SA Recruitment Survey 2011: The SA Recruitment Industry still a constant hive of activity

7 December 2011. The 2011 South African Recruitment Survey - conducted by the SA Recruiters Network in association with Jobs.co.za - reveals that HR Professionals and Recruiters are seeing a massive benefit in owning their own Career websites and are continuously using Social Media as their mediums of choice to source talent.

The Recruitment Industry shows no signs of slowing down with the rumoured economic crisis looming around the corner, yet a vast majority of Companies are still expecting to fill over 100 positions within this financial year. With Companies and Agencies continually educating themselves on the importance of having their own career websites and streamlining their Recruitment process through the use of Recruitment Management Systems, it is revealed that a meagre 9 % of Recruitment Professionals still do not have either of these in place.

The survey was completed by 316 South African Corporate HR Professionals and Recruitment Agency with the intention of gaining Recruitment insights and trends from South African Companies, Recruitment Agencies and Job Seekers. 

Key findings were as follows

• Of the 316 participated in the 3^rd Annual SA Recruiter's Network Survey, 68 % were Agencies and 32 % Employers
• 66 % of Companies are making use of their internal Recruitment departments to find their talent.
• More than 47 % of Companies still expect to fill over 100 vacancies in the current financial year.
• 40 % of Agencies will still work on less than 20 job vacancies per month, and following closely behind at 39 % of Agencies will work on 21 - 50 specs per month.
• Last year the largest growth was in the 'more than 100 job vacancies' range, yet in 2011 only 6 % of Agencies will work with more than 100 positions.
• 78 % of Companies currently use Recruitment Agencies, paying a placement fee of between 11 and 15 %, yet there has been a 5 % growth in Companies now willing to pay over the 20 % placement fee mark.
• There has been a 15.8 % increase in the use of Social Media to find talent, with LinkedIn being the most frequently used by both Recruitment Agencies and Companies directly.
• There has been a 12 % increase in the use of Job Board advertising, which is 7 % lower than the rise in Social Media Recruitment.
• In 2010 there was a 29 % increase in Companies accessing CV databases, and a decrease of 15 % of Agencies; there have been further substantial drops in these figures for 2011. Companies decreased by 6.7 % and Agencies by 14.3 %.
• 9 % of Agencies do not use Social Networking platforms to find talent, making a potential correlation to that of Agencies who do not have a Careers website. 7 % of Agencies do not use Job Boards.
• An average of 68 % (an increase of 4 % from 2010 for both Companies and Agencies) still advertise jobs in print media such as newspapers or trade publications.
• Agencies consider Social Networks to offer the lowest return on investment while Companies consider Job Boards to offer the lowest return on investment. Candidate referrals have become one of the most effective Recruitment channels in finding suitable candidates from an Agency perspective.
• 67 % of Companies see definite value in advertising their brand to attract talent.
• 69 % of Companies offer internship or Graduate Recruitment Programmes.

Executive Summary

There has been an increase in both Companies and Agencies considering the importance of a company careers website, yet a very small %age (9 %) of Agencies still don't have their own websites. Companies find that by having their own career websites, they are seeing a much higher return on investment. Agencies are sourcing better quality candidates from Social Networks over Job Boards.

This year's survey has indicated that the use of Social Media and Professional Networks is still on the rise.  It was also revealed that the average placement fee of 11 % to 15 % has remained constant from 2010, and that there has been a slight increase in Companies willing to pay over the 20 % mark.

Gillian Meier, CEO of Jobs.co.za said 'There has been an increase in Companies seeing the value in advertising their brand to attract talent and build up their own talent pools. In addition the 2010 survey revealed that most companies were finding better quality candidates from Recruitment Agencies; however it seems that the tables have turned in 2011, as the stats have shown.'

An interesting find through the 2011 Survey is that candidate referrals have become one of the most effective Recruitment channels in finding suitable candidates for both Agencies and Companies.  

Click here to download the complete PDF report.

Click here to download the PDF Summary of Key Findings.