Talent Attraction: Dealing with a Candidate sparse market

A rush to reopen and departures of overseas talent sparked by COVID-19 and Brexit have left employers in many industries struggling to fill roles.

Surges in online job ads show that demand for workers is particularly high in the manufacturing, transport & logistics, IT and hospitality sectors – so if you’re in one of these and need to fill roles, how do you get ahead of the competition?

Embed recruitment in your marketing strategy

Your ‘brand’ is seen by both customers AND potential employees - so if you’re not doing so already you should leverage your marketing capacity (and budget!) to engage with prospective hires as well as your customers. To do this properly, as with any marketing strategy you need to understand who your audience is, where they are and how to attract and engage them.

But before you go ahead and adorn your social media channels and careers pages with a rose-tinted view of your perks and culture- It’s no good attracting top talent with things you cannot deliver on. You’ll just end up losing the talent you bring in, and potentially the talent that’s already with you too. 

Consider undergoing an employee engagement survey to identify the ‘real’ USP’s of your employee value proposition - this can help you to identify areas of weakness too - an excellent tool to prevent talent leakage. 

Show off your people 

Go beyond the classic headshot-filled ‘meet the team’ page on your website and start telling stories of the people within your business – much like you’d attract new business with killer case studies. The happiness and performance of existing employees can ramp up your ability to attract new (like-minded!) talent, so don’t be afraid to show it off. 

Stories of career progression show in a relatable way that you’re ready to invest in personal growth, and ‘day-in-the-life’-style content will give new talent an idea of what to expect from working with you.

Shout about your sustainable side

A 2020 survey by intranet provider Unily found that 65% of UK office workers are more likely to want to work for a company if it has a strong environmental policy. If you don’t have a policy like this, now’s the time to start building one, not just for recruitment’s sake, but for the long-term survival of your business. And if you are already environmentally conscious, shout about it in the places your ideal talent is likely to be: LinkedIn, Twitter, your website, newsletters. Your reputation as an ethical business matters now and it’ll only become more important as we get closer to the UK government’s 2050 ‘net zero’ deadline.

Be open to flexible, gig workers

Future of Work Institute (FoWI) research has identified “a new paradigm” for traditional professional work. The report shows businesses have been pushed to “rethink their workspaces, their talent pools, and what skills they look for in talents.”

It’s no longer feasible to solely rely on permanent talent. Instead businesses can supplement existing staff with freelance or contingent workers, who enjoy the flexibility and freedom gig working provides.

“By shifting their workplaces to home offices, many employers are finding new opportunities in supplementing their resourcing needs with freelancers and contingent labour.”

There are other benefits to widening your talent horizons, too. Notably time and cost to hire savings as well as access to switch on/switch off skills.