Demand for recruiters and HR professionals falls slightly, but scarcity remains
Zoetermeer/Rotterdam - February 1, 2024. Whereas recruiters opted for self-employment in large numbers in 2022, this growth came to a halt in 2023. Among HR professionals, however, the self-employed group still grew strongly, by 34%, from 8.5% in 2022 to 11.4% of the profession's total in 2023.
Despite demand for both recruitment and HR professionals declining during 2023, scarcity remained high, Compagnon's Labor Market HR and Recruitment in Figures 2023 report shows. On average, professionals from both target groups who are actively looking for a new employer can choose from 4 open positions. That typifies both target groups as very scarce and difficult to recruit.
ICT skills still not much in demand within HR and Recruitment
In vacancies for both HR and Recruitment professionals, there are hardly any ICT requirements in the job profile. This is remarkable, because both job areas are leading the way in the digitization and automation that employers need to go through. From both job areas, which themselves are increasingly dealing with A.I., tools, automation and digitization, one would have expected that ICT skills would appear more and more often in the job profiles. However, this is happening sparsely. The fastest-growing ICT skill is "information and communications technology" among recruitment professionals, appearing in less than 1 in 50 job postings. Among HR professionals, it is only in 1.4% of vacancies. There, the fastest-growing ICT skill is Gws4All,an ICT skill that stands for "Data Science for All" and appears in 0.6% of job openings, a 59% growth from 2022. The most in-demand ICT skill among HR professionals is knowledge of workforce information systems. This appears in 7.2% of job openings. "For two professional groups that are essential in the transition that organizations must go through, the vacancies and skill profiles are remarkably classic," said Bob Roders, Marketing Manager at Compagnon. "The ICT and skill transition is an area where HR and Recruitment have an important role to play, only we hardly see this reflected in their own job postings yet."
A good salary is the most important reason to choose an employer
The days when work atmosphere was the most important pull factor for HR professionals are long gone. Today, work atmosphere ranks No. 2, after salary (No. 1) and job content (No. 2). Among both HR and Recruitment professionals, a good salary is the most important reason for choosing a new job or employer. And thus, it is also the most important reason for leaving the current employer. Even when negotiating a new contract with a new employer, salary is the most important negotiation item. For just over 7 out of 10 HR and Recruitment professionals, this is an issue in the negotiation. "Driven by inflation, labor market tightness and knowledge about the labor market, HR and recruitment professionals know very well what they are worth in the labor market. Between 2022 and 2023, they started to cash in on this by changing employers or choosing self-employment, for example. A good salary is unthinkable for these professionals anno 2024," said Geert-Jan Waasdorp, director of the Intelligence Group, which conducted the research.
More information:
Bob Roders (Marketing Manager Compagnon)
Iris Lampe (Marketing Manager Intelligence Group)
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