The recruitment industry in the UK has demonstrated remarkable resilience and adaptability, especially in the aftermath of the Covid pandemic. As of this year, the recruitment industry is valued at around £43bn. Workforce needs have evolved significantly in recent years, and some industries have continued to expand, driving this significant growth.
REC found that in 2022 over 25.7 million temporary and contract placements were made – over 3 million more job seekers found placements than the year before. This shows us that temporary staffing continues to dominate the recruitment market, as employers seek more flexible work arrangements.
Recruitment agencies are successfully adapting to new and emerging fields, utilising digital platforms and navigating staffing shortages. But what are the sectors that we think will be driving the growth of the recruitment sector throughout 2025?
Healthcare And Life Sciences
The healthcare industry remains to be one of the largest and most critical areas for recruiting professionals to focus on. With ongoing staffing shortages, an older population and the lasting effects of the pandemic, there has been a surge in demand for healthcare professionals. The increasing volume of healthcare professionals has been noted by the Office of National Statistics, who have been able to show the increase of healthcare staff over the past several years.
The life sciences industry also appears to be thriving, with the UK playing a leading role in pharmaceutical innovation. As research and development continues in the areas of innovation, biotechnology and digital health, agencies are having to work harder to fill positions. Biopharmaceuticals, clinical trials and health tech are all key drivers of economic growth and many recruitment strategies feature finding top talent in these areas.
Renewable Energy And Sustainability
As the UK moves towards net-zero emissions by 2050, renewable energy proves to be a key area for growth. Offshore wind, solar and energy storage projects are gaining momentum with initiatives such as the green industrial revolution plan and a new labour government’s sustainability proposals.
Green jobs, defined as those that contribute to sustainability efforts now make up a third of job postings in the UK.
IT And Tech
The rapid growth of AI, cybersecurity, fintech and data science has created a strong demand for specialised talent in the tech industry. Statistics from 2023 listed Cloud Computing (18%), Artificial Intelligence (16%) and Data Science (15%) as the top 3 most in demand skills.
The Recruiter conducted research into the top 100 recruitment agencies of 2023 and found that 38 of their top 100 companies worked within the IT industry. They predict that ‘with increasing digitisation, the importance of robust IT infrastructures and the rapid advancement of technological innovations, we expect the sector to feature prominently in future years.’
Logistics and Supply Chain
The logistics and supply chain sector is undergoing transformation at a rapid pace due to increasing complexities in trade and new technological advancements. While businesses are looking to adopt automation in their logistics processes, industry analysts have seen a rise of available roles in the sector.
Since the pandemic the shopping habits of consumers has drastically changed. This has increased the demand on logistics companies for warehouse workers and those with specialist skills in technology driven warehousing.
Finance and Fintech
The finance sector in the UK has continued to grow, particularly in fintech. Recruitment agencies are rapidly seeing a surge in businesses seeking professionals in blockchain, digital payments and open banking.
Reports show that in February of this year, permanent placements in the finance sector increased by 17% – showing the resilience of the industry.
What Does This Mean For Recruitment Agencies?
There is growing demand across many industries across the UK, and with many job seekers out there, its up to your recruiting team to find top talent for these roles. With evolving technology, you can expect to see roles that offer skill development opportunities for candidates, as well as a diverse talent pool.
It is up to each recruitment agency to decide if they are going to niche down, targeting specific recruitment trends and meeting recruitment demand, or focus more broadly on skills based recruitment across multiple industries. No matter the specialty of your agency, technology is becoming a much more prominent trend across all industries, and adding highly skilled workers in this field to your talent pool could prove to be beneficial.
How Can Eclipse Help?
Eclipse recruitment software offers recruitment agencies all the tools needed to become recruiting leaders. The features and tools of the software are designed to meet the unique needs of the recruitment industry and help users react to changes in trends as they come. Here is how our software can help:
Automation
If there is one thing that is evident from these trends, it is that automation is being used as a tool to boost productivity in every sector – why not in recruitment? Eclipse can help you to automate many processes in the recruiting process, including:
CV Parsing and Screening – Automatically extract relevant data from CVs and identify candidates based on criteria that has been set by your recruiters
Job Posting – Post job descriptions across multiple platforms with ease
Emails – Automate emails and notifications to candidates and clients to keep them informed when scheduling interviews or keeping them in the loop during the recruitment process.
Candidate Databases
Eclipse offers a powerful candidate relationship management (CRM) system to help agencies manage large talent pools. When recruiting talent for sectors such as healthcare, IT and renewable energy, demand can be high, and the software gives recruiters the ability to:
Track candidates
Maintain detailed records
Easily search based on specific criteria
Compliance
There are increasing regulations across industries such as healthcare and renewable energy, which Eclipse can help with:
Automated Checks – the software can automate compliance checks for candidate qualifications, right to work documentation and certifications
Generate Reports – reports can easily be generated for internal audits, client compliance requirements or regulatory authorities
Analytics
Analytics on the success of your recruitment processes is essential for ensuring success. Tracking success provides visibility of areas for improvement as well as identifying talent acquisition trends that may be unique for your own agency. Eclipse offers:
Recruitment Metrics Tracking – Easily view statistics on successful placements, time-to-hire and client satisfaction
Custom Reports – Generate customised reports on recruitment performance to make data driven decisions and improve efficiency
Scalability
No matter if your agency is small and hits a niche, or large with a diverse range of clients, Eclipse can scale with your business. With the recruitment industry consistently growing to help tackle talent shortages, this flexibility is vital. As your agency expands, the Eclipse software can handle increased volumes of clients and candidates without compromising on performance.
How To Handle The Latest Recruitment Trends
As businesses navigate talent shortage, technological advancements and an evolving client demands, recruitment agencies are essential for finding qualified candidates that are the perfect fit for a role. It is essential that agencies stay ahead of industry trends, embrace change and look towards high growth areas.
Eclipse recruitment software provides many agencies with a powerful toolset to manage and scale their operations. By leveraging the capabilities of the software you can find the right talent faster, improve client satisfaction and take the competitive edge in a competitive industry.
Request a demo to find out more about how Eclipse can help your business.Â
