The traditional job search may be on its last legs as digital channels dominate the recruitment landscape. A staggering 78% of job applications now arrive through job boards and advertising channels, marking a dramatic increase from just 57% in Q2 2022.
This rising reliance on job boards, while indicative of a tightening job market in Australia and New Zealand, also highlights the growing inefficiencies faced by recruiters. The data reveals that candidates sourced from job boards take significantly longer to place, with Australian agencies experiencing an average delay of 16.3 days, compared to 15.2 days in New Zealand for permanent roles. As businesses increasingly pivot towards temporary and contract placements amid slowing job creation, recruiters find themselves navigating an unsustainable influx of candidates, all while contending with the challenges of longer placement times associated with traditional job boards.
“At the time, Job boards might seem like a quick fix, but they often flood recruiters with unqualified candidates, leading to wasted time and resources. Proactive sourcing from internal databases allows recruiters to be more strategic, offering a clear advantage in today’s competitive job market.
“With the rise in using job boards and ad channels, recruitment agencies face significant risks; companies prefer not to use agencies for candidates they can find themselves. As budgets tighten, agencies must demonstrate their value through strategic approaches and strong networks. “In-house talent acquisition teams across ANZ are experiencing a similar trend, with applications from job boards continuing to rise, while applications from internal databases have dropped to 5.5% in 2024, down from 8% in late 2023. I’d advise these teams to reconsider their sourcing strategies to improve efficiency and candidate quality,” says Herbst.
As the recruitment landscape continues to evolve, JobAdder’s latest data insights highlight the desperate need for both agencies and in-house teams to adapt to these changes, focusing on more strategic, efficient, and diversified approaches to stay ahead in a challenging market. As the job market tightens in Australia and New Zealand, new data from leading recruitment platform, JobAdder, reveals that recruiters are grappling with an overwhelming surge in job applications, while facing a decline in new job openings.
The findings, published in JobAdder’s Q1-Q2 2024 State of Market Report, highlight significant challenges for recruitment agencies and in-house talent acquisition teams across both countries.In Australia, the average number of job applications per position at recruitment agencies jumped from 26.8 in Q2 2023 to 32.3 in Q4 2023, then soared to 41 in Q1 2024 before settling at 37.8 in Q2 2024. This means that candidate supply for recruitment agency jobs has increased by 41 per cent year-on-year and 165 per cent since 2022. New Zealand also experienced a similar increase, with applications per job rising from 27.3 in Q2 2023 to 43.9 in Q2 2024, an increase of 61 per cent across the year. Despite an influx of candidates, job creation has started to trend downwards in Australia and New Zealand. In Australia, the number of jobs per account fell slightly from 61.9 in Q2 2023 to 58.9 in Q2 2024. In contrast, New Zealand experienced a sharper drop, with jobs per account decreasing from 56.5 to 44.5 over the same period.
Martin Herbst, CEO of JobAdder, stresses that the significant uptick in the number of job applications compared to the limited job openings is having an impact on recruiters.
“Recruiters are no longer struggling to find candidates – they’re inundated with them. The real challenge now is filtering through the high volume of applications to identify the most skilled and qualified candidates. This task has become even more daunting as recruitment teams have shrunk, and the pressure to streamline workflows has intensified.”
Permanent jobs off the table
As the job market starts to slow, permanent jobs are being knocked off the table. Instead, temporary and contract placements have become increasingly dominant within recruitment agencies, reflecting the broader economic uncertainty.
In Australia, temporary roles accounted for 79.4 per cent of agency placements in Q2 2024, up from 76.4 per cent in Q2 2023. New Zealand mirrored this trend, with temporary positions comprising 87.2 per cent of placements in Q2 2024, compared to 86.4 per cent in the same quarter last year.
But Herbst emphasised the need for agencies to adapt to these shifts: “As businesses cut back on permanent hires and bring recruitment in-house, agencies risk losing ground. To stay competitive, they should consider diversifying their offerings, and expanding into temp placements can be a strategic move to drive growth and revenue.”
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