Annual Membership Survey 2019/20...Onboarding Recruitment Analytics Create your perfect recruitment...

Annual Membership Survey 2019/20Key trends within the in-house recruitment industry

2 The Annual Membership Survey 2019/20

About The Forum for In-House Recruitment Managers (The FIRM)We are a thriving community of Talent Acquisition professionals that provides both tactical and strategic insight and support to our members.

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Annual Membership Survey

2017/2018

The Forum for In-House Recruitment Managers (The FIRM)

Key trends within the in-house recruitment industry

RESEARCH

3The Annual Membership Survey 2019/20

Contents

Executive Summary 4

Structure, Strategy & Operations 6

Future Talent 14

Attraction & Sourcing 14

Social Media 16

Job Boards & CV Databases 18

Reporting & Analytics 18

Technology 22

Assessment & Selection 26

EVP & Employer Brand 28

Careers Site 30

Recruitment process outsourcing 32

Market sector 32

Challenges 33


Executive Summary

Welcome to The FIRM’s eighth annual membership survey!

The FIRM’s Annual Membership Report 2019/20 is based on an online survey conducted with 423 in-house recruiters. The industries represented vary but a comparatively high percentage came from the Engineering/Manufacturing sector (9%), Retail (8%), Transport and Logistics and IT (7%) and Banking/Financial Services (6%). This is reasonably reflective of last year, although in 2018 10% of respondents were from the Charity/Voluntary sector compared to just 5% this year.

The report aims to dissect and present recruitment trends and behaviours, serving as groundwork for recruiters to benchmark themselves against industry standards and design their upcoming strategies for the year ahead. It is concluded with challenges faced by the industry for an overview of constructive actions that can improve the in-house recruitment landscape.

Candidate Experience is a new criteria to the survey and came out as the top recruitment priority with 49% of respondents selecting it. This reflects the ever-increasing ‘war for talent’ and the difficulty in attracting and engaging that top talent.

EVP and Employer Brand comes second to that and essentially the two are linked. Keeping up with what employees perceive a top employer looks like, adapting the brand and values accordingly and standing by those values is key to both attracting and retaining talent.

Diversity and Inclusion has also grown as a recruitment priority, being acknowledged by 25% vs 23% last year.

Optimism around expected recruitment levels in 2019/20 is quite low, with 45% not expecting any change and 12% expecting a decrease.

Internal Mobility was acknowledged as a recruiting priority by 6% of respondents (an increase from 4% last year) and in line with this 23% of recruiters now have a greater proportion of internal vs external hires compared to just 20% last year.

Teams within the recruitment function are getting smaller. Last year 47% of respondents worked in teams of less than 5 people, compared to 58% this year. This might also explain why resource, time to hire and quality

of hire are identified within the challenges later on.

Recruitment budgets are also under pressure – in 2018 76% of all recruitment budgets fell under £1m compared to 83% this year. And very few organisations have a separate budget for recruitment marketing – only 27% and down from 29% last year.

The shift away from agencies continues with 87% of respondents using agencies to fill less than 25% of their vacancies last year.

Apprenticeship programmes continue to be the most popular means of attracting future talent, followed by graduate programmes. Internships are also used by 37% of respondents and are an effective means of assessing and identifying future talent.

In terms of methods of recruitment, most online options have fallen in their use this year, including aggregators and the majority of social media channels. Instagram has seen some small growth but LinkedIn is still the most widely used, and still perceived as the most effective media tool, with increasing numbers using it for messaging and connecting with potential candidates.

Key measurements of success are Time to Hire and Quality and Cost of Hire. In line with how Candidate Experience is seen as a recruiting priority, it’s importance as a metric has also increased with 44% claiming to measure it.

Opportunities moving forwards are the use of an ATS for onboarding with 40% actively investigating this or interested in it. And also Market Mapping with 38% of respondents expressing an interest in using it to inform their recruitment decisions moving forwards.

Despite the competitive environment recruiters are working in, and the changing needs and motivations of the workforce, high percentages have neither launched (32%) or refreshed (41%) their brands in the last 4 years.

The final area addressed by this survey is challenges, and as is often the case, some of the challenges also represent the most significant opportunities. Developing talent pools, D&I strategies and a culture of Internal Mobility, if effectively addressed within organisations, will undoubtedly contribute to stemming the broader issues raised of significant skills gaps, and attracting and retaining talent.

Job RequisitionsTalent Pooling

Candidate Attraction

Candidate Engagement

Process OptimisationCandidate Assessment

Onboarding

Recruitment Analytics

Create your

perfect

recruitment journey

Travelodge did just that, and achieved a 145% increase in completed applications, careers site engagement increased from 3,400 visitors per week to over 73,500 while encompassing the whole journey to identify, assess, recruit and onboard diverse talent – all with Travelodge values and behaviours at the core.

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Job RequisitionsTalent Pooling

Candidate Attraction

Candidate Engagement

Process OptimisationCandidate Assessment

Onboarding

Recruitment Analytics

Create your

perfect

recruitment journey

Travelodge did just that, and achieved a 145% increase in completed applications, careers site engagement increased from 3,400 visitors per week to over 73,500 while encompassing the whole journey to identify, assess, recruit and onboard diverse talent – all with Travelodge values and behaviours at the core.

With Eploy’s unifi ed Applicant Tracking System and Recruitment CRM you can build the perfect recruitment journey and remove any roadblocks to your hiring success.


Structure, Strategy & Operations

1. What are your top 3 recruitment priorities for 2019/20?

Candidate experience wasn’t included in the survey in 2018/19, but it has been added to the survey this year and has come out as the top recruitment priority with 49% of respondents selecting it. This is potentially reflective of how hard it is to attract to top talent in a competitive market, and therefore how important it is to engage candidates when you do find the right people.

EVP and Employer Brand and Direct Sourcing remain important, coming second and third (last year they were first and second).

Building Talent Pools for Future Hires has dropped from third in 2018/19 to seventh, with Recruitment and Succession Planning, Diversity & Inclusion and Strategic Workforce Planning now superseding it. 23% of respondents selected Diversity Strategy last year, and Diversity & Inclusion has been selected by 25% this year showing the increasing awareness and importance of this topic, and highlighting that in the ‘war for talent’ which is apparent across many industries, having a strong D&I strategy helps to attract top talent.

Automation of Recruitment Processes has dropped from 19% to 13%. The Use of Artificial Intelligence Based Tools has stayed level at 4%, and Mobile Technology has dropped from 6% to 5%. So, whilst technology is important within the recruitment process it’s not currently viewed as a major priority.

Social Media/Social Advocacy has dropped most significantly, from 17% to 8%. This is also reflected later in the survey when we look at which social media platforms respondents use to attract, recruit and engage candidates and the percentages have all fallen on the year apart from Instagram and Google +, although these are from a comparatively low base.

Cand

idat

e Ex

perie

nce

EVP

& Em

ploy

er B

rand

Dire

ct S

ourc

ing

Recr

uitm

ent a

nd S

ucce

ssio

n Pl

anni

ng

Div

ersi

ty &

Incl

usio

n

Stra

tegi

c W

orkf

orce

Pla

nnin

g

Build

ing

Tale

nt P

ools

for f

utur

e hi

res

Ass

essm

ent &

Sel

ectio

n

Aut

omat

ion

of R

ecru

itmen

t Pr

oces

s

Build

ing

Recr

uitm

ent C

apab

ility

Alig

ning

tale

nt a

cqui

sitio

n ac

tiviti

es to

tale

nt d

evel

opm

ent

Soci

al M

edia

/Soc

ial A

dvoc

acy

Inte

rnal

Mob

ility

Mob

ile a

nd T

echn

olog

y

Use

of A

rtifi

cial

Inte

llige

nce

base

d to

ols

Prep

arat

ion

for B

rexi

t

GD

PR C

ompl

ianc

e

In-h

ouse

Exe

cutiv

e Se

arch

Cont

inge

nt L

abou

r

Oth

er

Vend

or M

anag

emen

t and

Re

view

49%

33%31%

28%

25%24%

23%

14%13%

12%11%

8%6%

5%4% 4% 4%

3% 3%2% 1%


2. How many countries are you personally responsible for recruiting for or managing the recruitment process for?

The number of respondents who are only responsible for recruiting for or managing the recruitment process for the UK has grown from 47% last year to 57% this year. Only 7% of recruiters are taking on recruitment responsibilities for more than 15 countries, which is down from 11% last year. Those responsible for managing up to 5 countries has dropped 1 percentage point on the year, and those responsible for managing 6 to 10 countries has gone from 10% to 6%.

3. Is the level of recruitment in your organisation expected to increase or decrease compared to last year?

45% of recruiters in 2019/20 don’t anticipate any changes in recruitment levels compared to 40% last year. Optimism is down on last year with only 24% expecting increases of 11% or more compared to 34% last year, and by comparison 12% expect a decrease compared to just 8% last year.

4. What is your ratio of internal to external hires?

There is an increase in focus on internal vs external hires. Whilst it was from a very low base, this also reflects the increased prioritisation of Internal Mobility for recruiters. In the 2018/19 survey just 4% of recruiters had a ratio of 90% internal to 10% external hires, and overall 20% had a greater proportion of internal to external hires, compared to 6% and 23% respectively this year.

When asked later about challenges, a common theme is the skills shortage. The shift to focusing on recruiting internally may reflect a positive shift to developing talent within organisations, and it will be interesting to see if this continues to grow into next year.

Recruiters in the following industries are more likely to have a higher proportion of internal vs external hires – Transport and Logistics, Banking and Financial Services, Engineering and Research/Science.

90% internal, 10% external




50% internal. 50% external





6%

7%

10%

4%

6%

15%

19%

18%

19%

Increase by 25% or more

Increase by 11% to 24%

Increase by up to 10%

It will remain about the same

Decrease by up to 10%

Decrease by 11% to 24%

Decrease by 25% or more

11%

13%

21%

45%

7%

4%

1%

1 Up to 5 6 to 10 11 to 15 More than 15

57%

29%

6%3%

7%


5. How many members of staff do you have working in your recruitment function?

Last year 47% of respondents worked in small teams of less than five people, compared to 58% this year. The biggest year on year declines have been seen in teams with 6 to 20 people, which has gone from 38% when last surveyed to 30% this year. Teams of 101 or more has also gone from 4% to 2% but teams between 21 and 100 have remained static.

Teams with 21 or more people are more likely to be in organisations operating within Transport and Logistics, Health/Care and IT.

6. Do you have separate resources/functions to cover specific TA areas?

The number of recruitment teams with a dedicated function looking after Employer Branding still continues to grow from 34% in 2018 to 38% this year.

In 2018/19 the only other separate resources asked about were Sourcing and Social Recruiting. This year we also asked about Contingent/Temp Recruitment, Projects, Exec Recruitment, Emerging Talent, Candidate Experience and Talent Intelligence.

Despite coming top in terms of being a recruitment priority very few organisations have a separate resource or function to cover Candidate Experience and even fewer Talent Intelligence.

Sourcing has risen from 20% to 22% but more organisations are likely to have separate resources/functions to cover Contingent and Temporary Recruitment, Projects, Exec Recruitment and Emerging Talent.

Broadly speaking, companies who are more likely to have separate resources/functions are more likely to be in sectors such as Banking, Engineering, Health/Care, Retail, IT and Transport. Those who have a separate resource for Candidate Experience are more likely to be in Engineering or Retail and a separate Talent Intelligence function is more likely to exist in Banking.

Of those recruiters who left comments, one had a

separate Early Career recruitment team, one had a dedicated marketing resource supporting the employer brand and recruitment activity and one highlighted that in their organisation responsibility for candidate experience and exec recruitment sit with the line manager or unit in a decentralised structure.

1

2-5

6-10

11-20

21-50

51-100

101 or more

10%

48%

17%

13%

9%

3%

2%

Employer Branding

Contingent/Temp Recruitment

Projects

Exec Recruitment

Emerging Talent

Sourcing

Candidate Experience

Talent Intelligence

38%59%4%

31%67%2%

29%69%3%

27%70%3%

24%72%4%

22%75%3%

14%

12%

83%

84%

3%

4%

% Yes % No % Considering it


7. How many vacancies did you fill in 2018?

The number of respondents filling up to 500 vacancies increased from 51% last year to 61% this year. So, by contrast, the number of organisations who filled over 500 positions has dropped from 49% to 39%.

8. How many vacancies does your organisation expect to fill in 2019/20?

Plans for 2019/20 reflect very similar numbers to 2018. The majority of organisations expect to fill less than 500 positions in 2019/20, up from 49% last year to 60% this year, and just 40% expect to fill over 500 positions compared to 51% last year.

Whilst there’s a definite feeling that there’s a skills shortage and everyone is competing for the same talent, there also seems to be a general decline in the number of positions organisations are looking to fill.

9. What is the average requisition workload handled by an individual recruiter at any one time?

The number of recruiters managing between 21 and 50 requisitions has remained reasonably static over the last three years, with 37% of respondents in 2017 and 2018, moving to 38% this time. Those handling up to 10 has grown to 27% in the last year, from 17% in 2018, and those handling 51+ has gone from 8% to 2%.

Up to 50 10%

51 to 100 16%

101 to 500 35%

501 to 1000 17%

1001 to 5000 19%

5001 or

more 3%

Up to 50 10%

51 to 100 15%

501 to 1000 17%

1001 to 5000 21%

5001 or

more 2%

101 to 500 35%

0-5 6-10 11-20 21-30 31-50 51-100 101+

8%

19%

29%

22%

16%

4%2%


10. What would you consider to be the optimum average requisition workload handled by a recruiter at any one time for your organisation?

27% of respondents consider 21-50 requisitions to be the optimum range, however 38% have been working to that range. 35% consider 11-20 to be the optimum average requisitions workload but only 29% worked within that range last year. Although 6% of recruiters handled an average over 50, just 3% believe that number to be the optimum.

So, at the higher end of the requisition scale, a greater number of recruiters are managing a higher workload than they believe to be the optimum. We have already seen that teams are generally small, suggesting that there’s too much work for fewer people. This is also reflected in the comments later when respondents acknowledge one of their challenges to be limited capacity in those teams managing recruitment.

11. What is your recruitment budget for 2019/20?

In 2018, 76% of all recruitment budgets fell under £1m which was also reflected in 2017 at 75% and in 2016 at 72%. However, for 2019/20 this figure has increased to 83%, and just 17% of organisations expect to have a recruitment budget in excess of £1m. in 2018, 7% of recruiters expected to have a budget over £3m compared to just 2% for 2019/20. Conversely 35% expected a budget under £250k compared to 50% this year. Those expecting a budget under £500k has remained largely the same but those expecting a budget between £501k and £1m has gone from 19% to 13%.

0-5

6-10

11-20

21-30

31-50

51-100

101+

10%

26%

35%

20%

7%

2%

1%

Under £250k ($400k)

Over £3m ($4.9m)

Under £500k ($800k)

£501k-£1m ($801k-$1.6m)

£1m-£2m ($1.6m-$3.3m)

£2m-£3m ($3.3m-$4.9m)

50%

2%

20%

13%

10%

5%


12. Who do your recruitment budgets sit with?

There has been a large increase in the number of HR teams managing recruitment budgets, going from 17% last year to 33% this year. This has therefore meant a decline in the percentage of recruitment/resourcing teams owning the budget, falling from 58% to 47%. Last year, the Line Manager accounted for 18% compared to just 12% this year.

13. Do you have a separate budget for recruitment marketing?

27% have a separate budget for recruitment marketing, down from 29% last year. The majority of respondents still don’t have a separate budget, at 71% compared to 68% last year.

14. What is your average annual cost per hire (attraction and selection costs only)?

In 2017, 39% of respondents reported the average annual cost per hire being under £1,000 on a single hire. This rose significantly in 2018 to 56% but has fallen back to 50% this year. The number spending £4,000 or more has stayed consistent at 5%. Those spending between £1,001 to £2,500 has risen from 27% to 32% and those spending from £2,501 to £4,000 has gone from 12% to 13%.

15. What is your average time to hire?

In 2019/20, 17% of respondents said average time to hire was under 4 weeks, compared to 12% in 2018. 40% of hiring takes place in 4-8 weeks and 27% in 8-12 weeks, compared to 52% and 29% respectively in 2018.

Only 6% of hiring takes over 12 weeks which has remained static.

Under £1,000 ($1,600)

£1,001 to £2,500 ($1,600-$4,000)

£2,501 to £4,000 ($4,000-$6,500)

Over £4,000 ($6,500)

50%

32%

13%

5%

Under 4 weeks

4-8 weeks

8-12 weeks

Over 12 weeks

17%

49%

27%

6%

Recruitment/ Resourcing team

HR

Line Manager

Procurement

Elsewhere

47%

33%

12%

0%

7%

Yes27%

No71%

Other 2%


16. What is your vacancy fill rate?

This was a new question this year and 61% of recruiters have a vacancy fill rate of 76% or more. Just 3% have a rate that’s less than 10% and 11% in total have fill rates below 25%.

Those recruiters with low vacancy fill rates (less than 25%) span a number of industry sectors but Retail, Health/Care and Engineering are mentioned more than others.

17. What percentage of your vacancies was filled by agencies last year?

There is a definite shift away from using agencies to hire, with 57% of recruiters filling 10% or less of their vacancies via agencies, and in total 87% use agencies for less than 25%, compared to 74% last year. However, there has been small growth at the top end. In 2018 only 6% of recruiters used agencies to fill 51% or more of their vacancies compared to 8% this year.

Less than 10%

11-25%

26-50%

51-75%

76-100%

3%

8%

0%

27%

61%

Less than 10%

11 to 25%

26 to 50%

51 to 75%

76% or more

57%

30%

8%

6%

2%


Future Talent

Attraction & Sourcing

18. Which of the following do you currently have in place?

Apprenticeship programmes have remained the highest with 60% of recruiters having them in place compared to 61% last year. This is again followed by a graduate programme at 42%. These have both remained at much higher levels than in 2017.

19. Which of the following do you have in place for recruitment?

Implementation of specialised recruitment programmes hasn’t changed significantly year on year, with employee referral schemes still being most common (72% compared to 73% last year). There has been a small growth in those operating a talent pool/community, from 49% to 52%, however 30% of recruiters saw Building Talent Pools as a key priority in 2018 compared to only 23% in 2019/20.

There has also been a growth of 1 percentage point in those implementing a diversity recruitment programme. The most significant decline is in the number of recruiters who offer an Armed Forces veteran programme, falling to 18% from 21%, and alumni schemes have dropped from 7% to 5%.

In this latest survey, respondents were also asked about internships and summer placement programmes, with internships ranking third at 37% and summer placement programmes fifth at 25%. School leaver and MBA programmes remain the least popular.

Apprenticeship programme

A graduate programme

An internship

A work experience programme

A summer placement programme

None of the above

A school leaver programme

An MBA programme

60%

42%

37%

35%

23%

18%

12%

3%

An

empl

oyee

refe

rral

sc

hem

e

A ta

lent

poo

l/co

mm

unity

Div

ersi

ty re

crui

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t pr

ogra

mm

e

Arm

ed F

orce

s ve

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n pr

ogra

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A s

ocia

l ref

erra

l sc

hem

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Oth

er (p

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ecify

)

An

Alu

mni

sch

eme

72%

52%

27%

18%

7%

6% 5%


20. What percentage of your hires come from Employee Referral Schemes?

72% of recruiters have an Employee Referral Scheme in place and 85% fill up to 25% of their vacancies via the scheme, with 99% filling up to 50% of vacancies. This is the same as last year overall, although the number filling between 26% and 50% has risen from 9% to 14%, highlighting that these schemes are increasingly popular.

21. Do you ever use any of the following for recruitment?

The use of all online methods has dropped compared to 2018. In 2018 77% of recruiters used Aggregators compared to 61% this year, online recruitment marketplaces have gone from 53% to 46%, PPC from 36% to 27%, SEO from 35% to 27% and programmatic from 21% to 15%.

Cla

im to

not

use

any

of t

hese

met

hods

Agg

rega

tors

(suc

h as

Inde

ed)

Onl

ine

recr

uitm

ent m

arke

tpla

ces

PPC

(Pay

per

Clic

k)

SEO

(Sea

rch

Engi

ne O

ptim

isat

ion)

Fixe

d fe

e re

crui

tmen

t site

s

Prog

ram

mat

ic a

dver

tisin

g

Do

not c

urre

ntly

use

any

14%

61%

46%

27% 27%25%

14% 14%

0-25%85%

51-75%1%

26-50%14%


Social Media

23. Which of the following Social Media platforms do you use for attracting, engaging and recruiting candidates?

Whilst LinkedIn still dominates from a social media recruitment trends viewpoint, it has dropped from 98% to 94%. Facebook and Twitter have also seen declines, Facebook falling from 67% to 58% and Twitter from 54% to 43%. Instagram continues to show an increase going up to 21% from 19% in 2018. Snapchat is still very much on the periphery with just 1% of recruiters claiming to use it.

Niche Blogs/Forums, YouTube and Zing have also declined, whilst Google+ has grown from 8% to 11%.

24. Which of the following sourcing services do you use from LinkedIn?

LinkedIn Recruiter Seat continues to be the most popular sourcing service on LinkedIn, although this year only 63% of respondents claim to use it, compared to 71% in 2018. This is followed by messaging and connecting with potential candidates, and 52% of recruiters claim to use these LinkedIn sourcing services. These have both increased significantly compared to 2018, messaging going from 26% to 52% and connecting from 27% to 52%.

Promoting jobs in your status has also seen significant growth, up from 35% to 51%, as has posting jobs in groups which has gone from 12% to 30%. Similarly, general networking has grown from 20% to 42%.

Free LinkedIn services are used by 45% of respondents (up from 37% last year) and 35% of respondents use it to run their own company pages/groups (up from 30%).

LinkedIn

Facebook

Twitter

Instagram

Google +

YouTube

Niche blogs / forums etc

Xing

Do not use any of the above

Snapchat

94%

58%

43%

21%

11%

8%

7%

4%

2%

1%

LinkedIn Recruiter Seat

Messaging Potential Candidates

Connecting with Potential Candidates

Promoting jobs in your status

Free

Paid Job Postings

Talent Pipeline

General Networking

Linked In Elevate

Running your own company pages/groups

Don’t use LinkedIn

Posting jobs in groups

Business

63%

52%

52%

51%

45%

44%

18%

42%

4%

35%

2%

30%

25%


25. If your company has the LinkedIn Recruiter license, how often do you access it?

High-frequency use of the LinkedIn Recruiter License remains high with 22% of recruiters saying they are permanently logged in, compared to 11% last year. The figures for daily use have steadily declined over the last three years and are now at 32%, however hourly use has increased from 2% to 8%. 8% access it weekly which is another decline from 14% last year, and 30% claim not to use the license compared to 26% last year. So, there have been increases at both ends of the spectrum.

26. Which social media tool has been most effective in your recruitment?

LinkedIn is used by 94% of recruiters and 74% claim that it’s their most effective social media tool (78% of total users). This has dropped from 78% in 2018 but still compares favourably to the likes of Facebook and Twitter. 58% of recruiters use Facebook and only 18% find it effective (31% of users) and 43% use Twitter and just 3% find it effective (7%). Facebook has however grown in perceived effectiveness as only 15% believed it to be the most effective social media tool in 2018.

Instagram also fares poorly with 21% using it but only 1% believing it to be their most effective tool.

LinkedIn

Facebook

Twitter

Google +

Niche blogs / forums etc

Instagram

74%

18%

3%

2%

1%

1%

Daily32%

Weekly8%

Hourly8%

Permanently logged in

22%

Do not use30%


Job Boards & CV Databases

27. What types of job boards/CV databases do you currently use?

59% of respondents use mainly generalist job boards and CV databases, e.g. CV-Library, Totaljobs or reed.co.uk, compared to 53% last year. A further 14% use mainly specialist ones which are industry or role specific and this compares to 17% last year. 17% said their use of each was about equal and 11% of recruiters said they don’t use job boards/CV databases.

There doesn’t appear to be a particular link between industry type and a propensity not to use job boards/CV databases, so it would seem to be more individual/organisation specific.

Reporting & Analytics

28. What do you use to track online metrics?

54% of respondents use their Applicant Tracking System to track recruitment metrics, which is back at the same level as 2017 having risen to 58% in 2018. The use of Excel has risen back to 14% from 8% but it’s still not as likely to be used as it was in 2017 when 23% of recruiters said they used it to track online metrics. Google Analytics has also fallen back significantly in 2019 with just 7% using it compared to 16% in 2018.

Of the small percentage of respondents who said ‘other’, many are using a combination of Excel and their ATS data, so the figures below could potentially be increased by 1 or 2 percentage points each.

Mainly specialist e.g. industry/role

specific boards14%

Mainly generalist e.g. CV-Library,

Totaljobs, reed.co.uk58%

Don’t use job boards/CV databases

11%

About equal17%

Your ATS

Excel

Google Analytics

Other

Webtrends

I don’t

54%

14%

7%

3%

0%

21%

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29. How do you measure your success within your business?

Respondents were asked to tick all that apply, and this demonstrates that organisations are using multiple metrics to measure success. It’s hard to directly compare to last year when respondents marked just one measure. The majority of recruiters use Time to Hire as a key metric (61%) with 50% or more also measuring Quality and Cost of hire. Time to Hire has therefore exceeded Quality of Hire to take first place.

Candidate Experience was only selected by 5% of recruiters last year but has been cited by 44% this year, highlighting it’s increasing importance.

Source of Hire and Vacancy Fill Rate are cited by 36% and 35% of respondents respectively, and less important are Line Manager Experience and NPS.

Of those that said ‘other’ a handful said they are just starting to measure. One acknowledged difficulties within ATS making it hard to measure KPIs, and another that legacy systems constrain the ability to measure. Quality of Hire was also felt by one to be hard to quantify.

8% of recruiters don’t currently measure success in any form compared to 10% last year.

30. Have you seen an increase or decrease in the number of hires coming from these specific sources?

LinkedIn again performs well with an increase in the number of hires, from 44% in 2018 to 52%. All sources have increased on the year except PPC which has dropped marginally from 15% to 14%. Generalist Job Boards increased from 19% to 23% and Specialist from 12% to 15%, so a positive increase overall. 23% of recruiters have seen a decrease from CV databases compared to just 12% last year.

Time to Hire

Quality of Hire

Net Promoter Score

Cost per Hire

I Don’t...

Candidate Experience

Line Manager Experience

Source of Hire

Other (please specify)

Vacancy Fill rate

61%

51%

11%

50%

8%

44%

7%

36%

4%

35%

Talent at yourfingertips

The TalentAcquisition Platform

Jobtrain.co.uk

Job Boards (generalist)

23%

54%

23%

Job Boards (specialist)

15%

62%

23%

CV databases

16%

61%

23%

Linked In

52%

41%

7%

Social Media

35%

60%

5%

PPC

14%

71%

14%

Increased Stayed the same Decreased

Talent at yourfingertips

The TalentAcquisition Platform

Jobtrain.co.uk


Technology

31. Do you use an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) or other recruitment platform?

eArcu has retained its position as the most widely used ATS for the third year running. Eploy is second on the list at 13% which is a significant increase from 6% last year. Jobtrain, Workday and Taleo come third, fourth and fifth respectively, with Taleo maintaining 6% penetration among respondents and the likes of TribePad and Successfactors have also increased their user numbers.

32. How would you rate…

ATS ratings are overall positive and improving. 65% cite their ATS is very good or good as a product, compared to 57% of respondents last year, and 58% said that it’s very good or good in terms of the service provided compared to 52% last year.

Last year, 17% of respondents thought their ATS as a product was poor or very poor compared to just 13% this year, and 25% rated the service itself as poor or very poor and this has dropped to 17% this year. Between 20 and 25% of respondents see their ATS, both the product and service, as average.

No

Yes - eArcu

Yes - Eploy

Yes - Jobtrain

Yes - Greenhouse

Yes - Workday

Yes - Workable

Yes - Taleo

Yes - Avature

Yes - Jobvite

Yes - TribePad

Yes - Kenexa

Yes - Successfactors

Yes - Lumesse TalentLink

Other (specify)

Yes - Smartrecruiters

12%

26%

13%

9%

1%

7%

1%

6%

1%

2%

6%

2%

4%

2%

3%

2%

Very good

28%30%

Good

37%

28%

Average

22%24%

Poor

6%

9%

Very poor

7% 8%

As a product As a service

ATSOn

-Bo

ard

ing

Electronic Signatures

eArcuPsychometric Testing

Social Media

WEBSITE INTEGRATION

JOB BOARDS

Aggregators

An

alyt

ics

Referrals

SEA

RC

H E

NG

INE

OP

TIM

ISAT

ION

SEOCommunication

Secu

rity

CA

ND

IDAT

E

FEED

BA

CK

Mobility RecruitmentAgency

CV

Social Profile

Reputation

Employer BrandSELF SERVICE

INTERVIEW

BOOKING

Off

ers

Situation Judgement Tests

Res

po

nsi

ve D

esig

nLi

nke

dIn Facebook

ISO27001 SAA

S

Video Interviewing

Mobile Candidate Experience

Line Manager Integration

Single Sign On

Recruitment has changedAre you keeping up?

“I’ve worked with a large

number of HR Tech providers

over many years and eArcu

offer the best customer care.

Always listening for new ideas

and implementing them

quickly and effectively.”

Liam Reese, Head of HR Operations & Talent Acquisition

The Kindred Group

For information on eArcu’s proven

and future-proof ATS solution

email [email protected] or

call 0800 085 0340.

www.earcu.com

We work with world leading recruiters...

ATSOn

-Bo

ard

ing

Electronic Signatures

eArcuPsychometric Testing

Social Media

WEBSITE INTEGRATION

JOB BOARDS

Aggregators

An

alyt

ics

Referrals

SEA

RC

H E

NG

INE

OP

TIM

ISAT

ION

SEOCommunication

Secu

rity

CA

ND

IDAT

E

FEED

BA

CK

Mobility RecruitmentAgency

CV

Social Profile

Reputation

Employer BrandSELF SERVICE

INTERVIEW

BOOKING

Off

ers

Situation Judgement Tests

Res

po

nsi

ve D

esig

nLi

nke

dIn Facebook

ISO27001 SAA

SVideo Interviewing

Mobile Candidate Experience

Line Manager Integration

Single Sign On

Recruitment has changedAre you keeping up?

“I’ve worked with a large

number of HR Tech providers

over many years and eArcu

offer the best customer care.

Always listening for new ideas

and implementing them

quickly and effectively.”

Liam Reese, Head of HR Operations & Talent Acquisition

The Kindred Group

For information on eArcu’s proven

and future-proof ATS solution

email [email protected] or

call 0800 085 0340.

www.earcu.com

We work with world leading recruiters...


33. Do you use an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) for onboarding?

2019/20 is the first time that we have asked respondents whether they use an ATS for onboarding. Recruiters are not as likely to use an ATS for this particular function – less than 50%. Of those that do, they are likely to use the same platforms as their generic ATS with eArcu again coming first, followed by Eploy, Jobtrain and Workday.

Of those that said ‘other’, additional platforms that were mentioned included NHS Jobs, Sage People, Ultipro, Verifile, HiBob and Networx.

34. How likely is your organisation to adopt onboarding software in the next 12 months?

31% of respondents are using the onboarding module of their ATS and 11% use a stand-alone onboarding software. A further 26% are actively investigating software, 13% are interested but not investigating and 19% have no plans to use onboarding software.

No

Yes - eArcu

Yes - Eploy

Yes - Jobtrain

Yes - Other

Yes - Workday

Yes - Jobvite

Yes - Successfactors

Yes - Smartrecruiters

Yes - Taleo

Yes - Avature

Yes - iCIMS

54%

14%

7%

5%

5%

5%

1%

2%

1%

2%

1%

1%

We already use onboarding module of

our ATS31%

We already use stand-alone

onboarding software

11%

We are actively investigating

onboarding software26%

We have no plans to use onboarding

software19%

We’re interested in onboarding

but not actively investigating

13%

YOUAREWHOYOUHIRE

The Talent Acquisition Suite for Global EnterprisesAs a global leader in enterprise recruiting so�ware, SmartRecruiters o�ers a cloud-based Talent Acquisition Suite that allows businesses to attract, select, and hire the best people. More than 4,000 companies worldwide rely on SmartRecruiters to achieve hiring success, including brands like LinkedIn, Visa, Bosch, Mitie, and Avery Dennison.

Built on a modern cloud platform, SmartRecruiters o�ers full functionality for recruitment marketing and collaborative hiring, with an open marketplace of 600+ pre-integrated vendors.

For more information on how we connect people to jobs at scale, follow us at@SmartRecruiters, on LinkedIn or our website www.smartrecruiters.com

Contact:

Rob SymonsVP Sales UK & Northern [email protected]

YOUAREWHOYOUHIRE

The Talent Acquisition Suite for Global EnterprisesAs a global leader in enterprise recruiting so�ware, SmartRecruiters o�ers a cloud-based Talent Acquisition Suite that allows businesses to attract, select, and hire the best people. More than 4,000 companies worldwide rely on SmartRecruiters to achieve hiring success, including brands like LinkedIn, Visa, Bosch, Mitie, and Avery Dennison.

Built on a modern cloud platform, SmartRecruiters o�ers full functionality for recruitment marketing and collaborative hiring, with an open marketplace of 600+ pre-integrated vendors.

For more information on how we connect people to jobs at scale, follow us at@SmartRecruiters, on LinkedIn or our website www.smartrecruiters.com

Contact:

Rob SymonsVP Sales UK & Northern [email protected]


Assessment & Selection

35. Do you use any of the following online testing techniques as part of your selection process?

Whilst Psychometric Tests, Aptitude Tests and Personality Tests are still the top 3 online testing techniques, all have fallen in terms of the number of recruiters claiming to use them, most significantly Aptitude Tests which has fallen from 29% last year to 22% this year. Psychometric Tests have dropped from 51% to 45% and Personality Tests from 29% to 26%.

Asynchronous Video Interviewing only stands at 8% and Live Video Interviewing has remained the same at 19%.

Job Profile Gamification and Virtual Reality Assessment still remain very low at 2% and 1% respectively. Respondents in Consulting/Strategy and Banking have used Job Profile Gamification and Virtual Reality Assessment has been used in Transport & Logistics and Banking.

In 2017, only 15% of respondents said they didn’t use any of these testing techniques. This rose to 25% in 2018 and has risen again this year to 27%.

36. Do you use any of the following as part of your selection process?

As with online testing techniques, many of the screening mechanisms listed below have also declined in terms of usage. Telephone Interviewing remains top but in 2018 89% of recruiters claimed to use it compared to 76% this year. Competency Based Assessment has fallen from 81% to 74% and Assessment Centres from 63% to 53%.

Video Interviewing has moved from 34% to 35% and Strength Based Assessment from 17% to 21%. Encouragingly everyone is using something, compared to last year when 4% of respondents said they didn’t use any of the above.

Psychometric Tests

Personality Tests

Situational Judgment Tests

Aptitude Tests

Asynchronous Video Interviewing

Live Video Interviewing (i.e. skype, google hangout)

Job Profile Gamification

Realistic Job Preview

Virtual Reality Assessment

None of the above

45%

26%

18%

22%

8%

19%

2%

7%

1%

27%Te

leph

one

Inte

rvie

win

g

Non

e of

the

abov

e

Com

pete

ncy

Base

d A

sses

smen

t

Ass

essm

ent

Cent

res

Vide

o In

terv

iew

ing

Stre

ngth

Bas

ed

Ass

essm

ent

76%

0%

74%

53%

35%

21%


37. Have you used any of the following to inform your recruitment decisions?

All of the different methods listed are being used more to inform recruitment decisions compared to last year, although the top 3 remain the same. Exit Interviews (71%) are most commonly used to inform recruitment decisions, followed by Employee Engagement (71%) and Competitor Benchmarking (65%).

Online Candidate Surveys are least used at 35%, although this does represent an increase from 26% last year. 17% have no intention of using them but this is down from last year when it was 24%.

Along with Onboarding and Market Mapping they therefore represent opportunities as the methods that respondents express most interest in moving forwards.

Market mapping

49%

38%

13%

Online candidate surveys

35%

48%

17%

Competitor benchmarking

65%

28%

6%

Exit interviews

77%

19%

3%

Employee engagement

71%

25%

3%

External market insight

58%

32%

10%

On-boarding data

49%

44%

7%

Yes No - but would like to No - no intention

Yes

46%

56%

No

28% 29%

Don’t have one

25%

15%

EVP Employer brand

welovechatter.com

PEOPLE. TEAMS. DEPARTMENTS. SQUADS. TRIBES. OFFICES. AUDIENCES. CANDIDATES. APPRENTICES. MANAGERS. CEOS. TEA DRINKERS. COFFEE BREAKERS. LUNCHTIME GYMMERS. SOCIAL ORGANISERS. TECHIES. DESK JOCKEYS. PART TIMERS. NINE TO FIVERS. EARLY RISERS. LATE FINISHERS. WEEKENDERS. NIGHT SHIFTERS. OFFICE JUNKIES. REMOTE WORKERS. LONG TIMERS. NEW STARTERS. YOU. UNITED

No two employees are alike. But a brilliant employer brand can bring an entire business together, no matter how diverse it is. And here at Chatter, we have the kind of award winning creative expertise, the industry leading in-house research tools, and the decades of experience it takes to develop just that – a brilliant (and uniting) employer brand.

Find out more at welovechatter.com or call us now for a chat on 0113 887 0150.

38. Do you consider your EVP/Employer Brand to be reflective of the current business?

Last year, respondents answered this question considering their EVP and Employer Brand together, and this year they were asked to answer separately.

Over a quarter of respondents don’t believe their EVP or Employer Brand reflect their current business which is reflective of the fact that for many people EVP and Employer Brand is a strategic priority in 2020.

EVP and Employer Brand

welovechatter.com

PEOPLE. TEAMS. DEPARTMENTS. SQUADS. TRIBES. OFFICES. AUDIENCES. CANDIDATES. APPRENTICES. MANAGERS. CEOS. TEA DRINKERS. COFFEE BREAKERS. LUNCHTIME GYMMERS. SOCIAL ORGANISERS. TECHIES. DESK JOCKEYS. PART TIMERS. NINE TO FIVERS. EARLY RISERS. LATE FINISHERS. WEEKENDERS. NIGHT SHIFTERS. OFFICE JUNKIES. REMOTE WORKERS. LONG TIMERS. NEW STARTERS. YOU. UNITED

No two employees are alike. But a brilliant employer brand can bring an entire business together, no matter how diverse it is. And here at Chatter, we have the kind of award winning creative expertise, the industry leading in-house research tools, and the decades of experience it takes to develop just that – a brilliant (and uniting) employer brand.

Find out more at welovechatter.com or call us now for a chat on 0113 887 0150.


39. How long ago was your current EVP/Employer Brand..

19% of respondents have launched their EVP/Employer Brand in the last 2 months, compared to 23% last year, and 31% have refreshed it compared to 30% last year.

23% first launched their EVP/Employer Brand over 4 years ago, which is up from 20% last year.

High percentages have neither launched nor refreshed their EVP/Employer Brand which is potentially surprising given the challenging environments recruiters are operating in, and also the changing requirements and motivations of the workforce.

Yes93%

No7%

Within the last 6 months10%

18%

6-12 months9%

13%

1-2 year13%

11%

2-4 years14%

5%

4 years +23%

6%

N/a32%

47%

First launched Refreshed

Very good12%

Good34%

Average37%

Poor11%

Very poor6%

40. Do you currently have a corporate careers site?

The answer to this question has remained fairly static over the last 3 years, with 93% having a Corporate Careers Site in 2017 and 92% in 2018, compared to 93% again this year.

41. How would you rate your careers site?

Perceptions of corporate careers sites continue to be positive, with the percentage of respondents rating their site as very good or good at 46% compared to 44% last year. 37% of recruiters have an average perception of their website, and 17% view it negatively compared to 20% last year and 23% in 2017.

Careers site


42. How long ago was your current careers website…?

38% of respondents first launched their current careers site over 4 years ago, which is down from 45% last year, and 18% have launched it within the last 12 months (up from 16% last year).

54% of respondents have had their corporate careers site redesigned in the last 12 months, compared to 41% last year and 79% have refreshed their content compared to 69% last year. It has therefore been a focus for many to update their careers site.

Unfortunately, there are still a handful of respondents who haven’t re-designed or refreshed their content in the last 4 years – 9% and 5% respectively.

43. How would you rate your careers site in terms of…?

The propensity is for respondents to rate all aspects of their site good or average. Very good ranges from 24% with reference to Ease of Application to 16% for Visibility and Appearance. Visibility in this context is a reference to the careers section/site being easy to find not just when users land on the corporate site but also when making relevant searches on a search engine. Both Ease of Application and Appearance have improved compared to last year.

Overall Ease of Application is considered to have improved with 62% rating their sites as very good or good, compared to just 56% last year. Accessibility has also improved overall but Mobile Optimised and Visibility are both deemed more average than they were last year.

Being Mobile Friendly and Mobile Optimised are viewed most poorly overall which is concerning as the world continues to become predominantly mobile. This downward trend points to the challenges in keeping a customised presence up to date for each access device, i.e. web, mobile and tablet.

Within the last 6 months

8%22%45%

6-12 months

10%32%34%

1-2 year

17%25%9%

2-4 years

27%12%

6%

4 years +

38%9%

5%

First launched Re-designed Content refreshed

Visibility

16%38%35%

7%4%

Ease of application

24%38%23%10%

5%

Appearance

16%35%35%9%

4%

Accessibility

16%41%32%8%

3%

Mobile friendly

20%35%29%11%

5%

Mobile optimised

20%32%29%13%

6%

Very good Good Average Poor Very poor


Recruitment Process Outsourcing

Market Sector

44. Do you outsource all or part of your recruitment process?

There has been a small shift to outsourcing all or part of the recruitment process, with 23% of respondents answering positively to this question, compared to 18% last year. 71% do not outsource any part compared to 78% last year. 5% of recruiters are considering outsourcing, compared to 3% last year, although that figure was down on the 11% from 2017 who said they were considering outsourcing all or part of the process.

45. What most accurately describes your industry?

The highest proportion of recruiters taking part in the survey came from the Engineering/Manufacturing sector (9%), Retail (8%), Transport and Logistics (7%), IT (7%) and Banking/Financial Services (6%).This is reasonably reflective of last year, although in 2018 10% of respondents were from the Charity/Voluntary sector compared to just 5% this year.

Acc

ount

ancy

Adv

ertis

ing/

PR

Loca

l Gov

ernm

ent

Agr

icul

ture

/Fis

herie

s/Fa

rmin

g

Mar

ketin

g

Bank

ing/

Fina

ncia

l Ser

vice

s

Med

ia

Hou

sing

/Reg

ener

atio

n/En

viro

nmen

t

Cha

rity/

Volu

ntar

y

Phar

mac

eutic

alIT

Civ

il or

Str

uctu

ral E

ngin

eerin

g

Recr

uitm

ent

Law

Engi

neer

ing/

Man

ufac

turin

g

Util

ities

/ene

rgy

(gas

, nuc

lear

, oil,

etc

)

Cons

ultin

g/St

rate

gy

Rese

arch

/Sci

ence

Hea

lth/C

are

Oth

er

Cons

umer

goo

ds -

FMCG

Reta

il

Hos

pita

lity/

Cate

ring

Non

e of

the

abov

e

Cons

umer

goo

ds -

non-

FMCG

Tele

com

s

Educ

atio

n

Tran

spor

t and

Log

istic

s

2%

0% 0% 0%

6% 3%4%5% 7%3% 3%3%9%3% 2%4% 14%

2% 8%4%

1% 1% 1% 1%1%

2%4% 7%

Yes - part22%

No, but it is under consideration

5%

No71%

Yes - all1%


Challenges

46. What would you say are the biggest recruitment challenges facing you in 2019/20?

Recruiters face many challenges, not least of which being the fact that in 2019/20 it is still very much a candidate’s marketplace, with a shortage of good quality candidates. This came through in the feedback from most industry sectors, further impacted by the recognition that salaries are becoming increasingly competitive and organisations are working ever harder to retain talent.

It’s even more pronounced in high-volume recruitment sectors, when finding the right candidates is doubly challenging, particularly when managed as a manual process.

Within this, engaging candidates and the candidate experience are also recognised as being challenging. Improving assessment methods will improve the quality of hire but has to be balanced with ensuring the candidate experience remains positive. It was acknowledged that automation, and specifically bot responders, risk maligning the candidate experience.

Some respondents were wrestling with developing their Employer Brand or EVP. It’s increasingly difficult to stand out and be attractive to potential candidates when the market is so competitive. Diversity and Inclusion are also common themes, and some recruiters are working on defining the EVP to specifically support these initiatives.

Internal Mobility came through, and specifically the visibility of internal talent proving to be a challenge. Operating in such a competitive marketplace is placing pressure on organisations to retain talent, as well as to consider transferable skills. One respondent felt that attracting candidates from other industries was a challenge, in terms of individuals understanding that their skills could be used in an entirely different role and sector. As well as trying to attract talent with transferable skills as a means of sourcing quality candidates, there’s also the issue of specific new skills requirements in some industries, and the skills gap this again highlights. Clearly a robust Internal Mobility programme would be one way of addressing this.

Talent pooling was also raised by some as a means of improving the quality of hire and reducing time to hire.

Skillsshortages Hiring Managers recruit salaries volume fill time finding right

Candidate attraction manage skills Good right house diversity smaller

Finding driven within interview process skilled competitionCandidate experience quality Sourcing hiring company Brexit

recruitment process candidates staff talent EVP

recruitment niche market Hard retention time hire

Lack impacting increase budget Attracting talent pool businessengagement team improving quality candidates Digital shortage skill set rolesTA n competitive market good candidates global new competitive Employer Brand industry


Recruiters are trying to reduce their spend with agencies, but this is balanced by internal frustrations that the recruitment process is not always being managed well due to lack of a dedicated resource, time constraints, lack of budget, lack of engagement or simply the volume of hires to address. This is a challenge not just specific to a dedicated recruitment team but also to Line Managers responsible for their own recruitment, where there is a concern that it can lead to slow and ineffective hiring decisions.

There was also some frustration expressed over ATS software and the lack of ability to report on useful KPIs.

Technology and AI weren’t mentioned frequently but their use is likely to continue to grow, and if seen positively should free up time in small teams to concentrate on the softer measures of candidate experience and engagement.

Brexit is still understandably a concern for recruiters, particularly in some specific industries, namely the Charity sector, Consulting, Consumer Goods, IT, Healthcare, Transport & Logistics and Research/Science. The uncertainty surrounding Brexit is considered to be a challenge and the potential impact it will have, or is having, in terms of reducing the candidate pool and stemming the flow of skilled workers. This was particularly acknowledged as a challenge in Health/Care and specifically Dentistry.

The positive is that many of the initiatives that are currently raised as being challenging, such as Internal Mobility, developing talent pools and D&I strategies, if effectively addressed within organisations, will undoubtedly contribute to stemming the broader issues of skills gaps, attracting quality candidates and talent retention.

[email protected]

@thefirmrecruits

The Forum for In-House Recruitment Managers

Annual Membership Survey 2019/20...Onboarding Recruitment Analytics Create your perfect recruitment...

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