With the highest levels of job vacancies recorded in the UK since records began in 2001 – over 1,000,000 – coupled with a huge lack of candidates, active job movers are now very much in the driving seat and able to pick and choose the job they want.
Yorkshire, much as the rest of the UK, was experiencing both skills and candidate shortages long before the pandemic, and now as lockdown eases and as the wider impact of Brexit takes hold, we are seeing severe shortages in many industries.
For the first time in many years we are seeing candidates able to command their own personal mix of:
- Salary
- Benefits package
- Flexibility of site based vs home based
- Flexible hours to achieve work life balance
There is no doubt an employer is going to have to work much harder to both retain their existing talent and to attract top new talent into their organisation and here are some of our top tips to help.
Top tips to attract the best candidates
There has been a seismic change in people’s attitude to their work life balance since the outbreak of the pandemic. Most have come to love the calmer working from home routine, no stressful and expensive commute and the ability to spend more time with loved ones.
- Be flexible with your approach to working from home/site based. You will have far fewer candidates to choose from so get into dialogue early with them as to what their preferences are, rather than having fixed ideas. A hybrid combination is becoming the norm, with many candidates preferring a 3 day/2 day model for example.
Wellbeing has come to the top of many candidate’s priorities, preferring to stay away from stressful environments and choosing to work with those employers who clearly value employee mindfulness and positive mental health.
- Make sure your employer brand is fully aligned with and positively practising employee wellbeing
- Offer market-leading benefits above the norm, such as private health, team days, sporting/activity memberships, life insurance for their family etc
Candidates will have extensively researched your organisation, its values, its reviews by both previous employees and customers and its corporate and social responsibility activities well before they even consider applying for a position. Your online presence (website, social media platforms and review sites) must be up to date, informative, appealing, values-driven and dynamic if they are to compel a potential candidate to apply for a vacancy.
- Spend time and effort on your digital footprint
- Reinforce a candidates view that you are a fabulous place to work
Top tips for keeping candidates
So you are breathing a huge sign of relief as your chosen candidate has accepted a position with your company, phew, you can sit back and relax. Wrong! Again, due to the prolific number of vacancies at present, candidates are continuing to ‘keep their options open’ even after accepting a position and we are seeing offer retractions becoming far more commonplace.
- Existing employers are making counter offers in order to keep candidates
- Candidates are seeking employers who best fit their preferred work packages
- Talent is being actively head hunted
However, the number one issue we see is the new employer not understanding the need to now excite and reaffirm the new employee’s enthusiasm for choosing this vacancy.
- Send all relevant paperwork, contracts etc. within the first week
- Schedule a weekly call with your new employee in the run up to the start date
- If you have not met in person offer to meet for coffee/lunch
- Ensure all first day schedules and expectations are with the candidate at least a week before the start date
- Ask members of their team to schedule a welcome call before the start date
- Ensure you have a brilliant onboarding and induction programme in place – ‘throwing in at the deep end’ is never a good start and not an option in todays world of the next opportunity being available to them at any point
Your goal is to make sure your new employee actually makes it to the start date without being tempted elsewhere and then once they arrive ensuring they want to stay.
If you would like book a Candidate Attraction meeting please contact us on 01977269069 or email info@jsrecruitmentuk.com
