Recruitment activity is set to increase over the next six months, according to respondents to the Recruitment Confidence Index (RCI) from Cranfield School of Management and the Daily Telegraph, in association with Personnel Today.
Almost half of the 1,115 responding organisations (48%) expect overall recruitment activity to increase in the next six months, compared to only 12% who expect it to decrease.
In addition, a third of these organisations (33%) expect recruitment activity for managerial and professional staff to increase, compared to 7% who expect a decrease.
Almost half of responding organisations also expect the numbers of employees within their organisation to rise during the next six months (48%) compared to only 10% who expect them to fall, while 42% expect employment levels to remain the same over the next six months.
However, the higher levels of recruitment activity mean that organisations will find it increasingly difficult to find workers with particular skills.
Indeed, one in two employers (50%) expect to have difficulties recruiting sales staff compared to only 40% three months ago.
Similarly, 45% predict difficulties in filling IT vacancies compared to only a third (34%) in the last quarter.
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