The UK IT channel jobs market is finally “waking up” after two years in the doldrums, one recruiter has claimed – although others aren’t expecting a recovery until at least Q4.
In a LinkedIn post, ECS Resource Group’s Tom Scullion said the recruitment firm had brought in 12 new sales and pre-sales roles across the channel since 1 April.
“It’s not quite a hiring frenzy… but it’s definitely a strong signal that things are moving again. The market’s waking up, and great talent is on the move,” Scullion wrote.
Coventry-based ECS Resource Group generates the lion’s share of its business from resellers and IT services providers. Clients include Computacenter, Digital Space, Jigsaw24, Daisy, Ricoh and Fujitsu.
Known historically for its prowess in contractor resources, it also offers permanent recruitment.
Talking to IT Channel Oxygen, Tom Scullion said permanent roles are bouncing back after a “particularly slow” quarter ending 31 March.
“Sales is a growing area for us, so to bring in 12 opportunities in that sales and pre-sales world is quite a change from the previous quarter,” he said.
“Companies are clearly trying to grow, which is a good sign. These aren’t back-filled roles just to fill a seat because someone’s left. Companies are saying ‘we’ve weathered the storm for the last two years; now we need some people to help us grow our business and expand our customers’.”
“You’ll see a surge in Q4”
Some of ECS’ peers only tentatively agreed with Scullion’s thesis, however, with Robertson Sumner CEO Marc Sumner predicting that hiring won’t pick up until Q4.
“From Q4 of last year to Q1 and Q2 of this year, it’s been about leadership changes,” Sumner said.
“Everyone’s changed their leaders, and now I think you’ll see people over the summer analysing what headcount they’ve got, what teams they’ve got, who’s on PIPs, who’s going to be leaving and who’s going to joining – and then you’ll see a surge in hiring come Q4.”
“Hardest six months in recruitment across the channel I’ve seen”
Charlotte Hallam, Founder of channel recruitment outfit CRH Search, branded H1 2025 the “hardest six months in recruitment across the channel I’ve seen”.
“I’ve not had anyone freeze roles, but clients are taking their time because they know there are a lot of candidates out there. They’d rather someone take their time to find them the best candidate – not just the best available candidate – rather than a spray and pray approach.”
This could change from September onwards, as the jobs market recovers following the NI hike and recent leadership changes across the sector, Hallam predicted, however.
“I’m seeing lots of vacancies with start dates from August and September onwards,” she said.
The candidate experience has “got far worse”, Hallam added, however.
“Resellers want to work with specialist recruitment agencies that know the market, yet they’re not willing to put their investment into one or two partners – they want to spread it around,” she said.
“Candidates are getting sick and tired of the amount of recruitment consultants contacting them about the same roles. People aren’t being treated very well.”
“Is it as buoyant as we want it to be? Not yet”
Zoe Chatley, MD of The Channel Recruiter, felt that the jobs market is “heading in the right direction”, meanwhile.
“I agree that it’s waking up. But is it as buoyant as we want it to be? Not yet,” she said.
“There’s more on the contract side, for technical resource, but we don’t play in that market at the moment. On the perm side, I don’t think it’s as busy as it could be.
“But I would definitely say it’s improving. We’re seeing more vacancies on the MSP/reseller side than we are with vendors and distributors. But I have certainly noticed disties like Ingram, Exertis and TD Synnex starting to recruit a bit more, and a good handful of vendors are suddenly calling us.
“When I compare it to 2021, when I launched the business, it was one of the busiest years I’ve ever had in recruitment. We were so busy we were turning down work, whereas now the market’s nothing like that.
“But it’s heading in the right direction.”
Doug Woodburn is editor of IT Channel Oxygen
