That’s according to new analysis from the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo), the trade association for the professional recruitment sector.
The data, provided by business intelligence specialist, Vacancysoft, shows that by sector, IT remains the dominant area of hiring in the capital, accounting for 35% of all vacancies over the period since the shutdown. On a normal given week this figure would be 15% at most.
Despite further data provided by growth analytics platform cube19 showing that live permanent roles were down by almost 20% compared to February and contract vacancies were down almost 12% - there were a number of other pockets of hiring across other specialisms such as banking and accounting.
Marketing has also held up relatively well, perhaps due to the fact that so many businesses need to ramp up their communications activities during the crisis. Hiring for HR professionals with employee engagement experience is also a priority as the challenge of keeping remote employees engaged and operating as a cohesive unit whilst working from home grows.
Commenting on the data, Ann Swain, CEO of APSCo comments:
“While the coronavirus has meant that many firms have slowed down hiring - it has by no means stopped. Although this is undoubtedly a tough period, many sectors, such as life sciences, healthcare and logistics are still registering live roles along with finance, HR and digital marketing. The fact that hiring is still continuing with relative strength in IT is perhaps unsurprising due to the on-going need across most sectors to conduct operations remotely, but is nonetheless encouraging during these testing times.”
James Chaplin, CEO of Vacancysoft, commented
“COVID-19 continues to damage to the nation’s economic health, and needless to say, the professional recruitment sector. However, from our data, it’s clear that there is still some hiring taking place. As the lockdown continues, and we adjust to the ‘new normal’, there is no doubt that many positions will still need to be filled, making innovative talent strategies more important than ever.”
