Recruiters are all waiting for something bad to happen in the employment market. The reality is that while things are slowing down, we are not in desperate times as evidenced by the recent job numbers report.
Job openings are inherently difficult to predict. I watch the reports on a weekly and monthly basis, and I am continually surprised by how often the actual job numbers are different than what was predicted. It does seem like we are leveling off more than plunging into recession, at least in North America.
With that said, in April, 253,000 net new jobs were added by employers. This means that full employment and a very low unemployment rate are still here for the foreseeable future. What is most interesting to me is that we all hear folks saying that the jobs are in the hospitality and retail world and not “good” jobs. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports where the jobs came from and they are actually “good” jobs. Many of the openings added in April are from manufacturing; 11,000 jobs to be specific. Business services and professional jobs grew by 43,000 in April. A good sign that business in general is still not in recession. April was also a month where 40,000 jobs were added in healthcare. See the BLS source chart below.
It is time for recruiters to focus on the quality of their job openings. Work the ones where you know clients are serious and will hire if you provide the right talent. Do not work on purely speculative situations where the client is slow to react or never offers feedback. Work on the big salary jobs. These take longer to find the right candidate sometimes but will reward you for the effort.
This is also a time to pivot toward asking for jobs in places and with clients you have not been asking previously. Ask for international assignments, ask for contract work, ask if they need part-time or limited duration hires to get project work done, ask for the opportunity to replace the weakest link in their current configuration. Make openings where none existed.
I wish you luck, but please realize that while things are slowing down, there is still more to be done than you can handle. Go get it!