Big Data in the Recruitment Sector: The Answer to Strategic Questions

Guest blog from Job Market Insights.

The UK labour market has been extremely volatile in the recent past: Brexit, the Covid-19 crisis, the Great Resignation, and the still uncertain consequences of the Ukraine conflict mean it is essential for recruitment businesses to ask the right questions and get evidence-based answers.

With a huge figure of 8.2 million unique jobs posted in the UK in 2021 according to Job Market Insights (a 42.7% increase compared to 2020), it is easy to get lost in the analysis. Big data analytics helps recruitment companies give answers to fundamental business questions.

Do I truly understand the market evolution?

During the first couple of months of 2022, the Health sector continued to be the largest in terms of job postings. Yet the biggest percentage growth is to be found in the Construction & Real Estate and the Leisure & Tourism sectors, which experienced a spectacular increase of more than 27% throughout the UK.

But for instance, if we focus on Manchester only, Legal jobs increased by 37% compared to the previous period with a higher demand for Real Estate, Commercial Property and Corporate Solicitors.

A granular vision allows delving into different levels of location and employment sectors, with which you can truly understand the companies that are hiring and identify top recruiters.

How can I increase my market share?

Recognise your direct competitors and pinpoint upsell opportunities. With 45% of job ads coming from recruitment agencies and 11,800 recruitment companies actively posting vacancies all over the UK in 2021, it is extremely relevant to discriminate who your direct competitors are in your region and sector, or the type of client you aim to target.

Through aggregated data you should be able to establish the less exploited market niches, focus your strategy and identify new markets to expand your reach.

Are you targeting the right leads?

Filter out by company size, location, or job sector to spot potential new customers. Monitor specific companies’ behaviour by tracking their open vacancies real time. Interpreting what they are looking for, could help you with your value proposition.

Which are the hard-to-fill positions? How can I place my candidates?

A shortage of candidates for high-demand positions in Health and Social Services continued into 2022 and there is no indication that it will end in the medium term.

Detecting and anticipating hiring challenges helps recruiters identify hot leads: positions for which companies are in desperate need of qualified candidates. Understand job profiles and skills on recurrent demand and place your candidates where they best fit.

How can I increase my customers’ engagement?

First, know what profiles your clients are looking for right now through other recruiters and job sites or in-house. Then offer your short-listed candidates to capture their attention and accelerate them with a timely response.

Track your gains and losses in the market and bring back previous clients.

Job Market Insights is a big data analytics tool that provides a 360º view of the labour market. It is an REC Business Partner—some REC's members already use Job Market Insights and enjoy an exclusive discount to better analyse, compare and understand employment trends, identify who is hiring, track competitor behaviour and detect business opportunities with accurate, up-to-date information. Job Market Insights is part of Adevinta, a leading online classifieds specialist, operating digital marketplaces in 15 countries.

This is a guest blog contribution for the REC website. The views expressed by guest writers reflect the individual's personal opinions.