State of the Market

[BR14]

WHO is complicit in this ?.

feck knows.

hth

[PlanB]

Dead this week too, even the permy posts have gone awol.

Phone interview lined up with a major bank just down the road. No show from their end, and no explanation forthcoming. Other leads have been put on hold, frozen, delayed etc. Let's face it, nobody wants to hire anybody when they are focused on laying people off / implementing safety rules / shutting down limbs of their own business / managing WFH staff / worrying about their own job and the safety of their families, aged parents, etc, and being able to do basic shopping.

I'm just grateful to have a job at the minute, but nervously looking over my shoulder in case the axe falls, I suspect I'm not the only one. As you point out people are concentrating on surviving and keeping the lights on, not hiring for new projects.

[CheeseSlice]

REC have made a press release on the state of the recruitment market.

Recruitment activity falls sharply as COVID-19 pandemic hits the UK

This is based on data captured by recruiters in March, so a couple of weeks old now, and I think the decline will have advanced further. Note that available candidates were still falling (more starting new jobs, than losing them), but slower than before. I imagine this has reversed now given the sudden increase of UC claims.

First, my interpretation of the report:

• Perm roles in private sector have tanked, almost stone dead. Contracts following same path, and not far behind.
• London and Midlands both hit hard. London hit hardest.
• IT temping/contracting is one of two hardest hit temp sectors (the other is Retail).
• Public sector still recruiting perm and contract as if covid-19 never happened.

Sections of interest from the press release:

Quickest drop in recruitment activity since 2009

After rising in the prior three months, permanent staff placements declined sharply in March, with the rate of reduction the sharpest since February 2009. Panel members cited the COVID-19 pandemic had led many clients to cancel or postpone hiring decisions. Temp billings were also hit, with a combination of the virus and pending IR35 policy changes leading to the quickest reduction in billings for 11 years.

Regional and Sector Variations

All four monitored English regions recorded severe falls in permanent staff appointments, led by London.

Substantial reductions in temporary billings were seen across all monitored English regions. The steepest decline was in London, followed by the Midlands.

Latest data signalled divergent trends when it came to public and private sector vacancy splits. Demand for staff fell for both permanent and temporary workers across the private sector, with the quicker rate of reduction seen for permanent staff. Meanwhile, both permanent and short-term vacancies rose again across the public sector.

Permanent staff demand declined across eight of the ten monitored job categories at the end of the first quarter, led by Retail and Hotel & Catering. Nursing/Medical/Care and Engineering were the only sectors to record higher vacancies.

Only two monitored job categories posted higher levels of demand for temporary staff in March; Nursing/Medical/Care and Blue Collar. The steepest reductions in short-term vacancies were meanwhile seen in Retail and IT & Computing.

[CosmicWave]

REC have made a press release on the state of the recruitment market.

Recruitment activity falls sharply as COVID-19 pandemic hits the UK

This is based on data captured by recruiters in March, so a couple of weeks old now, and I think the decline will have advanced further. Note that available candidates were still falling (more starting new jobs, than losing them), but slower than before. I imagine this has reversed now given the sudden increase of UC claims.

First, my interpretation of the report:

• Perm roles in private sector have tanked, almost stone dead. Contracts following same path, and not far behind.
• London and Midlands both hit hard. London hit hardest.
• IT temping/contracting is one of two hardest hit temp sectors (the other is Retail).
• Public sector still recruiting perm and contract as if covid-19 never happened.

Sections of interest from the press release:

In spite of that, we still do see some kind shameless recruitment agents posting fake contract roles!

Wonder what they are made of! Don't think its flesh and blood though.

[hairymouse]

In spite of that, we still do see some kind shameless recruitment agents posting fake contract roles!

Wonder what they are made of! Don't think its flesh and blood though.

Certainly seen a big increase in fake roles.

The other day on Linked In a recruitment agent posted something along the lines of "In these tough times I just want to give back to the community so I am willing to help anyone with their CV or give them feedback on job searches. I've got 15 years experience and would like to share my knowledge..." Like a sucker I sent him an email with my CV and asked him for his opinion on specific questions. Any guesses whether that ****** could be bothered to even reply? Just a bunch of fake karma whoring. I'm going to laugh when he finally posts the "After 2 long years working with Pimpco I'll be pursuing other opportunities....."

[ruasonid]

Positive uptick in interest. 60% of them Indian companies who have suddenly morphed into new ventures (or maybe just a new company name).

[CosmicWave]

Certainly seen a big increase in fake roles.

The other day on Linked In a recruitment agent posted something along the lines of "In these tough times I just want to give back to the community so I am willing to help anyone with their CV or give them feedback on job searches. I've got 15 years experience and would like to share my knowledge..." Like a sucker I sent him an email with my CV and asked him for his opinion on specific questions. Any guesses whether that ****** could be bothered to even reply? Just a bunch of fake karma whoring. I'm going to laugh when he finally posts the "After 2 long years working with Pimpco I'll be pursuing other opportunities....."

The OPUS R* are specifically clearly in a spike of fishing trips.... they have been posting and sending emails of fake roles in high numbers. Such a bunch of ######s.

[BigDataPro]

Its not completely dead.

'Avance Consulting' are still regularly calling me from a basement in Bangalore... Sorry, I mean from their 'London office' since they've got a UK number, though the quality is very poor and scratchy for some reason. They ought to get that looked at.

..so there must be loads of work out there.

They are one of the preferred suppliers for TCS.

[BR14]

They are one of the preferred suppliers for TCS.

'ta ta' computer services.
it was nice knowing you

[Mephisto]

Dead this week too, even the permy posts have gone awol.

Phone interview lined up with a major bank just down the road. No show from their end, and no explanation forthcoming. Other leads have been put on hold, frozen, delayed etc. Let's face it, nobody wants to hire anybody when they are focused on laying people off / implementing safety rules / shutting down limbs of their own business / managing WFH staff / worrying about their own job and the safety of their families, aged parents, etc, and being able to do basic shopping.

This was the perspective I needed even though it's probably obvious thinking rationally. It is however utterly soul destroying trawling the usual sites, jobserve, cwjobs, JC+ etc. and finding nothing most days. Reminiscent of 2008 if not worse! But then I know a lot have it far far worse and I feel so bad for anyone suffering.

The temp job I was supposed to start has understandably been shelved so cabin fever it is