively represent recruitment consultancies operating in the professional sectors – and demand for white collar applicants, in particular, remains unusually high. Our Recruitment Trends Snapshot shows that permanent job vacancies in the UK increased by 22% for the period between February 2021 and February 2022. Contract vacancies were also up 26% during this timeframe.

The data, provided by the global leader in software for the staffing industry, Bullhorn, did, however, indicate a slight month-on-month dip in the number of new vacancies for both permanent and contract roles, which were down 11% and 12% respectively in February when compared to January this year, indicating that the skills crisis may now be beginning to stabilise at least.

While we are now beginning to see the inevitable slowdown of the intense activity of the last few months, there is no doubt that we are still in a situation where demand for skills is far exceeding supply. According to APSCo’s statistics, permanent placements rose 13% over the month last month following January’s 104% spike in vacancies, which is indicative of the continued pressure on the staffing sector. Year-on-year comparisons also continue to show significant growth with permanent placements up 62% between February 2021 and February 2022, while contract placements also rose year on year, up by 15%.

In today’s talent-short market, the professional staffing sector has a vital part to play in identifying and securing the talent that employers so desperately need. It seems that hiring organisations truly value the expertise of external talent acquisition specialists at this time too. High levels of hiring have translated into increases in annual sales revenue for our members, with figures up 49% year on year for permanent placements and 80% for contract.

However, we could also benefit from greater support from government to overcome the hurdles we face. In spite of the slight slowdown in vacancy numbers in February, we are still in the midst of a talent crisis. And with EU-funded UK training schemes now under threat, we must think of fresh ways to develop and acquire the skills we need today.

In our Access to Skills and Talent Public Policy Plan, we have called on the government to rethink training initiatives and visa routes for highly skilled international talent to support a dynamic, global, and flexible labour market. We continue to meet with government to demonstrate the value of a globally focused recruitment sector, a globally mobile talent pool of independent contractors and the benefits of introducing a work visa for self-employed highly skilled contractors and we are lobbying hard for the expansion of the scope of highly skilled independent visa routes.

It is crucial that businesses are able to procure the skilled talent they need from overseas – and this includes independent professionals. There is a distinct skills shortage across high skilled areas of work, such as engineering, life sciences, digital and Fintech. However, many within these fields work on projects rather than being bound to one specific role. To bring about a more highly-skilled and flexible workforce, a specific visa route is needed for such highly-skilled, self-employed project workers from abroad who will be vital to plug skills gaps in the short term while we work to upskill home-grown talent.

The staffing sector is working incredibly hard to attract and secure the skills we need to thrive, and while the ongoing skills shortages can be a challenge for professional recruiters – the current landscape also presents an opportunity. In today’s skill-starved market, the expertise of skilled and experienced staffing partners has never been more valued – and while we await further government interventions to ease staffing pressures, our members are stepping up to the plate to ensure their clients can access the talent they need to prosper