Job Market Update – May 8th
April-May 2014 – summed up in a few sentences:
* Permanent vacancies up
* Locum vacancies up in April
* Conveyancing up – severe shortage of NQ-5 year PQE solicitors
* Commercial Property – severe shortage of all candidates
* Continued increase in vacancies attracting only poor quality or very few applications.
* Market outlook – still buoyant.
Statistics
Current live vacancies: 550
New permanent vacancies added in April 2014: 44
New candidates registering: 105
Average ‘Job Strength Factor’ for new vacancies in April: 3
Increase/Decrease in new vacancies from previous month: -15%
Increase/Decrease in new candidates from previous month: -14%
CIPS UK Services Report for past 4 weeks:
* Activity and new business both increase at sharp rates
* Employment up sharply in line with positive expectations for growth
* Cost inflation continues to weaken
Ten-Percent Legal Recruitment publishes the number of new vacancies, new candidates and indicate the increase or decrease from the previous month. We aim to assist the legal profession by showing the market from our perspective. Traditionally our clients have been high street law firms and smaller niche commercial practices.
The average job strength gives a good indication of the market because:
1. A Poor Job Strength on vacancies indicates a struggling market. When trade is bad, employers seek options for increasing turnover which usually also involves contacting recruitment agencies in the hope that they have candidates with their own following and not looking for a salary.
2. A Strong Job Strength on vacancies indicates a buoyant market, particularly if it is in connection with an increase in numbers of new vacancies.
Vacancies are each graded 1-5, with 5 being a very strong vacancy and 1 being a very weak vacancy.
Jonathan Fagan is Managing Director of Ten-Percent Legal Recruitment and regularly writes the Legal Recruitment blog, an award-winning selection of articles and features on legal recruitment and the legal profession. You can contact Jonathan at cv@ten-percent.co.uk or visit one of our websites.
