2023 Salary Guide v10 DIGITAL - Flipbook - Page 4
04
The war for talent intensifies
In 2021, we saw hiring demand reach
heights rarely seen in our 33-year history at
Barclay Simpson. We were not alone in our
experience – UK vacancies hit record levels
last year, climbing a staggering 114% over
the 12-month period.
Strong growth was arguably to be expected.
Recruitment had been constrained
throughout 2020 due to a perfect storm
of Covid-19 lockdowns, Brexit, impending
IR35 reforms and other commercial
uncertainties. As some of these dark clouds
began to clear, many organisations opened
the hiring floodgates.
Much of this pent-up demand spilled over
into 2022, with remarkable buoyancy during
the first six months of the year across most
of the sectors and disciplines that we recruit
for. And while the recruitment market has
slowed over the latter half of 2022, we’re still
experiencing healthy demand that is well
above long-term averages.
Similar trends have emerged nationwide.
The REC/KPMG graph shows that both
permanent and temporary vacancies
remain at historically high levels, even after
four consecutive quarters of falling activity.
However, permanent placements
contracted in October for the first time
since February 2021. They fell again in
Source: KPMG and REC, UK Report on Jobs, December 2022
November – albeit at a slower pace – as
talent shortages tightened their grip and
concerns about the economic outlook
magnified.
The Office for Budget Responsibility has
predicted the UK will fall into recession
in 2023, with the nation’s economy
forecast to contract by 1.4% next year.
Despite this, Barclay Simpson research
has revealed that 79% of employers of
cyber security, data and governance
professionals still plan to hire additional
permanent staff over the next 12 months.
This is only a slight drop from 85% last
year, and there has actually been a
modest year-on-year increase in the
number of organisations who say they
are ‘very likely’ to recruit in 2023 (51%
versus 46% for 2022).
A lack of suitable candidates remains
a major stumbling block for employers,
with 98% of respondents claiming it is
challenging to find the right people at
the moment. Of these, 58% say it’s ‘very
challenging’ – up from 43% in 2021.
Meanwhile, huge demand mixed with
low supply continued to create upward