July 2023 market overview: commerce and industry

Across the UK’s commerce and industry sectors, we’ve pulled together all the live vacancies we’ve had in July 2023 across London, Home Counties, West Midlands and South West England.

Despite slower interview processes, July shows positive signs for Q3

Throughout July, we saw the typical cyclical year of recruitment continue. July vacancies in the HR market dropped but this was to be expected seeing that it is the start of the holiday season

“Overall July has been a strong month for HR recruitment, which is a good indicator for the summer months and positive for the job market for Q3.”

As July marks the start of the summer holidays for schools, we always predict a slight drop off in hiring activity, which as mentioned above we have seen this year, we have noticed that candidates are in more than one process at a time as the market is still quite buoyant meaning organisations are still competing for top talent. But what we have really noticed is the slowdown in interview processes, which has been apparent for the last month or so and will continue into August most likely.

This has caused some businesses to lose out on their preferred candidates if they didn’t move them through the interview cycle quickly enough, which can be frustrating for all parties. But overall July has been a strong month for HR recruitment, which is a good indicator for the summer months and positive for the HR job market for Q3.

Vacancies have been steady across all sectors

There has been an even spread across sectors recruiting HR professionals throughout July. Again, this is positive as we haven’t seen a large uplift or downturn in any market.

We are still seeing recruitment in manufacturing with a 16% market share of HR professionals, closely followed by technology and oil, gas and energy, with both sectors taking an 11% share.

Throughout June, some sectors stood out when hiring talent: non-profit increased its market share, reaching 24%, and manufacturing increased to 16% – but we’ve seen a continuous uplift in these sectors so it’s not surprising.

“Specialist areas are becoming more popular as businesses invest in positions in reward, payroll and HR analytics.”

The generalist space has continued to take the most market share of HR professionals with 36%. Specialist areas are also becoming more popular as businesses invest in positions in reward, payroll and HR analytics. Many of these roles are being created because companies are building new functions and moving these responsibilities over from generalists.

Talent acquisition has been consistent again this month with around 15% market share of HR professionals. We are seeing an increase in roles in employee relations and HR operations, both with a small proportion at 4% of market share, but we can see these areas possibly growing more.

“July shows that confidence in recruitment still prevails.”

July always feels like such a short month as we begin the summer holidays, but it’s been strong in HR recruitment – showing that confidence in recruitment still prevails as we move forward into the second half of the year.

Please complete our form below if you are looking to progress your career, or if you’re considering a new hire in your HR team and would like expert advice on the market and the talent available.