2015 uk staffing trends

2015 UK Staffing Trends

3 Must-Know Staffing Trends for 2015

Introduction

To win in 2015, search & staffing leaders need to stay

ahead of the latest staffing trends. Broader technology

advancements have also begun to disrupt the recruitment

industry, setting the stage for a dynamic and exciting future

for the staffing industry.

About this survey We surveyed 1,994 staffing decision makers in 31

countries to understand what’s keeping them up at night

and where they see the industry headed in 2015. Get a

head start on 2015: tap into our insights and chart your

course for success.

02 Introduction

03 Executive summary

04 Part 1: The staffing industry in 2015

08 Part 2: Sourcing

14 Part 3: Brand

18 Part 4: The future of recruitment


Executive summary: UK staffing trends

3 must-know staffing trends to amplify your 2015 strategy

1 Sourcing: Social professional

networks have grown over 4 years to

become the top source of quality

placements for UK staffing firms.

2 Brand: Most UK firms prioritise the

need to build their brand. Now their

actions are beginning to catch up.

“Think about the key quality hires that your

organisation placed in the past 12 months.

Which of the following were the most

important sources for those key positions?”

69%

58%

48%

30%

Our brand has asignificant impact onour ability to grow our

business

My company has abrand strategy

Those responsible forour brand have enoughresources to do it well

We regularly measurethe health of our brandin a quantifiable way

% Agree

“Please indicate the extent to which you agree or

disagree with the following statements as they

relate to your firm's brand.”

3 The Future: Online professional

networks rise to become the top

channel for promoting a firm’s brand

while firm websites and job boards

decline.

“Which channels or tools have you found most

effective in promoting your business?”


31%

59% 55%

61%

10%

30%

50%

70%

2011 2012 2013 2014

Social professional networks

Internet job boards

Your ATS/internal candidate database

Internet CV databases

Employee referral programs

50% 57%

66%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

2012 2013 2014

Online professional networks (e.g. LinkedIn)

Our firm's website

Traditional Job Boards

Friends/family, word of mouth

Part 1: The staffing industry in 2015

Internal pressure and external threats

Nearly all UK staffing leaders predict placement

volume increases next year

A whopping 95% of UK staffing leaders project a placement

volume increase. The gap between UK placement volumes and

budgets remains wide. Staffing leaders must scale and invest

wisely.

“Considering only full and part-time professional employees, how do

you expect the volume of candidates placed by your organisation to

change this year?”

“How has your organisation's budget for recruiting solutions changed

from last year?”


80%

70%

77%

95%

55%

43% 42%

57%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

2011 2012 2013 2014

Budget

Placement Volume

% with increase

“What are the things that your competitors have done or may plan on

doing that would make you most nervous?”

28%

24%

30%

29%

30%

36%

Build strong talent poolsor pipelines

Hire recruiters tostrengthen their team

Learn to use socialnetworking and social

media effectively

UK Global

Social media, team strength, and talent pools

are the top competitive threats

Significantly more UK staffing leaders are concerned about

other firms hiring recruiters to strengthen their teams.


Priorities: Top priorities are growing client base and

being a strategic partner

Client business development and being a

strategic partner to clients are top priorities

UK staffing firms prioritise passive candidate recruiting more

than global staffing firms do.

Boutique and large firms differ globally

Globally, small staffing firms are more likely to prioritise new

clients and recruiting passive talent. We define small firms as

organisations with fewer than 10 recruiters.

“Think about your firm’s top priorities for the next 12 months.

Which of the following choices would you consider to be the most

important and least important areas of interest for your

organisation?”

“Think about your firm’s top priorities for the next 12 months.

Which of the following choices would you consider to be the

most important and least important areas of interest for your

organisation?”


24%

22%

30%

46%

53%

25%

27%

32%

43%

50%

Recruiting/sourcing highly-skilled talent for my firm

Recruiting passive talent

Improving sourcingtechniques

Being a strategic partner tomy clients

Growing our base of newclients

UK Global


50%

19%

56%

25%

Growing our base ofnew clients

Recruiting passivetalent

Large agencies Small agencies

Obstacles: Biggest obstacle in 2015 is availability

of quality talent

Availability of quality talent is #1 obstacle

The biggest challenge for UK firms in 2015 is shallow talent

pools making it difficult to attract top talent, followed by

competition and offers made by firm’s clients.

Competition is an obstacle for significantly

more large firms than for boutique firms

globally

“What are your firm's biggest obstacles to attracting the best talent?”


“What are your firm's biggest obstacles to recruiting talent?”

41%

45%

60%

30%

46%

71%

Offer made by my client(includes compensation,

role, location, etc)

Competition

Availability of quality talent

UK Global

42%

49%

Competition



Part 2: Sourcing

8

Top source for quality hires: Professional networks

Social professional networks rise to become

the top source for quality placements Social professional networks are the most important and fastest

growing source of quality placements, doubling over the past 4

years. Other sources remain relatively flat, with employee

referral programs increasing slightly.

“Think about the key quality hires that your organisation placed in the

past 12 months. Which of the following were the most important

sources for those key positions?”

Globally, small firms are outpacing large firms in

usage of social professional networks However, large firms are much more apt to use internet CV

databases to place high quality talent with their clients. Small firms

are likely seeking more cost-effective sourcing channels.

38%

32%

46%

14%

Social professionalnetworks



“Think about the key quality hires that your organisation placed in the past

12 months. Which of the following were the most important sources for

those key positions?”

Part 2: Sourcing

10%

30%

50%

70%

2011 2012 2013 2014

Social professional networksInternet job boardsYour ATS/internal candidate databaseInternet CV databasesEmployee referral programs


Top source for quantity: Professional networks

Social professional networks are a major source for quantity of hires

ATSs/internal candidate databases and internet CV databases are on the decline, potentially because these databases are static

whereas social professional networks are not.

“Think about the key quality hires that your organisation placed in the past 12 months. Which of the following were the most important sources for those key

positions?” Showing % with over 15% of hires.

Part 2: Sourcing

25%

50%

75%

2011 2012 2013 2014

Social professional networks Internet job boards

Your ATS/ internal candidate database Internet CV databases


Sourcing: There are a handful of sources

that provide both quality and quantity

“How significant were each of the following as a source of white collar professional

candidates placed by your organisation in the past 12 months?” (>15% quantity of hires)

4 top sources of hire for quality and quantity globally

“Think about the key quality hires that your organisation placed in the past 12 months.

Which of the following were the most important sources for those key positions?”

54%

of global staffing leaders believe

they’re not doing a good job

tracking return on investment on

sources of hire. This is a key area

for improvement.

As the gap between hiring

volume and budgets widens, it’s

time to invest in and optimise the

sources that return both the best

quality and quantity of

candidates.

Part 2: Sourcing

Company career

website Company

CRM system

Employee referral

programs

General career fairs

General social media

Job boards


Other Print

Social professional

networks

ATS/ internal candidate database

Best quality & quantity


Passive candidate recruiting: UK above average

UK firms are #1 when it comes to recruiting

passive candidates Why passive candidate recruiting works

Globally, 75% of professionals consider themselves “Passive.”

Because availability of quality talent is the #1 obstacle to hiring, it’s

important to consider this passive talent pool.

75% Passive

25% Active

Global Candidate Breakdown

Active candidate definition:

Actively looking

Casually looking a few times a week

Passive candidate definition:

Reaching out to personal network

Open to talking to a recruiter

Completely satisfied; Don’t want to move

“How would you describe your job search status?”

Source: LinkedIn’s Talent Trends 2014 study

“To what extent does your recruiting organisation focus on reaching

out to passive talent?” To some extent or very much so.

Part 2: Sourcing

United Kingdom 95%

China 94%

United States 91%

Canada 89%

Southeast Asia 88%

Australia 87%

India 87%

Brazil 84%

France 84%

Nordics 82%

Netherlands 72%

87% Global

average


Number of placements is most valuable metric for UK staffing firms

Client satisfaction and quality of placement are also important

metrics staffing firms use to evaluate performance.

“What is the single most valuable metric that you use to track your

team’s recruiting performance today?”

Next steps for your strategic planning

1. Arm yourself with data to stay competitive. Use

LinkedIn’s free Talent Pool reports on SlideShare to

size your target market and understand talent supply

and demand. You can also check in with your

LinkedIn representative for more reports that best fit

your firm’s unique challenges.

2. Consider different search tactics for passive vs

active candidates (i.e. Boolean search strings,

indirect search, conceptual search).

3. Craft tailored messages to target candidates so you

can attract them after you find them. Understand

what would motivate them to switch jobs.

4. Define what ROI means for your firm and measure it

across your sources of placements.

Part 2: Sourcing

18%

28%

29%

17%

23%

40%

Quality ofplacement

Clientsatisfaction

Number ofplacements

UK Global


Extract value from top ROI sources in 2015

Part 3: Brand

14

Brand: It’s a priority and focus area for investment

Brand prioritised globally with action to follow

Most UK staffing leaders agree that brand is a priority. Brand

resourcing and measurement are still catching up. Companies

can get ahead of the competition by creating a proactive brand

strategy and tracking its success.

“Please indicate the extent to which you agree or disagree with the

following statements as they relate to your firm’s brand.”

Part 3: Brand

70%

58%

48%

37%

Our brand has asignificant impact on our

ability to grow ourbusiness

My company has a brandstrategy

Those responsible for ourbrand have enough

resources to do it well

We regularly measure thehealth of our brand in a

quantifiable way

% Agree

Top 5 reasons firms invest in their brand

The main reasons UK firms invest in their brand is to raise general

awareness and due to an increase in client demand.

“For what reasons are you spending more on your firm’s brand this year?”

Directed to leaders who report spending more on brand this year.


40%

36%

46%

46%

51%

28%

28%

43%

53%

55%

Increased competition

Movement into newgeographies or sectors

Increased belief in the impactof our firm's brand

Increase in client demand

Need to raise generalawareness

UK Global

Brand: Top 4 channels for promoting it

Globally, small agencies rely on word of mouth

Small agencies around the world tend to take the friends and

family approach to building and promoting their brand. Large

agencies are 2X more likely to rely on public recognition

awards.

Professional networks & word of mouth

grow as top channels for promoting brand

Firm websites and traditional job boards are steadily declining

as effective sources for promoting firm brands.

“Which channels or tools have you found most effective in promoting

your business?”

Part 3: Brand

50%

57%

66%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

2012 2013 2014

Online professional networks (e.g. LinkedIn)

Our firm's website

Traditional Job Boards

Friends/family, word of mouth

“Which channels or tools have you found most effective in promoting

your business?”

30%

16%

43%

8%

Friends/family, word ofmouth

Publicrecognition/awards



Brand: UK firms are above average in prioritising

and acting on their brand

UK firms can remain competitive by

investing in and managing their brand

Southeast Asian and Indian firms lead the way in agency

branding. UK firms have further opportunity to amplify

their brand by:

Articulating your competitive advantage so clients

and candidates know why you’re the best firm for

their industry, function, career, etc.

Using cost-effective social channels to make your

brand known. Start with free LinkedIn tools like

individual recruiter profiles, your company page, and

attracting followers.

Benchmarking your brand budget against other

investments – is your brand funded in line with other

priorities?

Measuring your brand using metrics like Net

Promoter Score (NPS) of your clients and

placements, company followers, number of recruiters

with updates LinkedIn profiles, etc.

Part 3: Brand

Brand is a top priority for our organisation

My c

om

pan

y h

as a

bra

nd

str

ate

gy

US UK

Australia India

Nordics

Brazil

Southeast Asia

China

Netherlands

France

Canada


Part 4: The future of recruitment

18

The future: Professional networks and improved

candidate & job matching are on the cards Passive candidate recruiting and social

professional networks are here to stay

Global and UK staffing leaders believe that passive candidate

recruiting and social professional networks are long-lasting trends

in the industry.

Trend spotting: Candidate and job matching

Candidate and job matching could reshape the staffing and

recruiting industry.

“What do you consider to be the three most essential and

long-lasting trends in recruiting for professional roles?”

“Which of the following new and upcoming trends do you think will play

a significant role in shaping the recruiting industry for the next 5 to 10

years?”

Part 4: The future of recruitment

69%

60%

38%

29%

59%

65%

38%

32%

Finding better ways tosource passive

candidates

Utilising social andprofessional networks

Using an internaldatabase to manage

talent leads

Boosting referralprograms

UK Global

51%

42%

33%

33%

31%

51%

35%

31%

30%

31%

Improved candidate andjob matching

Expanding into emergingmarkets

Focusing on referrals as aprimary source of talent

Remote workforce options

Using "big data" forpredicting future talent

needs

UK Global


Survey sampling and methodology

Data Comparisons

Global comparisons are reported as un-weighted averages from the noted countries

Historical data comparisons are taken from 2011, 2012 and 2013 Global Recruiting Trends research, which had similar sampling criteria and methodology to 2014

– 2014 survey fielded August-September 2014 with 201 UK respondents

– 2013 survey fielded April-May 2013 with 188 UK respondents – 2012 survey fielded May-July 2012 with 212 UK respondents – 2011 survey fielded April-June 2011 with 194 UK respondents

Survey Sample

Survey respondents are talent acquisition professionals who:

– Work for a staffing firm – Represent an even mix of small, medium and

large firms – Have at least some authority in determining their

company’s recruitment solutions budget – Focus exclusively on recruiting professionals hires

for clients Survey respondents are members of LinkedIn who have

opted to participate in research studies. They were selected based on information in their LinkedIn profile and contacted via email.

Brazil: 185

USA: 202

Canada: 201

UK: 201 China: 100

Southeast Asia: 201 India: 202

Australia: 200

Nordics: 100

France: 200

Netherlands: 201


About LinkedIn

Talent Solutions

LinkedIn Talent Solutions offers

a full range of recruiting

solutions to help organisations

of all sizes find, engage, and

attract the best talent.

Founded in 2003, LinkedIn

connects the world’s

professionals to make them

more productive and successful.

With over 300 million members

worldwide, including executives

from every Fortune 500

company, LinkedIn is the world’s

largest professional network.

Subscribe to our Blog: talent.linkedin.com/blog/

Follow us on Slideshare: slideshare.net/linkedin-talent-solutions

Follow us on Twitter: @hireonlinkedin

Follow us on You Tube: youtube.com/user/LITalentSolutions

Discover additional insights: talent.linkedin.com

Follow us on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/1337


http://talent.linkedin.com/blog/

http://www.slideshare.net/linkedin-talent-solutions






https://twitter.com/HireOnLinkedIn

https://twitter.com/HireOnLinkedIn

http://www.youtube.com/user/LITalentSolutions

http://www.youtube.com/user/LITalentSolutions

talent.linkedin.com

http://www.linkedin.com/company/1337

About the authors

Sam Gager Research Consultant,

LinkedIn Talent

Solutions

Sam is an experienced

researcher on

LinkedIn’s Insights

team. He and his

colleagues uncover

data-driven insights

from LinkedIn’s

proprietary data.

Rachel Bowley Research Associate,

LinkedIn Talent

Solutions

Rachel is a statistically

savvy number cruncher

and researcher. She

powers the insights

LinkedIn generates from

its data.

Esther Cruz Insights and Content

Marketing Manager,

LinkedIn Talent

Solutions

Esther is passionate

about connecting

people and

opportunities. She

enjoys creating

content and disruptive

thought leadership for

the talent industry.

Angela Dickinson Associate Marketing

Manager,

LinkedIn Talent

Solutions

Angela is a zealous

marketer, who thrives

on empowering

recruitment firm’s to use

LinkedIn to be

successful. She does

this through educating

and engaging the

industry with relevant

content.


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