As we approach the third quarter of 2017 I would like to share some recent findings from June’s edition of the report on Jobs, produced by IHS Markit and the Recruitment Employment Confederation.
At Intersect Global 2017 has so far been a good year for both permanent and contractor placements we have seen a greater demand for staff that the first six months of 2016 across the civil engineering and infrastructure sectors in which we operate.
We have seen increased demand at the more senior management level than in 2016.
The main challenge we face is sadly still very much the same as it has been since I started in this sector 18 years ago; skill shortages right across the board and for both permanent and contract jobs.
The REC’s report seems to mirror our own findings:
Growth for both permanent placement and temp billings across recruitment firms accelerated in May
Demand for staff has reached a 21 month peak
Sharpest drop in permanent candidate numbers since 2015
Commenting on the latest survey results the REC’s Director of Policy says:
“The challenges facing the next government are stark. Demand for staff is the strongest in almost two years, but the number of people available to take those jobs has plummeted
Official data shows unemployment has dropped to the lowest level since 1975 and EU Citizens are leaving the UK in droves. Employers seeking to fill vacancies are running out of options.
Skill shortages are causing headaches in many sectors, The NHS for example is becoming increasingly reliant t on short-term cover to fill gaps on hospital rotas. Meanwhile the shortage of people with cyber security skills is a particular concern in many businesses in the wake of the recent high-profile WannaCry attacks.
Whichever party forms the next government must focus on improving the employability of our young and boosting inclusion for underrepresented groups. Alongside this these figures clearly show that in many sectors we need more not fewer people so that our businesses can grow and public services continue to deliver”
Intersect Global spend most of our week searching for the skills sets our sector so desperately need. I am pleased to say that in recent months we have successfully placed commercial and operational staff with experience outside of traditional civil engineering main contracting with key tier one main contractors.
As an industry we all need to be a little more open minded to what skills sets can cross over to help fill the ever growing gap.
As ever we have a range of live permanent and contract vacancies across the rail,water, highways and infrastructure sectors on our web-site.
Many of the exclusive roles we are working on are not listed therefore if you do not see anything of interest to you please give us a call on 020 76820668 to discuss how we may be able to help you in your next career move.
In the meantime, enjoy the sunny weather this weekend and take care.
