Senior Recruitment Specialist Robert Kenward shares the latest insights into shifting recruitment based on conversations with agency owners, employment managers, recruitment managers in the event and experience sectors and senior industry leaders.
As economic uncertainty looms and confidence hires, Robert’s first quarter analysis highlights the growing tension between employers and job seekers, the pitfalls of DIY recruitment, and the inevitable nature of changes in the way we work.
Below are key trends for the first quarter 2025 and Robert’s forecast for the rest of the year.
Trend 1: Employers are pushing back
After years of sentiment, they have agreed to candidate-driven concessions (such as remote working and increased wages), but employers are beginning to say enough.
With tightening the job market, growing contributions from national insurance, and global economic pressures (particularly from the US), many companies feel pushed into the corner, and they are pushing back. Kenward explains: “To future recruits, ‘This is what you need. If it doesn’t suit you, this role isn’t for you.’ It’s a tougher market right now.”
He adds: “The days of pick-and-mix recruitment are declining. Employers feel too long and dependable, which makes them less flexible and tougher. It’s a moment of reset and is changing the tone of recruitment.”
Trend 2: Rising LinkedIn Recruitment (and risk)
With budget pressures, some employers have turned to DIY recruitment through LinkedIn, but the results are often confused.
Kenward said: “LinkedIn is flooded with radio work posts that lack strategy. If your only social content is a strange international women’s day post or a black square in black history months, suddenly, job ads pop up without pay brackets, and you’ll be overwhelmed by a CV that doesn’t have a sense of branding and is unattractive.”
While well-planned social recruitment strategies can be strong, Kenward warns that most employers don’t invest in basics. He said: “It’s not just about posting work, it’s about understanding your audience, having clear employer suggestions, and actually knowing how to write an ad.
Trend 3: Work Pattern Changes
While many employers are sticking to employee expectations, beneath the surface, there is a significant momentum of structural change in the way we work.
Kenward states: “Conversation is what happens if things change anymore, then it’s how that change looks.”
He adds: “The four-day week is still in the mix, but we’ve also heard more about six-hour days that we think will be the future of work. Either way, it reduces the time people are expected to “on” to get more focused on the output.
2025 forecast
2025 has already seen some important changes in industry attitudes and delivery.
Rethinking the rules for 2025
2025 is becoming a year to challenge everything we thought we knew about work. “It’s not just how we hire, where we work, or who leads the fees. It’s about completely rethinking the rules,” Kenward says. “Flexibility is not just a buzzword. It’s the foundation of smarter, more effective business practices. If you just scream about flexibility as your USP, you’ll be stuck with the old model and you’ll be left with competitors who quickly adapt to the shifting landscape.”
The UK employment bill will be deserted, but still have teeth
The government’s proposed employment bill has sparked many conversations, particularly around the rise in NI, leading to improved workers’ protection and flexible rights of work. Kenward believes that the law is unlikely to see the land in its current form. “We don’t have a political appetite to fully implement the bill,” he says. “What we get is a lot of watered-down versions, delayed implementations, and ambiguous commitments that are often seen on paper. Employers must be vigilant, but don’t expect earthquake changes in 2025.
It’s not where you work, but when.
Flexibility ’25 is less about the place and more about the time. The pandemic has made hybrid, flexible, remote work the norm, but the next step is to rethink when we work.
Weekend schedules, staggered, and project-based time frames are becoming key to productivity. Kenward states: “Traditional Monday to Friday, 9-5 days will not fit anyone, and clinging away talented people who work better in alternative patterns.”
He adds: “If team members knock out a project on Saturday morning and take off Monday, why not look at the clock, but about output. Businesses accepting this shift aren’t just looking at the happier employees.
Senior leader has returned to the office
Senior leaders are at the forefront of a major return to the office. Kenward commented: “After years of remote work, many MDs and C-Suite executives want to be a place of action three, four or five days a week.
He adds: “After years of tailoring home setup, glitchy zoom calls and remote work quarantine, many MDs and C-Suite executives want to go back to the heart of their business. For them, they want to reunite with workplace topics and set the tone for their team.”
Are you clinging to your office obsession? Say goodbye to your team
But even if your leader wants to be in the office, if you are requesting that your team be there at least three days a week, you will tighten up yourself – you will probably say goodbye to most of them within 18 months.
Kenward states: “It takes four or five days in the office. It’s just accelerating the book of Exodus. The talent pool is dry for businesses stuck in the “Bums-on-Seats” mindset. Employees are flexible.
Collaboration and acquisitions, not mergers
In 2025, the acquisition will be dominated. The idea of ”merging equality” is dead. Now it’s all about buying success. “Being acquired is not a sign of failure. It’s a badge of honor. Small businesses are becoming targets for bigger players, and it’s reconstructing the landscape,” says Kenward. At the same time, small agencies are united to dodge small guns. “Think of it as one of partnerships, collaborations and communities,” Kenward said. “It’s the smartest and not the biggest. Strategies like these shallows become increasingly common for smaller entities to unite and manoble “sharks.” ”
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