Demand for recruiters is rising exponentially across the UK and Europe, according to new data from LinkedIn, which had 6.8 times more recruiter roles on its platform in June 2021 than the same time last year.

The research from LinkedIn highlights several talent acquisition trends in the recruitment sector that are making it more difficult for staffing and talent solutions firms to find the quality and quantity of consultants they need. It found, for example, that fewer are hiring from outside the industry than in previous years so ‘they’re increasingly competing for the same narrow set of candidates’.

It found that the number hired from previous recruiting roles has almost doubled from 33% in 2020 to 59% in 2021, attributing this in part to redundancies last year and a preference in hiring those who need less training. “The current hiring pace makes it more challenging to hire outside of recruiting because it takes time to bring newbies up-to-speed with recruiting-specific hard skills,” said Erin Scruggs, LinkedIn’s senior director of talent acquisition.

Of those that are sourced from outside recruitment, the top roles were HR (35%) and sales (12%), including account managers, project managers, and customer service representatives.

Looking at incentives and key motivators for recruitment talent, the research found that work-life balance, compensation, and company culture were still most important, but job security increased to 21% as a priority followed by purposeful mission (up 19%), having influence over tasks and priorities (up 11%) and challenging work (up 9%).

“It’s positive to see that demand for recruiter roles is growing, a trend that we’re seeing around the world, and that demand has now surpassed pre-pandemic levels in the UK,” said Adam Hawkins, Head of Search and Staffing EMEA at LinkedIn. “After a particularly tough year, it’s perhaps unsurprising that job security is high on the priority list when recruiters consider new roles.”

With specialist consultants in such high demand, many of those made redundant or furloughed in 2020 have been tempted to start their own business. So are we likely to see a surge in staffing firms like the 46% spike in 2018 after nearly 8,500 new recruitment start-ups were registered at Companies House?

“A raft of talent tech solutions can help start-ups punch above their weight and it’s interesting to note from LinkedIn’s research that more want greater influence over their work, and perhaps more autonomy after a year and a half of working remotely,” said Alex Evans, Programme Director of TALiNT Partners and head of the PointSix network. “However, job security has increased as a priority for recruitment talent and work / life balance is hard to achieve as a startup founder. The best staffing and talent solutions firms to work for recognised by our TIARA programme this year have all invested in training, technology, brand and management to attract and retain recruiters – and prevent key people from becoming competitors.”

Photo courtesy of Canva.com