I have been working within recruitment for many years now, after the crazy year that was 2020 I have made some predicitons for what I think 2021 will bring the Recruitment industry within Change & Technology. 

Video interviews
Interviewing can always be an art to perfect, however in the new world we face further challenges with on-line interviews proving that we all need to approach things in a different fashion. I believe that although video interviews are inherently quicker as location and travel are no longer an issue the pressure hiring managers have to get it right is far higher due to COVID. Companies are less willing to take the risk they would have previously thus will slow down the hiring process.

Programme and projects
While a number of projects continued last year, the majority were either in play, business-critical or mobilising the workforce to be able to work as efficiently from home as in the office. The new challenge for businesses is initiating new projects and having the confidence to drive these forwards. Not being able to have the key project personnel in regular face to face project meetings and the ability to floor walk has hampered the speed to get things off the ground. 

Digital Transformation
Insurers are embracing the digital world utilising technology to increase customer base and also cross-sell new products. The challenge is how to approach digital transformation to be in line with customer expectations. Historically, this has not been a natural transition across insurance, but it is now being embraced and significant investment made to ensure they are at the forefront rather than lagging behind the competition. I believe we will see projects pick up quickly here if an insurer wanted to build an app for customers pre-pandemic they will still want to offer this service

What are our clients doing to motivate and train the workforce?
The way companies successfully manage, motivate and train staff who are working from home will be a key challenge in 2021. A number of businesses have changed their business models and a very high percentage of personnel will be expected to work from home. As a positive, this will allow companies to expand their hiring range in terms of geography and salary. Instead of only being able to search within commuting range, recruiters will be able to search nationally, this will also have effects on wages with London based companies not requiring a salary hike for living costs if staff live outside of London.

IR35 Interim/Contract market
Having worked this market for many years now it is obvious that the last 12 months have proved a challenge for this market! Not only did IR35 start to put the brakes on, COVID-19 definitely ensured they were firmly applied. The pandemic could have a reverse effect on the IR35 slowdown we were seeing, with the chances of work become potentially harder we may see workers embrace IR35 to keep working. There are still the hopes that this will still be abolished or at the very least pushed back for a year, could this be a good way to kick start more change and transformation programmes with skilled contractors and give clients more confidence that they have a flexible workforce.

These are all my predictions and we are still living in a wildly changing world all the time. But I am here to offer my help and services to anyone who needs is so please get in conatct. 

Email: gstubbing@bostonhale.com
Number: 0777 6144 184