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News & Views

Recruitment grows as firms ramp up hiring​
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Now is the best time for people to look for new jobs, according to research findings  by specialist recruitment firm, Robert Half that reveals more than a third of employers are planning to expand their permanent headcount in the next six months as GDP jumps, with 77% of companies planning to expand or maintain business-critical roles across permanent, contract and project-based jobs, with a further quarter of companies expecting to grow their contract teams.

Robert Half’s latest data on the hiring intentions of UK’s businesses finds that the top functional areas with the highest levels of planned recruitment are; customer service, AI / automation / machine learning, administration and compliance / regulatory / governance.

According to Robert Half, this latest data will be a boost to the fortunes for UK employees and job seekers, however this will only further underpin job confidence that has been rising across the country.  Other research from the brand, the Robert Half Jobs Confidence Index (JCI) produced in conjunction with the Centre for economics and business research (Cebr) – shows that the job confidence in the UK has seen a steady increase throughout 2024

Built on four core pillars of confidence, the JCI increased to 51.6 in the latest iteration of the report, marking the 15th consecutive quarter that it remained in positive territory.  This boost was largely driven by improvements in pay and job security confidence, with the latter standing at 152.1, the second highest reading recorded for this pillar since records began in 2009.  As a result of rising job confidence, Robert Half predicts that ambitious workers may be ready to move for the right packages and opportunities.

“The fact that we are seeing firms planning to increase their headcount in the next six months is promising.  In Finance and Accounting, for example, our latest research shows that 95% of companies plan to make permanent hires and 83% on a project-management basis in the next six months.  While this is clearly good news for jobseekers, employers could still be in for a turbulent time due to ongoing challenges attracting and retaining talent amidst widespread skills shortages and rising worker confidence,” comments As Chris Lawton, Vice President of Permanent Placements UK & Ireland, Robert Half.

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