July 2022 Recruitment Trends Report

Monthly performance

The big change in July is the noticeable drop in the number of jobs posted. Registering -25% when compared with the previous month. Applications on the other hand seem to be holding, with +1% over June’s numbers. This difference has resulted in a higher average application per job, climbing 4 points from the previous month, to 15.

It & Internet remain as the most active industry with both recruiters posting jobs and applicants applying for those jobs.

The most active weekdays this month have been Mondays, registering the most number of jobs posted, with most applications being received on the following day, Tuesdays.

Job posting and applications per month

The monthly figures graph makes the jobs decreased more evident. Registering at -13% when compared to the 2021 average it’s a substantial reduction in the number of jobs in the market when looking a this year’s trend so far. Applications hold at a technical plateau, with just +1% over the previous year’s average.

Industries with most jobs and applications in July 2022

Not a lot has changed regarding the industries with most jobs and applications.

IT & Internet stands out as the most active industry, registering 25% of all the jobs posted, and receiving a staggering 28% of all applications.

The remaining positions are taken by Health & Nursing, with 15% of jobs but not registering on the top 5 of applications. Education with 14% of jobs and 8% of applications. Secretarial, PAs and Admin with 5% of jobs and 10% of applications. And Manufacturing with also 5% of jobs posted and 10% of all applications.

Looking more closely into the top 5 most active industries (overall) can reveal which ones have been recording a positive growth and the ones going the opposite direction.

There has been a noticeable growth in IT & Internet jobs over this year, with Education, Public Sector, Health & Nursing and Manufacturing jobs registering a negative growth as the months progress. To notice a big decrease in the number of posted jobs in the Public Sector from June to July.

The number of applications over this year for the top 5 industries reveals where talent is more available.

Unsurprisingly, IT & Internet registers a steady high number of applications across the year. What is to notice is the fast growth over the last 3 months, perhaps driven by recent layoffs in the tech industry.

The remaining top industries seem to register a slower decline in the number of applications.

Manufacturing, on a healthy growth up until March, is the one with the most significant decline, in line with a decline in the number of available jobs.

Education, with peaks and throughs over the months also sees a decline in applicants from June to July in line with the number of available jobs.

Both Public Sector and Health & Nursing register a similar pattern of decreasing applications.

Average application per job by industry in July 2022

Some noticeable entries on our table for the average application per job by industry.

Customer Service tops the table with an average of 19 applications per job, followed by Finance, a regular in this report, with 16, Sales with also 16, and Secretarial, PAs & Admin and Engineering with 15.

The lower end of the table remains unchanged, with skills shortages being witnessed in the Travel, Leisure & Tourism, Health & Nursing, Public Sector, Not for Profit and Social Services industries.

Average application per job board in July 2022

Our table with the average applications per job board remains primarily unchanged. Totaljobs tops the table of generic job boards with 13 applications on average, followed by reed.co.uk and CV-Library with 5 average applications per job.

It’s on the niche job boards table that we see CW Jobs showing up on top, with 13 average applications, followed by the habitual Secs in the City and Caterer with 12 applications per job.

---