Why is HR bucking the hiring trend?

According to the latest labour market data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), total UK vacancies fell by 46,000 between June and August 2022 and the unemployment rate dropped to 3.5 per cent – the lowest rate since 1974. Yet, in the face of the overall labour market suffering a cooling-off period, the HR sector is seemingly bucking the trend with unexpected levels of vacancies and recruitment. Kerry White, Associate Director at Macmillan Davies gives an insight as to why.

At Macmillan Davies, we are continuing to see new HR vacancies come through our doors every day. There has been no letup and we are continuing to partner with our clients from FuturExec roles, right through to senior leadership level and interestingly, we are also seeing an increase in businesses asking us to recruit for multiple roles within the HR teams.

Many organisations are bringing in short-term, specialist talent on an interim basis. This may increasingly be seen as the best solution to many organisations’ workforce dilemmas, particularly as we head into a period of economic uncertainty. Yet, there is still a candidate shortage in HR. The ‘Great Resignation’ is long gone, and some businesses are struggling to find the right fit or experience to fill their open roles.

The competition for talent is strong with no signal of any downturn; we are partnering with our clients to provide in-depth and real-time market analysis to manage their expectations in terms of the requirements of their desired candidate, whether interim or permanent – see my earlier blog on Today’s talent market: Finding that purple unicorn (and sometimes the one with rainbow-coloured wings).

People leadership is paramount

Many of our latest senior roles have a mandate of people change agendas and transformation. We have also seen an increase in the number of junior to mid HR roles being recruited for to allow the ship to be steadied and senior HR professionals the time to focus on the wider strategy.

As we saw from the last recession and post-pandemic, many more businesses have seen the value of HR, with the function now having its feet firmly under the top table. Business leaders are seeing that HR is paramount in supporting organisations in any change management, transformation and organisational restructure and we don’t see this changing.

Get in touch

Should you wish to have a confidential chat with Kerry White to discuss the current HR market or your search for work/recruiting into your team, please contact her directly at kwhite@mdhr.co.uk

To ensure you don’t miss any updates from Macmillan Davies and to hear about our latest events click here to sign up to subscribe to our updates.