Q1 HR Recruitment Market Snapshot - NI & Ireland 📊
Ryan Calvert (Assoc CIPD), Head of HR Recruitment, shares his take on Q1 in this quick video update.
The quarter started slow, but activity picked up sharply in March, job flow rose 67% from February, with March alone accounting for 45% of Q1's HR vacancies.
💡 Key Highlights 💡
📍Rise in Temp & Contract roles, flexible hiring is growing, temp/contract roles made up 16% of all HR jobs, up 10% from Q4.
📍Strategic HR Roles in demand, high demand for HRBPs, managers, and an increasing number of HR Director roles point to a shift toward long-term people strategy.
📍 Rise In Talent Acquisition roles - More businesses are rebuilding in-house TA teams, signalling renewed focus on internal recruitment.
Much of this is driven by upcoming legislation (e.g., the Good Jobs Bill) and the need to future-proof HR strategy.
Want to learn more about current HR hiring trends? Contact Ryan on the details below.
📩 r.calvert@mcsgroup.jobs
📞 02896 935519
#HRRecruitment#RecruitmentTrends#GoodJobsBill
Hi, my name is Ryan Calvert and I head up the HR recruitment division for MCS Group across the UK and Ireland. And so today I wanted to just jump on and give a bit of an overview on some of the Q1 trends that I've seen in the recruitment market as well as what lies ahead in 2025 for HR recruitment. And so in terms of the way things started, they actually started quite slow for for 2025, there was actually a 6% decrease in job flow quarter on quarter if we look at. G4 versus Q1. However, a lot of organisations have been looking at some of the legislative changes that are due to come in as well as the good jobs bill and they're looking to really execute their talent acquisition plans for for the rest of the year. And we've seen a significant spike in recruitment in March. So it's actually been a 67% increase in job flow year on year from from from this point to to last year, which is quite significant and we anticipate that. Mean something that we see for the rest of the year. Another massive trend has been the increase in contract and temporary HR recruitment. With so many organisations really struggling to find the absolute most capable and best talent in the market, they look at a contract or temporary solution to really keep the business flowing and and keep things moving while they look to make a permanent hire. And on a lot of times they end up moving that contract or temporary individual into permanent employment. Longer term, so the contract and temporary market is something that I foresee continuing on for the rest of the year, especially with some of the bills that organisations will be hit with. With the increase in in national living wage and National Insurance contributions, which is going to be tricky for a lot of companies to actually manage and to balance. So contract and temporary solutions could certainly be an option. Another massive trend in Q1 has been significant increase in senior HR opportunities. Coming through in both public and private sector, which shows that for for so many organisations there is a complete buy in to HR, but they're potentially looking ahead and thinking about organisation development and design strategies that they need to focus on. And to do that appropriately, they really need to ensure that they have a a highly seasoned HR team in place, led by a strong HR director or head of people. So year on year we've seen a significant increase in those types of roles coming through with a really, really good pipeline. For the rest of the year, another significant trend has been actually the increase in talent acquisition roles as well, which in 2024 it was, it was just, it was really, really tricky for for TA professionals looking for new opportunities. In Q1, we've seen a significant increase in this, which is an amazing sign for the market and it's hopefully a sign that we're going to see more and more jobs coming to the market as we progress through 2025. And so look, that's just a brief overview and some of the things that I've seen in Q1. You want any further insights on the HR recruitment market in general or what the rest of 2025 looks like, please feel free to contact myself. My number is 0 to 896935519 or you can get me on LinkedIn. Thank you.
