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- Jo Faragher
Recruitment business owners won’t be the only ones to breathe a sigh of relief this week at the announcement that the UK economy has managed to avoid falling into its third recession in five years – the dreaded triple dip.
The Office for National Statistics reported that the UK’s gross domestic product (GDP) had grown by just 0.3% during the first quarter of this year, but even this is a welcome psychological boost to businesses. For recruiters in particular, anything that might push hiring companies to create roles and call upon agencies’ services is good news.
News that job site platform CareerBuilder has acquired niche site Oil and Gas Job Search shows that continues to be a certain level of consolidation in the recruitment sector – with smaller or specialist recruitment businesses proving an attractive target for larger companies looking for rapid growth.
Another recruiter to make an acquisition this week was industrial agency gap personnel, which bought Bristol Drivers Solutions, with a view to incorporating it into its specialist driving division, Driving Force. Reflecting the acquisitive mood of some recruitment businesses at present, gap’s finance director Andy Gunson has his eyes on “at least one other acquisition during 2013”, according to reports.
While the economy claws its way out of negative growth, Towers Watson’s survey suggesting that average pay rises would be around 3% this year seemed positive in comparison. However, with inflation predicted to be around 3.2%, much of that increase will be wiped out by living costs.
Although consumer price inflation held steady at 2.8% during March, it is still at its highest level since May last year, and the Bank of England predicts it will exceed 3% later this year. What does this mean for recruiters? Often, a rise in living costs, however slight, can impact on job market movement as candidates are less willing to leave secure roles for the unknown.
Finally, there was some positive news from job board Monster this week, which has decided to remove any adverts for unpaid internships. The announcement comes a few weeks after HM Revenue and Customs launched an inquiry to investigate 100 companies believed to be breaking the law through their use of unpaid interns.
Like Monster, recruitment agencies could have an important role in helping companies to run internship programmes in a fair and equitable way – both from a practical perspective (shortlisting and interviewing), to supporting hiring companies in promoting their brand and building their reputation. Look out for our feature on this issue early next month, and let us know what you think at editorial@recruitmentagencynow.com
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