The Firefish x Quil AI integration is a recruitment AI tool that enables recruiters to do what they do best - find and place talent.

Quil AI protects recruitment CRM systems as a single source of truth, automatically transcribing candidate and contact communications into well-formatted notes, enriching the profiles in a recruitment CRM and agency database. 

Our AI in recruitment statistics found that the AI notetaker can save recruiters 8 hours a week, allowing recruiters to focus on meaningful conversations with clients to build strong relationships. Administrative tasks per candidate can feel like a long slog for recruiters, which is why Quil prides itself on the tool’s ability to save recruiters time by reducing administrative tasks. Firefish x Quil AI enables revenue-generating activities for the recruitment agencies using it.

The current job market is widely considered to be uncertain, not only for recruitment agencies, but across the spectrum of industry.

There are a number of factors that contributed to this uncertainty with economic challenges - including the general election and a budget which increased taxation on businesses - creating hiring hesitancy in 2024, which directly impacted the recruitment industry.

Understandably, employers remain cautious about spending time and money on the wrong candidates, which is one of the reasons why AI is becoming more important for recruitment agencies to navigate a new era of candidate sourcing and placement. 

Firefish’s recruitment insights found that 62% of leaders want AI to assist candidate sourcing, 61% want AI for database management and 54% want it to enhance reporting.

High-growth agencies see the value of AI in processes, with industry leaders seeing the benefits afforded by the technology, removing slow admin tasks from the recruiter workload, enhancing reporting and facilitating database management. Utilising AI in recruitment CRM systems will save agencies time, and time is money, as the saying goes. 

However, if we look at both sides of the argument, although recruitment agencies will likely increasingly use AI adoption for administrative purposes in 2025 and beyond, recruiters do not want it to get in the way of human relationship building and networking.

In fact, 84% of recruitment leaders featured in our report stated they would not want AI adoption to interfere with the interview process at all.

Working models have changed dramatically over the past few years.

To ensure the greatest ROI, recruitment agencies need to create working environments and offer benefits or incentives that will get the best out of their workforce.

According to our research, high-growth recruitment agencies are more aligned with modern workforce expectations with: 

     - A greater emphasis on hybrid working      

     - More focus on base salary packages            

     - Stronger emphasis on career progression

The covid era changed the way people lived and worked, and after the spike of fully-remote working during this period, some agencies chose to keep the same business model for a time - but there is change in the air.

Leaders have applied these learnings effectively.

Our data found that 31% of agencies have increased base salaries between 1-10% in the last 12 months, with another 9% of agencies having increased base salaries by more than 10% in the past 12 months.

According to the LinkedIn Workplace Learning Report, 94% of employees said they would stay longer at a company if it invested in learning and development.

Employees who see clear career progression paths for themselves in an organisation and who feel committed to a company with a positive value system are statistically less likely to leave for their next role.

Our data found that the number of fully remote models will decrease, with office-first hybrid and fully office-based models becoming the norm - 57% of agencies are choosing these working models.

For 2025, the office-first hybrid model is the most popular model amongst agency leaders.

High-growth recruitment leaders have in-depth knowledge of the wider candidate market, with leaders featured in our report stating there is a shift in candidate focus in 2025.

79% of agency leaders believe that the base salary is the most important factor for candidate attraction in 2025, with 65% of leaders stating progression and career development is front of mind for candidates.

Putting data at the heart of your recruitment agency.

Firefish data found that the high-growth recruitment agencies in 2024 placed greater focus on efficiency and automation to compliment the skills of the current workforce.

Our data found that the value of automation for recruitment CRM systems is still apparent in 2025, with 11% of high-growth agencies forecasting they will decrease headcount to maximise the output of current talent.

To get the best out of current in-house talent in 2025, successful recruitment agencies will combine the skills of human workers with the benefits afforded through automation tools.

According to the Office for National Statistics recruitment data, 18% fewer job vacancies were advertised in 2024 compared to 2023.

Recruiting industry statistics further suggest that the recruitment sector has seen some tough times over the past year to 18 months, with an estimated 600 recruitment businesses having closed their doors and a 32% reduction of the recruitment consultant workforce. 

In some ways, recruitment statistics from 2024 could paint a harrowing picture for the recruitment industry and its future, and while the data does demonstrate a shift in the recruitment industry; it also shines a light on the recruitment agencies that have survived - and how they are succeeding.

According to the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2025 technological change, geoeconomic fragmentation, economic uncertainty, demographic shifts and the green transition will be some of the major drivers shaping and transforming the global labour market by 2030.

But what are the changes we can expect to see in 2025? What lies ahead for the future of the recruitment industry and recruitment CRM systems in the UK?

Introduction

Firefish’s The Future of the Recruitment Industry Report | 2025 takes a deep dive into the world of recruitment, gathering recruitment insights from industry leaders across the UK.

In this article we will take a closer look at 5 predictions for the recruitment industry in 2025. 

Let’s see what the future of recruitment holds.

The recruitment industry understands the value of agile working and processes - failing fast and course correcting when needed.

In 2025, recruitment agencies will need to follow the same ethos, ensuring their workforce and processes are agile to capitalise on market trends and react to external factors.

Our data found that high-growth recruitment agencies succeeding in the current job market are placing significantly higher importance on one of three areas:

     - Marketing Automation          

     - Business Software Adoption

     - Data Analysis and Reporting

+10%

more high-growth agencies are prioritising Business Software Adoption

more high-growth agencies are prioritising Data Analytics

+9%

more high-growth agencies are prioritising Marketing Automation

+18%

When we compared agencies predicting high growth in 2025 against those forecasting low or no growth, 18% more high-growth agencies are prioritising Marketing Automation; 10% are prioritising Business Software Adoption; 9% are prioritising Data Analysis and Reporting.

Successful agencies are putting a real focus on understanding the data in their CRM. But how does this data-driven approach to candidate research and placement help? By leveraging data analytics, recruitment agencies can utilise actionable insights to enhance decision-making and improve hiring outcomes. 

Data provides actionable insights to enhance decision-making and improve hiring outcomes. Recruitment agencies that integrate data analytics into recruitment strategies will benefit from more efficient processes, better candidate experiences and higher-quality hires.

Marketing automation can help recruitment agencies of any size achieve key marketing goals and enhance profitability, allowing agencies to communicate with candidates with intent.

When used correctly, marketing automation allows recruitment agencies to engage with candidates on a deeper level - focussing on value exchange between agency and candidate, which ultimately sets candidates up for success during the recruitment process.

To get the most ROI out of candidate acquisition strategies, high growth recruitment agencies know where applications and candidates came from - which is why Firefish offers Candidate Source Tracking which gives in depth analysis of high or low performing candidate acquisition channels.

Recruitment Industry Insights

With insights from

75% of agencies will use social sourcing strategy 

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Gone are the days in which connecting with the masses could be achieved via one singular media outlet, with people across the globe today choosing to obtain information through a multi-channel approach.

To achieve the goal of attracting and obtaining the best talent, recruitment agencies must adopt a multi-channel candidate sourcing strategy to maximise their search for the perfect candidate. 

Firefish data found that high-growth agencies are likely to prioritise:

     - Re-engaging their database

     - External Job Boards                 

     - Social sourcing                            

45% of agencies will use content generation

67% of agencies prioritising re-engaging client databases

Our research unearthed that 75% of recruitment agencies plan to utilise a social sourcing strategy for candidate attraction in 2025.

Why is this effective? Recruiters undertaking social sourcing methods access a wider talent pool, benefit from passive candidate engagement, better candidate screening and improved employer branding to name but a few positives.

In fact, our data found that social sourcing continues to be the most popular strategy for attracting candidates, with over 70% of industry leaders listing job boards and social sourcing as strategies generating high ROI in 2024.

Over the past few years, we have seen greater use of video marketing, email marketing and content generation within candidate acquisition strategies. 45% of agencies will use content generation as one of their main tools for candidate attraction in 2025.

High growth agencies understand the importance of building an audience for their brand, which is why they are getting more sophisticated in the way they operate social sourcing.

Firefish simplifies social sourcing processes with a LinkedIn Chrome Extension which streamlines outreach practices by quickly and effectively, pulling information and data directly from a potential candidate’s LinkedIn profile.

This tool empowers recruitment agencies to capture and update both candidate and client records in their recruitment CRM.

Of course, re-engaging candidates within an existing recruitment CRM database also offers benefits to recruitment agencies, as it allows them to revisit warm leads, tapping into a pool of pre-vetted, qualified candidates who are already familiar with your company.

Recruiters can therefore capitalise on work already completed, significantly cutting down the time and cost of sourcing new talent while nurturing long-term relationships with potential future hires.

Our UK recruitment industry statistics found that 67% of agencies are prioritising re-engaging clients within their existing recruitment CRM databases to find candidates in 2025 - with 79% of agency leaders reporting that this was a top-performing recruitment strategy for their firm in 2024.