September market overview: commerce and industry

September was a month of stable hiring

“September turned out to be a steady month with no heavy decrease in the number of vacancies.”

September is always an interesting month; we usually expect the market to pick up as the summer ends and people return to the office from holidays with that last push through to the end of the year. But this year was uncharacteristic; whilst role volume was steady, it didn’t increase as much as it usually would. 

Companies turned to Frazer Jones for complex hires

“Many companies turned to Frazer Jones when their own recruitment efforts had exhausted all avenues.”

As a business, we carried on seeing the direct hiring market flourish, but we also saw many companies turn to Frazer Jones when their own recruitment efforts had exhausted all avenues. They needed specialists in the market with untapped or passive talent they could reach out to. This meant that September brought in a number of tricky searches, which our experienced consultants were able to fill using their expertise and networks.

The telecommunications and education sectors were at the top of the market

Our market data showed that telecommunications and education were the busiest areas of recruitment, taking up 16% of hires. This was closely followed by technology and manufacturing at 11%, with media, FMCG, oil and energy, healthcare and logistics taking around 5% each.

The generalist space remained the strongest area

“The generalist space remains the strongest area with 40% of vacancies falling into that bracket”.

As a UK business, we saw a notable increase in early careers, payroll and employee relations roles in September. The generalist space remained the strongest area, with 40% of vacancies falling into that bracket. Having taken 13% of roles in the market earlier this year, hiring in learning and development and talent acquisition markets has dropped, both taking up just 5%.

Executive HR roles were on demand

“The executive HR space has been increasing month on month.”

Interestingly, the executive HR space has been increasing month on month; in September, 22% of roles we were instructed on were over the GBP 100,000 mark. The largest population of roles was in the GBP 51,000 – 99,000 bracket and the rest were made from the junior and future talent market.

If you are looking for opportunities across the UK or are looking to hire HR professionals of all levels and disciplines in your team, please get in touch using our form below.