The next hiring boom is right around the corner

Disclaimer: past performance is no guarantee of future results

In Q1, our contract placements in technology *increased* 50% compared to the same period the previous year.

And that number was close to 2x what it was the previous quarter. (Admittedly, Q4 is always the slowest quarter.)

This is promising news for everyone. (Not the Hirewell tech recruiters who focus in contract-based work.) Because the downturn/upturn cycle typically follows this format:

Phase 1: Cut contractors.

Phase 2: Lay off full time employees.

Phrase 3: Hire contractors. 👈 YOU ARE HERE

Phase 4: Hire full time employees. 🎉

Companies have money. They have work to do. But they’re still a little fearful.

Eventually, they’ll get over it. And we’ll move to phase 4.

This is where my fictional legal team asked me to say “past performance is no guarantee of future results.” But in every downturn since I’ve started my career, the labor market has followed this 4 phase path.

With that in mind, I’m calling that we’ve hit the bottom. It’s straight up from here.

👉And on one knows anything, least of all recruiters like me.

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Friendly reminder: yes we do contract staffing. Not just in tech but marketing, design, finance & accounting, HR and internal recruiting. Hit me up if you need to hire. (You knew a pitch was coming.) 

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Full episode of Hirewell Data Insights: Hiring Trends Q2 2023 here.

James Hornick

Partner at Hirewell. #3 Ranked Sarcastic Commenter on LinkedIn.