Online Recruitment reports that the recruitment industry is facing a lack of suitably qualified staff required for business to grow effectively.

In a survey of recruitment consultancies by law firm Nabarro, the sector was shown to be thriving with 87 percent of recruitment consultants increasing their turnover in the last year. Nearly all predicted growth over the next five years, optimistically expected to be between 31 percent and 50 percent.

However, a lack of suitably qualified staff was seen as the most important factor limiting the future growth of the company. Other concerns that could limit growth included a downturn in the market, increasingly fierce competition and client pressure to reduce fees.

Iain Newman of Nabarro said: “The recruitment sector is characterised by growth and the expectation of continued strong growth in years to come across all sizes of recruitment companies, from small to very large.

“Lack of suitably qualified staff is clearly top of mind for most directors in the recruitment sector. Over half of those surveyed quoted this as the single most important factor limiting the future growth of their business. This clearly indicates that directors need to focus on positioning their companies favourably with regard to their competitors in the years ahead if they are to win the fight for the best staff.”