Demand For Staff Continues To Climb As Candidate Availability Falls

Read a Recruitment Consultancy’s view on the current market and the steps they suggest you put in place.

There is no better placed business to gain the full picture when it comes to the current employment market and the issues companies will face if they don’t put the right steps in place to ensure they retain and gain the top talent.

Forward thinking Businesses are managing to retain staff by reviewing salaries and giving all staff an across-the-board pay rise, as well as additional benefits.  They understand that having someone leave the business and not being able to replace them quickly can have a damaging and costly effect on their business.

As a recruitment agency we can honestly say in the 13 years of our existence it has never been such a candidate driven market and it is so important for organisations to ensure they have an attractive offering, whether that be financial or cultural, and are focussed on employee engagement to attract and retain the best talent.

So, our advice to you if you are contemplating recruitment is take the following into consideration and remember as an established agency, we have the time and capability to assist with your recruitment programme.

• Don’t delay – the market is tough. If you are seeking the best candidates it’s taking more time to find them – we have found that the % of candidates applying has dropped significantly due to the current environment and many candidates have taken the decision to change their work environment and are making more personal choices to suit their worklife balance.
• Speed is of the essence – We cannot express enough the importance of speed. Due to the reduced pool of candidates we openly remind clients to consider the length of time they keep a candidate waiting from receipt of CV, to interview, to offer.  Excellent candidates are not applying for just one role and therefore won’t be waiting around to hear back from you for too long.
• Job Security - Covid has clearly changed what people value in the workplace, from experience candidates are telling us they rely on the security their current role can give them and are reluctant to move. So, think about how you can relay to potential candidates how secure their roles will prove to be in the current economic climate?
• Know your competition - You are now not only competing for the best candidates, but the working environment candidates wish to work in. Since Brexit many candidates have moved back to their native countries and have not returned to the UK. Others have re-evaluated how and where they want to work. Whether the role is office, remote or hybrid has become one of the biggest questions we are asked as a recruitment agency and is now a major factor in selection of job roles.  Have you looked at the flexibility within your organisation recently and whether you can offer a variety of working opportunities?
• Benchmarking salaries - This is now an even larger part of our role as an agency to take a brief from a client and benchmark the same or similar roles in a variety of locations. Candidates not only need a pay increase due to the cost of living but are also aware their current company may well counteroffer to ensure they stay; be aware you may need a larger budget to attract and retain quality candidates.  We are finding more and more candidates are not settling and are pushing for more comprehensive overall packages.
• Benefits - What is your overall benefits package? How does it compare to your competitors? Make sure you do your research.  As a Recruitment Consultancy we are returning to our clients and giving them open and honest feedback on where they sit vs their competitors, giving them the opportunity to reassess their offering.
• Welcome Bonus – Some companies are now offering a welcome bonus to attract new people. It might be worth considering if you are struggling to find the ideal candidate in a given timeframe.
• Wellbeing & Mental Health – These have become much larger topics over recent years and an excellent wellbeing and work life balance scheme will be of benefit to all concerned. If this can be added to a job description, then don’t hesitate to incorporate it.
• Recruitment Consultants - There are so many reasons it makes sense to use an agency to seek top talent on your behalf, including saving time and therefore money, searching for candidates and filtering through, benchmarking salaries and benefits and given honest and open feedback regarding the current market. Remember with most agencies you will not pay a fee unless they secure the ideal candidate for you, so you have nothing to lose.

Agencies also have several candidates already on their books who maybe the right candidate at the right time, and if not, they spend a vast majority of their time CV searching and speaking to large amounts of potential candidates on your behalf.

TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT HOW WE CAN HELP YOU FIND THE IDEAL CANDIDATE FOR YOUR COORPORATION PLEASE DO GET IN TOUCH.