How can recruitment professionals use jobs data to build trust and relationships?

With the labour market and the broader employment landscape in a state of constant flux, employers increasingly need timely insight and data to inform their recruitment and workforce planning strategies. The opportunity for recruitment professionals is to be a trusted source of this insight.
 
Through daily contact with employers and candidates, recruiters are regularly supplementing their own knowledge, expertise, and foresight on evolving job market dynamics. And this can be complemented by making the best use of other data sources available. Here’s how:

• Providing access to timely data  The official employment statistics take several months to compile. This lag limits the usefulness in terms of forward planning. This is why more timely data, such as the REC monthly Report on Jobs is increasingly used to take stock of latest jobs market dynamics. As well as referring to this research for their own planning activities, forward-looking recruitment professionals use this monthly intelligence as a hook for engaging with clients and providing some useful added value.

• Digging into sectoral and regional trends Employers want access to the most relevant data, including specific intel on the sectors and regions they operate in. In addition to the breakdowns provided in tour monthly  Report on Jobs, recruitment professionals can tap into the granular, role-specific and localised jobs postings data generated through our Labour Market Tracker. This kind of data helps kind organisations to plan ahead – particularly with regards to how long it is likely to take to fill a vacancy. It can also provide a vital wake-up call in terms of the need to ramp up employer brand and proactive job and proactive approaches for roles and sectors where skills mismatch is particularly pronounced and the competition for talent is at its most intense.

• Ensuring a salary and pay-level ‘reality-check’  Robust and timely data on pay and salary levels is also in high demand for both permanent and temporary hires. This enables employers to benchmark the competitiveness of the pay they are offering, especially in high demand sectors. This has been a feature of the monthly Report on Jobs from the very outset. Discussions with clients around pitching job openings at the right salary level can sometimes be fraught; being able to refer to objective and credible external research makes a massive difference.

• Forward-looking data is especially sought-after  By definition, most research on employment and labour market trends is retrospective; it looks back at placements that have been made and vacancies that have been posted. Being able to supplement this with forward-looking research is invaluable. This is the very essence of our Jobs Outlook report which looks ahead at future hiring and investment intentions and confidence levels in the economy. This is an opportunity for recruiters and clients to pre-empt emerging jobs markets trends and get ahead of the curve.

• Looking at the global picture  As well as being able to access and make use of UK data, recruiters can also tap into the research and analysis provided by the World Employment Confederation (WEC), this is the representative body for the global recruitment and HR services industry. For recruiters with clients who have an international footprint, or that are looking to hire from overseas, access to information and employment trends from across the world is a goldmine of added value. The WEC also regularly signposts other sources of global employment and skills data from organisations such as the World Economic Forum, the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the OECD.

Political and economic developments – as well as other external factors such as the acceleration in AI adoption - will turbo-charge labour market flux over the coming months and years. The recruitment industry is establishing itself as a knowledge hub and a trusted advisor to both the business community and policy makers. For individual recruitment professionals, the opportunity is to seize this moment, and to use the latest labour market intelligence that is at hand to build trust, respect and lasting relationships with clients and candidates.