5 Predictions that are going to happen in the NI Recruitment Marketplace in 2017

Abacus Talent Group, Director, Justin Rush shares his thoughts on what is going to happen in the NI Recruitment Marketplace.

1. More Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) businesses will arrive in Northern Ireland. 

International businesses continue to set-up in Northern Ireland, often with the support of Invest NI.   They do this because we have highly skilled, professional staff in finance, technology and law available at a very attractive price point compared to other major European cities such as Dublin and London. It is important to realise that these firms mainly establish support centres and are not interested in accessing the European marketplace from Belfast. Those that think the foreign direct investment will reduce due to Brexit are incorrect.

Justin’s advice – Ensure your employee retention and attraction strategies account for heightening demand for key personnel.

2. It will become harder to recruit graduates.

You might think that there are lots of graduates around and you will have your pick of the crop when you go to market. Wrong. Finance, Law, Business Studies, IT Graduates are all in demand, especially those with a 2:1 or better. They are in-demand from organisations locally and internationally (Check out how many firms from outside Northern Ireland attend our local universities graduate recruitment days). Many large corporate firms locally are seeking to ramp up on the appointment of graduate talent that they can train for tomorrow.

Justin’s advice – Get ahead of the crowd and offer an industrial placement to students of the course your requirements are best aligned to.

3. Social media will become the main source of quality candidates.

People are not applying for jobs like they used to. That is the cold, hard truth. Application rates from all the major local and international job boards are in decline. The insight and transparency available from social media and ‘rate your employer’ sites like glassdoor mean that the top talent in professional areas know who they want to work for.

Justin’s advice – Make social media the vehicle for delivering corporate communications on growth, CSR activities, new appointments and recruitment drives.

4. Time spent per hire will increase.

HR Professionals involved in recruitment will tell you that time per hire is the key stat they would like to reduce. An abundance of software exists to support the recruitment process but top quality candidates demand personal attention. These people want assurances that can only be delivered in person, there is no way around it.

Justin’s advice – Be as transparent as you when recruiting, ideally you should involve recent recruits in the latter stages of your process. Recent recruits can evidence that commitments made are met.

5. Brexit will make Northern Ireland less attractive to the migrant workforce.

This may seem like the ultimate obvious statement but it is of course very true across all sectors of industry, not just agri-food, manufacturing and hospitality.  Many professionals in Software Development, Analytics, Finance and Science come originally come from outside of Northern Ireland. How welcome these professionals will be in the months ahead remains unclear.

Justin’s advice – If you have employees who are critical to your business make them aware that you are intent on supporting their application for a permanent visa.

You may be wondering how sound Justin’s predictions are. Well, the truth is, that all the points listed above have already been happening in 2016. Unfortunately, there really is no reason to believe that things will change dramatically in 2017.

Abacus Careers is a specialist recruitment company based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. If you need career support please contact 02890 313157 or email [email protected]