Marketplace - Report on jobs and top career websites
Published: 18 April 2007
March was another upbeat month in the UK labour market, with pay rates continuing to see inflationary pressures and demand for staff increasing at a robust rate.
Those were the key findings from the March Report on Jobs, from the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and professional services firm KPMG.
Recruitment consultancies signalled a further month of pay increases, "reflecting competition between employers for scarce talent", said the report. Permanent staff salary inflation remained close to February's 80-month peak (Recruiter, 21 March), while temporary staff pay inflation accelerated to a 28-month high.
The data also highlighted a further increase in temporary staff billings. The rate of expansion picked up to a 77-month high. The panelists who contributed to the report said the main factor was rising workloads at client companies.
In the permanent sector, demand rose fastest for hotel and catering workers, followed by executive and professional, and engineering and construction employees. Hotel and catering also topped the temporary/contract staff demand growth table, followed by blue collar.
Average starting salaries for successful candidates placed in permanent jobs rose for the 44th consecutive month. Hourly pay for staff in temporary/contract employment rose for the 46th consecutive month.
The availability of permanent staff declined for the 41st consecutive month. Temporary/contract staff availability fell for the fourth month running.
Marcia Roberts, REC chief executive, said: "The latest Report on Jobs saw temporary staff billings rise at the strongest rate for almost six and a half years, highlighting the significant contribution that temporary workers make to the UK labour market. The government's recent intention to extend maternity leave from six to nine months is likely to encourage this growth, with temporary staff providing a valuable resource to businesses that wish to avoid putting staff under undue pressure while their colleagues are on leave."
She added: "The skills shortages reported month on month by this report also highlight the importance of the government's new Migration Advisory Committee and that any future immigration policy must reflect the demands of the current labour market rather than being driven by political rhetoric."
Michael Carter, people services partner at KPMG, said: "This month's figures demonstrate the continuing flexible labour market trend, with temporary staff billings again on the increase and showing no signs of slowing. The recent Budget introduced measures … that attack the provision of labour via so-called managed service companies under which individuals provide their service through limited companies. Those who provide their services in this way and who are assisted by managed service providers are being pushed into becoming temporary workers as the tax and National Insurance Contribution breaks are, on the face of it, disappearing.
"This may cause a temporary disruption in the flow of labour to end users as workers get used to their new arrangements. It is also almost certain to increase upward pay pressure still further as such individuals look to be remunerated at the same or similar net rates as their previous arrangements, even though tax and NIC may now be payable."
The AlljobsUK.com Online Recruitment Index rose 1.5% in the first week of March to 2,100, compared with 2,069 in the first week of February.
This year's Index is already 6.4% ahead of 2006's record figures, and its peak was reached on the 27 February, at 2,175.74.
Director Stephen O'Donnell told Recruiter: "It has to be the season for records. The AlljobsUK.com Online Recruitment Index has now remained above the 2,000 mark since the end of January. This means that through all the ups and downs of the past seven years, the volume of advertised vacancies, on a weekly basis, is more than twice where we started in the year 2000. There have, of course, been many changes in that time."
He added that some sites have fallen away from the Index, like Quantum and Stepstone. However, the Index has a new addition in CV-Library. "It is very much a serious contender in this market, and with 57,324 vacancy adverts, it has a very serious market share," said O'Donnell.
Consulting and technology services company Accenture has been named as the Top UK Corporate Career Website in a survey by research firm Potentialpark Communication. Accenture beat off competition from auditing and accounting firms including PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte, IBM and Deutsche Bank.
The results, from more than 1,000 graduates, students and young professionals, ranked by importance the recruitment and application features wanted from a career site. There were 94 features examined on each of the corporate career websites, including usability, employer branding, talent relationship building, application management, recruitment process and assessment, and individual feedback.
The researchers then analysed 100 corporate career websites based on these criteria to find the site that best caters to the jobseekers demands and preferences.
Torgil Lenning, senior consultant at Potentialpark Communications, said: "To attract top talent many companies invest in creating corporate career websites, which also differentiates them from their competitors. Even though others continuously work on their websites, implementing new techniques such as web videos, they don't understand their target group's expectations, preferences and priorities."
Lenning says jobseekers have become less patient and have started "website zapping", therefore sites have to catch their attention immediately or lose them. "In the jobseekers' opinion, too many companies use the same phrases. As a result, instead of presenting a unique profile, many companies do the opposite."
The research found that many employers, especially those in the UK, have grasped the importance of interactivity and are implementing web 2.0 techniques such as web logs, chats, podcasts and video clips. It found that web clips are the most commonly used tool and the researchers expected this trend to continue throughout 2007.
Marketplace 18 April 2007 (PDF1) Marketplace 18 April 2007 (PDF2)
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| Job Title | Job Location | Job Position |
|---|---|---|
| Senior Technical Recruiter... | London | Permanent |
| Senior Consultant / Manager - Finance... | London | Permanent |
| Recruitment Consultant... | All | Permanent |
| Business Development Manager... | South East | Permanent |
| Resourcer/Trainee Consultant... | London | Permanent |
| Recruitment Team Leader... | London | Permanent |
