Recruitment stats

Discover recruitment stats, growth predictions and trends for 2023 on this page. From recruitment industry surveys to data insights, you'll find it all here!

Recruitment Industry Stats and Insights

At the end of each year, we conduct a survey to collate the thoughts and views of recruitment agency leaders across the UK and Ireland, establishing their plans and forecasts for what's to come in the year ahead.

From this data, we're able to paint a picture of what the future of the recruitment industry will look like in the year ahead.

Download 2023 Report
Recruitment Industry Report 2023
Recruitment Industry Insights

Monthly Job Flow Index Insights

Get unrivalled insight into how recruitment agencies performed last month with the Firefish Job Flow Index.

Providing an overview of trends including placements made, temp vs perm activities, candidate attraction sources and more.

Download Monthly Report

Recruitment Marketing Stats

 

  • 85% of candidates trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation (Hubspot, 2020)
  • ‘Near me’ searches have increased 150% in the past two years (Hubspot, 2020)
  • 81% of job seekers want more job opportunities listed on Facebook (LinkHumans, 2020)
  • 73% of 18-34 year olds found their last job through social media (Sprout Social, 2019)
  • Candidate application rates increase 34% when the job post includes a video (SmalBizGenius, 2020)
  • 82% of candidates now search for jobs on mobile and 87% of mobile traffic will be  video by 2021 (Cisco, 2019)
  • Recruitment agencies are report 800% more engagement with job ads that have video embedded (VideoMyJob, 2019)
  • 79% of job seekers have used social media in their job search in the last year (Job description library, 2021)
  • 86% of HR professionals say recruitment is becoming more like marketing (Glassdoor, 2020)

Hiring Stats

  • 73% of job seekers say the process of looking for a job is one of the most stressful events in life (Small Biz, 2021)
  • 73% of applicants only apply to a company that has similar values to them (Glassdoor, 2021)
  • A quarter of job seekers would actually turndown a job offer if it did not allow a work from home option in the current environment (Career Builder 2021)
  • 83% of candidates say it would greatly improve the overall experience of job hunting if employers provided a clear timeline of the hiring process (Small Biz, 2021)
  • 89% of HR and hiring professionals say a multi-generational workforce makes a company more successful (LinkedIn, 2020)
  • 89% of job seekers agree that an employer’s career website is important for finding key information (Small Biz, 2021)
  • Hiring managers and recruiters spend between 6-8 seconds looking at a CV (Stand out CV, 2021)

Job Market Stats


  • 45% of employers say they can’t find the workers with the skills they need in 2021.(Small biz genius, 2021)
  • Almost half of businesses (46%) have struggled to recruit for roles that require data skills (Gov.uk, 2021)
  • 87% of respondents in a Glassdoor study say their company either experienced skill gaps in 2020, or expect them within a few years (Glassdoor, 2020)
  • 17% of employers believe that their company will be able to anticipate what skills their organizations will need in 3 years (Glassdoor, 2020)
  • In June 2021 there were 9x more recruiter jobs posted compared to June 2020 (HR News, 2021)

Recruitment Sales Stats

  • 89% of recruitment prospects will already know if they want to work with your agency before they even take a call from a recruiter (Think With Google, 2019)
  • 19% of prospects want to connect with a recruiter when they’re still researching their brand. (Hubspot,2019)
  • It takes an average 18 calls to connect with a decision maker. (Topo, 2019)
  • Only 24% of your recruitment BD emails will be opened by your prospect (Topo, 2020)
  • A recruiter’s conversation skills (40%),and appearance or personal style (37%) often prove to be the decisive factors that impact candidates’ view of the company (Jobvite,2019)
  • Decision makers are most likely to answer emails they receive at 6am (mashable, 2020)


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