The recruitment and talent acquisition space has seen huge fluctuations throughout the pandemic which are continuing to impact the hiring environment in 2022. We’re starting to see a stabilisation in the job market, with the number of job vacancies beginning to level out following the unprecedented demand for talent we experienced over the course of last year.
Our IrishJobs Jobs Index Q1 2022 reveals a 44% year-on-year growth in the number of jobs available this quarter, a deceleration of growth compared to the year-on-year figure for last quarter (86%). Year-on-year numbers may have eased back but jobs have increased by 3% quarter-on-quarter, and the overall volume of jobs available remains high, reflecting the continued normalisation of the economy.
It is a hiring environment that is strongly tipped towards the job seeker and employers need to remain competitive in order to retain and recruit talent.
Cost of living and inflation
With inflation forecast by the ESRI to run at an average of 6.7% for the year we are beginning to see the impact of inflation on job seekers. In our latest World of Work survey of 6,200 people, 70% of people said that inflation was already pushing them to look for a new job. While our independent research of over 1,000 people, carried out by iReach, showed 30% of people plan on changing jobs this year, up 7% from December 2021.
This renewed job seeker activity will put even more pressure on HR teams and employers to ensure they have the right strategies and internal resources in place to support their recruitment and retention ambitions in 2022.
It’s possible that inflation may, in time, replace Covid-19 as a key factor driving up the number of roles offering remote work, as people try to cut down on commuting and other costs associated with working from the office. In fact, working from home vacancies continue to grow at a faster rate than overall vacancies.
We have already seen this too from job seekers in our World of Work survey with 52% of people actively saying hybrid work is their preferred work structure. As the realities of inflation set in, salary will become more important and is already the top priority for job seekers when looking for a new role.
Responsive recruitment
It’s clear that employers looking to attract and retain people in today’s market should continue to prioritise flexible working and benchmark salaries in order to meet the evolving needs of existing employees and prospective candidates within their field.
For businesses hiring in a candidate short market, they need to stand out from the crowd and sell their organisation to a job seeker, now more than ever. Employers need to show job seekers what makes them an attractive employer. And to do so they need to understand their employer value proposition and how to best represent this in their recruitment campaigns.