As we approach the In/Out referendum, I have taken some time to look at our HR vacancy job flow and question whether there has been a significant impact on job flow in the run up to the vote.
From April to May 2016, total vacancies registered with Oakleaf remained constant, though there were significant increases in vacancies from both commerce (23% increase) and financial services (10% increase). Meanwhile roles registered from professional services firms decreased some 31% and not-for-profit decreased 29%. The number of new vacancies overall for May is slightly down on the 5 month average and down 7 % on the last 6 months average for 2015 – perhaps reflecting caution in hiring managers ahead of the referendum.
As probably expected the largest number of roles (38%) in May were for generalists/ HRBP’s. Recruitment reflected 17% of the roles and we have had an absolutely constant flow of recruitment roles into the business since January 2014! Meanwhile, Learning and Development, still a skill set in demand had seen a drop in the number of new vacancies since January and represented just 7% of roles in May.
Roles by salary level were evenly split between the ‘up to £49,999’ category and ‘from £50,000 to £99,999’. Whilst there are naturally less roles over £100k, we registered a 100% increase in day rate and fixed term contract roles from April to May, perhaps reflecting hiring managers feeling of slight nervousness with the impending referendum and steering away from permanent senior hires. Job flow in June, again still looks constant with the preceding two months, so we wait to see whether there is a bounce in July, post vote.