Recruiters in Australia & NZ face surge in applications

Recruiters in Australia and New Zealand are experiencing an overwhelming influx of job applications as the job market tightens, according to new data from recruitment platform JobAdder.

JobAdder's Q1-Q2 2024 State of Market Report reveals significant challenges for recruitment professionals and in-house talent acquisition teams across both countries, amidst a growing mismatch between the number of applicants and available job openings.

In Australia, the number of job applications per position for recruitment agencies increased from 26.8 in Q2 2023 to 37.8 in Q2 2024, marking a 41% year-on-year rise. The situation is similar in New Zealand, where applications surged from 27.3 in Q2 2023 to 43.9 in Q2 2024, indicating a 61% increase over the year.

Martin Herbst, CEO of JobAdder, commented on the challenges faced by recruiters: "Recruiters are no longer struggling to find candidates - they're inundated with them. The real challenge now is filtering through the high volume of applications to identify the most skilled and qualified candidates. This task has become even more daunting as recruitment teams have shrunk, and the pressure to streamline workflows has intensified."

As job creation trends downward, permanent roles are being replaced by temporary and contract positions. Temporary roles made up 79.4% of recruitment agency placements in Australia in Q2 2024, rising from 76.4% in the previous year. New Zealand also saw a similar trend, with temporary placements reaching 87.2% in Q2 2024.

Herbst further stated: "As businesses cut back on permanent hires and bring recruitment in-house, agencies risk losing ground. To stay competitive, they should consider diversifying their offerings, and expanding into temp placements can be a strategic move to drive growth and revenue."

The report highlights the increasing reliance on job boards for applications, which represented 78% of recruitment agency applications by Q2 2024, a significant increase from past years. However, job board use results in longer placement times, averaging 16.3 extra days in Australia and 15.2 days in New Zealand, compared to other methods.

Fiona Chan, Partner and Technical Recruiter at Lookahead, noted the job board trend: "The overall increase is driven by job boards, where candidates can apply with just a few clicks. Many apply for roles with no relevant skills or experience, or apply for multiple, totally different roles. This makes us focus on headhunting and database search over advertising."

Matt Woodard, Founder of Scalr, added: "There is an increase in applications, but the overall quality of the candidate pool hasn't necessarily improved as a result. Managing the role was a lot more labour-intensive, and while the outcome was positive, a lot more work goes into the process to get to that point."

JobAdder's findings suggest a growing need for recruitment agencies and in-house teams to adapt by employing strategic, efficient, and diversified approaches, as the hiring landscape evolves. This includes re-evaluating sourcing strategies to enhance candidate quality and improve efficiency in response to the prevalent challenges of the current market.