Unsurprisingly, new research by recruitment website firm Volcanic and specialist recruitment marketing firm Talent Nexus show a major decrease in jobs since the Covid-19 virus prompted a general lockdown.

The survey findings also report that 65% of agencies say that clients have gone quiet or are unreachable, with 53% of agencies saying clients are changing start dates for candidates.

The industry benchmarking Recruitment Pulse Survey focuses on how recruitment agencies and employers are responding to coronavirus. Employers and recruitment agencies responded to separate sets of questions. The survey was conducted on 2-3 April, with more than 300 organisations participating.

With 84% of agencies reporting fewer jobs available, 75% of employers say they have either put in place a recruitment freeze or are recruiting for fewer roles, the research says of employer respondents.

Preparing for the future (57%) and reducing costs (42%) are the top priorities for employers, but for recruitment agencies, 64% say that reducing costs is their top priority, with filling existing vacancies in second place at 55%. Despite remote working conditions for many recruiters, implementing new technology comes in as the sixth-ranking priority, with only 12% reporting it as their main aim at the moment.

In line with their priority focus on cost reduction, 55% of recruitment agencies report either having already implemented or are considering redundancies. At the same time, 66% of agencies have either put staff on furlough or are considering doing so.

Twenty-six per cent of agencies have chosen to redistribute their staff to other departments or functions and an additional 13% are considering it. However, among employer respondents, 36% have already redeploying staff to new functions or departments, and an additional 34% are considering it.

A Talent Nexus spokesperson said: “The results confirm with ‘real data’ some of the anecdotal evidence that we’ve all seen. We will be continuing to work through the data… and will publish further analysis.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: This article has been corrected since it first appeared on recruiter.co.uk on 21 April 2020.

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