ONLINE RECRUITMENT VOLUMES INDICATE STEADY RECOVERY

Throw open the shutters, open the windows, and take the sandbags from the doors. The storm of recession has past, and we can all get back to normal. Perhaps not quite.According to the Office of National Statistics, the UK economy experienced growth of 0.1% in the last quarter, and unemployment unexpectedly fell by 7,000 in December. Now that the snow has cleared away, there’s nothing to stop us. These figures may be great for confidence, but there is much to overcome still in the recruitment market. Unemployment may have dropped slightly, but so too has the employment rate (down to 72.4% from a peak of 75% in early 2008). A study, produced in January by the CIPD, reveals that 1.31 million people were made redundant during the recession, and that two-thirds of those, who subsequently found work were paid an average of 28% less in their new job.

There are no prizes for guessing how this will affect the confidence of jobseekers, employers and the professional recruitment sector.This has been reflected in the volume of vacancies advertised online.The AlljobsUK.com Online Recruitment Index has monitored the number of job adverts on the UK’s major job boards for the last 10 years.If we take January 2008 to be the beginning of the employment crisis, then our Index was standing at 1,703.31. 2 years later, it’s 59% lower, at 821.51. In that time, the much predicted demise of print advertising as a primary advertising channel came to pass as. Whilst trade magazines and some newspapers still carry job adverts, it’s only with an accompanying job board.

In bald terms, the Alljobs Online Recruitment Index shows that the number of job adverts across the ten monitored sites has plummeted from 805,695 to a low of 258,992.Currently recovering slightly to 368,722, the details of each site are very illuminating. Firstly, we should know that many sites count their volume of vacancies differently, as they hold a job advert online for anything from a week to over a month. We collect weekly figures on how many vacancy adverts there are on each site at that time. The two charts, shown here, separate out Reed.co.uk and Totaljobs.com, as their volumes far exceed those of the other websites. Reed.co.uk is often taken to be an accurate indicator of job availability, as it is largely unimpeded by cost considerations. Free advertising means that, within limits, all agencies can advertise every single vacancy they have. Despite their huge volumes, Reed is currently displaying only 31% of its maximum number of job adverts over the last 2 years. Similarly, and at the other end of the scale, JustEngineers.net have lost over 90% of their volume during the same period. Engineering and manufacturing sectors have clearly taken a big hit. Furthermore, whilst Monster have mostly outperformed their immediate rivals, Jobsite, Totaljobs and CVLibrary, they are now dipping and have lost 65% of their peak volume. Not only are there fewer vacancies, but a lesser proportion are being advertised in bulk on the biggest job boards.

As recruiters have been forced to re-evaluate all expenditure, online advertising with the major job boards has suffered enormously. The old model of “advertise and wait” simply doesn’t work on its own anymore, and recruiters are having to be far more active and creative, in order to identify and attract candidates. Social media websites, in the form of Linkedin, Facebook, and Twitter are being exploited, and all networks are being leveraged by recruiters determined to satisfy clients.

We have now seen an encouraging bounce-back from the extended winter dip. The Alljobs Index is up 244.48 since New Year, and many other market indicators are positive. If the statistics are anything to go by, where we have now had steady figures for the past 12 months, the threat of a “double-dip” appears to be increasingly unlikely.

Stephen O’Donnell FIPD

Stephen O’Donnell has been a professional Recruiter since 1987. Founding AlljobsUK.com and the National Online Recruitment Awards in 2000, he is also Head of Sales & Marketing for 1Job.co.uk.

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ONLINE RECRUITMENT GETS SMARTER IN THE FACE OF ESCALATING UNEMPLOYMENT

Nominations have now opened for the National Online Recruitment Awards 2009 (NORAs). The awards are now in their ninth year, and have closely plotted the emergence and growth of the UK online recruitment sector throughout that time. Devised to recognise the very best recruitment websites, from a candidate’s perspective, the NORAs are respected as the definitive award in the industry, and a tangible achievement for those sites which truly excel in delighting job seekers.

The 12 awards this year, recognise dedicated job boards, recruitment agencies, employers, and publications which advertise vacancies online. We also recognise the best employment advice websites, best newcomer, and the best innovation in online recruitment. This last award will surely be hotly contended, with the emergence of recruitment channels via social media, including Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin and many others.

Nominations are open to anyone to contribute, and will be open until 19th September. In 2008, we received over 64,000 nominations for almost 500 separate websites. Our judging panel this year includes Luke McKend, Industry Head for Recruitment – Google, Emma Mirrington, Talent Acquisition Manager – Sky, Helen Reynolds, HB RIDA and former Chief Executive of the Recruitment and Employment Confederation, Keith Robinson, former COO of Totaljobs, and Dan McGuire MD of Broadbean Technology.

“Given the dramatic changes to the employment landscape in the UK, it will be very interesting to see which sites are serving candidates best. Unemployment is escalating rapidly, employers are lacking confidence, and the print media has disappeared as a recruiting medium. In the face of this, online recruitment is finally delivering on its promise of smarter, effective and efficient candidate attraction. “

Stephen O’Donnell, Director AlljobsUK.com (Chairman of Judging Panel)

Notes for editors:

AlljobsUK.com was founded in 2000 as a comprehensive online portal for candidates. It provides access to a database of every recruitment agency, the top 15,000 employers, all publications and every job board in the UK. Along with sister site, 1Job.co.uk, candidates can also search the most comprehensive job search engine for over 300,000 live advertised vacancies.

Stephen O’Donnell has over 23 years experience in the professional recruitment industry, both as a recruiter and director of recruitment agencies, and founded AlljobsUK.com in 2000.
Stephen@alljobsUK.com , 0141 572 5301, 07801 552149, http://twitter.com/stephenodonn

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Online recruitment has fallen for 10 weeks – to an all time low

The Alljobs Online Recruitment Index has now hit a record low, since records began in August 2000.

The volume of advertised vacancies in the UK is an accurate reflection of the economic climate, and never more so than now.

At only 759.06, the Index represents only 32% of its peak figure of 2,356.55, in August 2007. Also, compared with its level only 12 months ago, the Index has plummeted by almost 60%. This is a dramatic reflection of the current serious difficulties in the recruitment sector. Having enjoyed years of continuous growth, and record highs, the Index is now at its all time lowest figure for this time of year. From the beginning of January, we have seen unusual volatility in the index, which usually rises steadily in the first quarter of each year. Modest growth in January has been matched with eleven straight weeks of falls from late February to April.

http://www.alljobsuk.com/recindex.shtml

The Alljobs Online Recruitment Index is a unique industry indicator. In order to more accurately reflect the ebb and flow of the online recruitment advertising sector, we use the published volumes of active job adverts from leading jobsites to generate a composite figure. With a baseline of 1,000 from when the Index began in August 2000, we are able to reflect the peaks and troughs of the sector, and compare year on year. By analysing this more accurate indicator, we are able to be informed more clearly of the seasonal shifts, and relative market confidence of advertisers who use the UK’s major job sites.

The 10 major job boards monitored are:
CV-Library Fish4jobs Jobserve The IT Job Board Jobsite Jobsearch Monster Reed Totaljobs Just Engineers

AlljobsUK.com is the leading online recruitment portal in the UK, and has a database of every recruitment agency, employer and job board advertising vacancies.

AlljobsUK.com is the sister site of http://www.1job.co.uk/, the UK’s leading Job Search Engine.

### Ends (315 words)

Please contact for further comment and information:

Stephen O’Donnell, Director, AlljobsUK.com. stephen@alljobsuk.com 0870 7460400

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1Job.co.uk responses to UK Online Recruitment

Online Recruitment Feature
Responses below are from our MD, Julian Felstead and others at 1Job.co.uk:

1) In the light of the Monster ‘hacking’ how safe is online recruitment and why should recruiters have no concerns about using sites?

“1Job’s job search engine business is about sending candidates to vacancies shown on job sites on the internet. We don’t store CV’s on our site so this issue does not affect us directly. The effect of the Monster ‘hacking’ vulnerability affects all of us involved in online recruitment.

“Details of how Monster’s site was hacked are not known or clear, but it’s likely that other job boards with searchable CV databases could be vulnerable.

“One useful way of countering such attacks would be for Monster to reveal to other Job Boards in the industry, details of how the attack was made. A joint working group could then be set up to improve job board database security.

“This is a problem as CV database’s need to be searchable by recruiters. In many cases hacking can be down to how usernames and passwords are handled, not only by sites but by the users of the databases.

“Restrictions and limitations on CV download volumes over a time period is critical, as a security feature.

“Of prime importance too is to remind candidates not to include unnecessary personal details like date of birth, place of birth, national insurance numbers etc. that could be used for any aspect in financial fraud.”

2) In a massively candidate driven market what value does the online industry give to a recruiter?

“The primary value of 1Job’s service is different to that offered by job boards. As a job search engine we take candidates directly to the job boards or recruiter’s job adverts. We provide the job title and a summary details of the jobs The job hunter can then choose to click through to the site hosting the full job advert descriptions.

“Our job aggregator model enables candidates to find the jobs they’re looking for on the job board, or recruiters site – from over 300,000 fresh jobs each day. Job search engines and job boards make job hunting fast and efficient and they enable recruiters to receive applications and find candidates very quickly. There is no comparison in this respect between online job advertising and any other offline job advertising media.”

3) Are social networks still the biggest threat to traditional Job Boards?

“Social networks are social networks. And as people tend to separate social activities to work and career activities job specific websites, and job search engines like 1Job, will always be the first choice for any serious job hunter. They are designed specifically for purpose.

“Unless a social networking site focuses on jobs and careers then they will always be third rate at best. But … professional and business networks like Linkedin are a different matter and these are useful for recruitment. Most of these types of sites are aimed at senior office and management people and these are the ones that use them.

“At 1Job, what we do think though, is that niche business sector sites will become adapted and used for carrying more vacancy advertising and career information.”

4) How will online technology evolve to benefit the relationship with recruiters?

“Remember we are still at the dawn of the internet age … the areas that will evolve to substantially help recruiters; and employers, job boards and job search engines; will be technologies that enable each party to ‘find-and-share’ candidates and job opportunities.

“Technologies similar to those we use in 1Job’s search engine algorithms to help enable candidates to find those “needle-in-the-haystack” opportunities will help.

“Fundamentally the technology firstly requires standardization of information exchange, such as those currently being proposed by the for HR-XML consortium. And secondly there needs to be significant improvements in Natural Language Processing technology.

“Using these two technologies together will enable both job descriptions and CV’s to be accurately machine read, understood, categorised, filed and retrieved correctly and meaningfully. This will then enable a true ‘find-and-share’ methodology that will revolutionise the industry. There are strong signs that this approach is already starting to happen.”

5) Are there too many Job Boards and how do you differentiate your site?

“Yes, there are definitely too many job boards, but the problem isn’t just the number of boards a job hunter needs to look at. There are thousands of other website that are all potentially relevant to a candidates job search. Sites provided by recruitment agencies and employers.

“Our site 1Job.co.uk is a job search engine designed to help the job hunter find the job ads they’re looking for. We differentiate ourselves by trying to provide a comprehensive list of the entire jobs advertised online in the UK. We then direct candidates directly to the job adverts on job boards and other sites in the UK and Ireland.

“The UK has approximately 1000 job boards, 25,000 recruiters and 2.5m employers. 1Job positions itself at the top of what might be visualised as a ‘job-content-pyramid’. Our mission is to help job hunters ‘drill-down’ into the pyramid to find the type of job that’s right for them, in the location they want to work.”

In an ideal world, there would only be one job board, where all candidates could search and apply for every advertised vacancy. Back in the real world, we know that this is an extremely competitive, where job seekers, recruiters and employers need to decide which job board best meets their needs. Dedicated Job Search Engines, like 1Job, can help candidates search many sites at once. Advert distribution services like Broadbean can greatly reduce the effort involved in posting job adverts. However, the best bet for disintermediation in this sector, lies with the expected mergers and acquisitions that will surely take place this year, as some companies struggle to stay afloat in a tightening market. In our sector, 1Job.co.uk differentiates itself by keeping it simple and delivering on our commitment to clients.

Julian Felstead – 1Job.co.uk

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UK Online Recruitment

Up until September last year, the trajectory for the UK online recruitment sector, was such that 2009 was going to be a year of re-invention, technological advances, and a definite progression to a more sophisticated industry. These development plans were already being implemented by some major sites, including Jobsite, Monster, and S1Jobs. However, many of these ambitious plans have now been delayed, in favour of strategies to a) Stay in business b) Maintain market share in a falling market and c) See off competition wherever possible. The current financial climate is both a great threat, and a fantastic opportunity, and everyone is rewriting their 2009 business plan accordingly. It’s going to be difficult now, for any firm to predict what they’ll be doing in the third and fourth quarters.

The apparent “hacking” of the Monster candidate database, whilst embarrassing, is a bit of a red-herring. There is no greater danger to candidates as a result of this. Candidates register with all job boards, knowing full well that their CV will then be seen by any client of that website. They should be warned not to include sensitive data, such as passport, National Insurance and driving license numbers. Unless job boards start vetting their clients, then all CV data must be considered to be accessible to all, and job seekers need to know this.

The AlljobsUK.com Online Recruitment Index has accurately gauged the rise and fall of online vacancy volumes since August 2000. At the turn of the year, it plummeted to 823.33, its lowest figure since July 2003. With unemployment rising fast, and the volume of advertised vacancies so low, the ratio of candidates to jobs has dramatically altered. However, this means greater numbers of irrelevant candidates, and inappropriate applications, which are giving job boards and individual recruiters the arduous task of screening them. Frankly, this means that recruiters will be focusing solely on placeable, viable candidates.

In their own way, social networking sites, like Linkedin, are simply different types of job boards, but can echo the methods traditionally used for headhunting. In this climate, headhunting (or simply sourcing candidates directly) is being employed much more, as the squeeze is put on advertising costs, and the routes to suitable candidates multiply. The best job boards are themselves developing much more sophisticated means of staying close to job seekers, and integrating with their career development.

I believe that the development of the CV searching facility via Broadbean will be the biggest evolution in online recruitment this year. The ability to search the CV databases of multiple job boards will mean that Broadbean will become a feature of every recruiter’s day. In dramatically cutting down on the time taken to search job boards, the skill of each individual recruiter can be focused on identifying the best possible candidates much more effectively and efficiently.

In an ideal world, there would only be one job board, where all candidates could search and apply for every advertised vacancy. Back in the real world, we know that this is an extremely competitive, where job seekers, recruiters and employers need to decide which job board best meets their needs. Dedicated Job Search Engines, like 1Job, can help candidates search many sites at once. Advert distribution services like Broadbean can greatly reduce the effort involved in posting job adverts. However, the best bet for disintermediation in this sector, lies with the expected mergers and acquisitions that will surely take place this year, as some companies struggle to stay afloat in a tightening market. In our sector, 1Job.co.uk differentiates itself by keeping it simple and delivering on our commitment to clients.

Stephen O’Donnell – AllJobsUK

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