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REC says job ads are increasing – what does this mean for employers?

Journalist: Elizabeth Howlett, People Management Magazine

ended 02. December 2022

REC research has found there were 216,257 new job postings in the week of 14-20 November – 40.6% higher comparing to a month earlier (17-23 October, which may have been affected by school half-terms) and only 0.4% lower than the week of 10-16 October. Is it positive news for employers that demand is still high, or just indicative of Xmas rush? 

6 responses from the Newspage community

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Lily Shippen
Managing Director at Lily Shippen
Despite the uncertain economic backdrop, it is a positive sign that companies are still pushing forward with recruitment plans. Through conversations that we are having with our clients, they are continuing to push forward with their headcount plans, and also predicting resignations in January. They do remain measured in their approach, though, and are selective with interview processes. I wouldn't say that this is indicative of a Christmas rush. We are much more likely to see a rush in January, as some firms will be dealing with resignations post-bonus payouts. If we see a significant rise in job postings in January, it will be challenging to recruit for companies, as there will be fewer candidates than jobs.
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Sam Alsop-Hall
Chief Strategy Officer at Clive Henry Group
The “New Year New Me” job rush has begun. The traditional job market always peaks in December, but the cost of living crisis, post-pandemic hybrid versus office-based working and consolidation and rebalancing activities of companies before we enter a deep recession has meant people are on the move now more than ever. There are more job seekers in the market and more jobs available. It's no wonder it was announced this week that recruitment companies are now contributing over £40bn to the UK economy. Employers need to ensure their Employee Value Proposition (EVP) is watertight otherwise you’ll come back from the festivities with notice letters on your desk and be in a war for talent that you didn’t want to be involved in.
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Kate Underwood
Managing Director / HR Director at Kate Underwood HR and Training
It seems that with the cost of living, people make conscious decisions to change jobs to get coverage increases if they feel their pay is not in line with what they need or want. The grass is not always greener for employees and actually from an employment law point of view they will receive fewer rights for the first two years. Employers need to think about their current team and how to retain them and ensure that their Employer Value Proposition is correct, as with resignations comes a loss of knowledge that can hit an employer's pocket in more than one way. Budgets for 2023 will have been finalised by now and recruiting over the Christmas period is always a good time to recruit. It just seems that this year the Christmas rush has started a little early.
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Kieran Boyle
Managing Director at CKB Recruitment Ltd
We usually experience a slight downturn in new vacancies as we enter a traditional December in recruitment, however this year things are showing no signs of slowing down. Our clients still have a huge amount of existing vacancies as well as new ones being created, which is being pushed by the skills shortage in the UK labour force. So I don't think we can say this is "good news" for employers as they still cannot find the staff they need. At least it points to the economy still being pretty buoyant despite the doom and gloom merchants telling us we are heading into the worst recession in living memory.
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Karen Watkins
Founder at Rowan Consulting
It's an interesting article. but we need to remember that "job postings" isn't a direct correlation to "job roles/vacancies". In a tough market, agencies will be pushing out jobs online at a much higher pace and to a lot of different sites in order to spread their nets as widely as possible in a race to try and win talent. The result is that we see an increase in roles advertised that doesn't always mean an increase in NEW jobs. I suspect we are also seeing an increase in seasonal roles being advertised, which is adding to the perceived increase. I certainly wouldn't see this as a sign of increased confidence and positive news for employers. In fact, like the housing market it's starting to feel like we are on the brink of a crash. The tide is definitely switching to reducing staff numbers rather than increasing them. Sorry REC I don't share your postiviity.
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David McCreadie
Managing Director at Swi-tch
Adverts usually don't give much insight as to how the market is actually performing. If businesses are aware (and they should be) that it can take up to six months from posting an advert for the right candidate to land in the business, then the spike in adverts is likely linked to Q2/3 hiring plans in 2023, not right now. Some may link the spike in adverts to the great resignation, which may have some truth to it but it's more than likely more strategic than that for most employers.