The latest information from Recruitment Industry Benchmarking’s RIB Index shows that, across the first five months of 2019, the proportion of new clients billed by all RIB recruiters, as a percentage of total clients, was significantly lower than in the last two years.

Set into historical context for the median RIB recruiter, new clients made up around a third of total clients billed in both Jan-May 2017 and 2018. By Jan-May 2019, however, it had dropped to 19%. Similarly, among those with higher proportions of new clients within the total billed (the upper quartile), the percentage dropped from around a half in 2017 and 2018 to 37% in 2019. And within the lower quartile of recruiters – those with much lower proportions of new clients as a percentage of the total billed – the percentage halved from 20% in Jan-May 2017 to 10% in the first five months of 2019. 

Belinda Johnson runs employment research consultancy, Worklab, and is Associate Knowledge & Insight Director of Recruitment Industry Benchmarking (RIB). The RIB Index provides bespoke confidential reports on industry benchmarks and trends. See www.ribindex.com; [email protected]: 020 8544 9807. The RIB is a strategic partner of the REC.