How to recruit candidates in a changing labour market

Over the past few years, we’ve seen a rapidly changing labour market. The lasting impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the current cost-of-living crisis have created economic uncertainty and increased levels of inactivity  

In order to succeed as a business, it is key that you review your recruitment strategy regularly and adapt to changes in the labour market. This will make you attractive as an employer and help you to recruit quality candidates even in a tight labour market. 

So, how can you recruit candidates in a changing labour market?   

There are a variety of steps you can follow, depending on the size and type of your business. We’ll be covering different areas, from simplifying your recruitment process and exploring community partnerships, to offering in work support and improving accessibility within your organisation.  

Simplifying recruitment

Let’s start by looking at your current recruitment process. There are two important questions to consider:  

1. Is the job description clear?
   If someone were to read the job description, would they understand the role and their tasks? Be sure to use concise language and avoid buzz words or company jargon. You should also highlight the salary range, company benefits, and development opportunities within the role. We’ll talk more about the importance of offering internal development later.
2. Can the candidate easily apply for the role?
   How many steps do potential candidates have to take during their application, for instance, do they have to submit a copy of their CV and then re-enter the information separately? Look for ways you can trim time off the application process.
   Remember, what’s considered easy for one person, may be challenging to another. We’ve written previously about inclusive hiring strategies, and how to create an accessible recruitment process.
   
   Streamlining and simplifying your recruitment process can help encourage candidates to submit applications and present an opportunity for your business to set a welcoming first impression. 

Improve accessibility 

Alongside the recruitment process, how else can you improve accessibility within your workplace? This is a key factor to help you to recruit candidates in a changing labour market. Creating an accessible workplace helps to expand your recruitment options, as well as improve retention rates. It demonstrates that your business is committed to equality and can help improve company culture. 

Anyone can acquire a disability throughout their working life. However, people with disabilities are far less likely to be in employment compared to non–disabled people. The disability employment rate in the UK is 52.7%, compared to 81% for nondisabled people. 

Employing people from a range of backgrounds and lived experience can enrich your workplace. It’s why we’ve produced a free disability guide to support employers who actively recruit disabled people.

Widen your talent pool

By making your workplace more accessible, it also means you can widen and diversify your talent pool. This allows you to access a whole new range of candidates during your recruitment process, which you previously may not have thought of. 

Gareth Parry, Programme Director of Maximus Employability Division, touched on this point as he explained three ways to level up the labour market. Filling vacancies provides an opportunity for employer to further explore today’s talent pool in the labour market. This can include hiring groups of people who have traditionally had difficulty entering employment.  

People with disabilities fall into this group, as well as ex-offenders. The Probation Service’s Education, Training and Employment programme can help candidates develop new skills, enter training courses and find work. By expanding the depths of your talent pool, you can find fantastic people for your organisation that you otherwise may not have discovered. 

Community Partnership

Widening your talent pool presents many exciting opportunities for your business, but how do you go about doing it?  

Recruitment can be time-consuming and take a lot of resource from your company. However, with our help you can access over 50,000 work-ready candidates, at no cost your organisation.  

You may also find that ideal candidates might be closer than you think. Tapping into your local community talent pool can be a game changer when it comes to recruiting from the labour market. As an employer it ensures you’re aligning your services to the needs of your local economy. How can you make these local connections? Our Community Partnership Network (CPN) can help you become more integrated with companies and candidates in your area.  

The CPN can help strengthen local labour markets. In our new report, we found that nearly 85% of CPN members said it provides real value to their organisation’s day-to-day. 

Offer in work support 

Finding new and talented team members is amazing, but what about once they’ve been hired and start working for you? Recruitment and retention strategies go hand in hand. Developing enticing in work support not only benefits potential employees, but also creates a positive workplace for your current team and can boost your retention rates. 

In work support may take on different shapes and styles depending on the size and nature of your company. For instance, smaller companies may have less room for growth but can offer a wealth of other benefits. Whereas larger companies that allow for development opportunities may need to focus more on taking care of the team’s mental wellbeing. The Access to Work Mental Health Support Service, funded by the Department for Work and Pensions, is a cost-free service which can help you support your employees.  

A great place to figure out what your team want from their workplace is to talk to them. You can create a dialogue that can help you shape priorities of how best to support and develop your team. 

How to save time recruiting  

We understand the world of recruiting. We are a trusted partner to more than 500 local and national businesses across a range of industries and sectors. We want to help your business find some amazing candidates in a changing labour market.  

We’re so proud of the work we do. You can see how we’ve helped BT. Working with BT to help our participants move forward 

We can help your business too. To find out more about our cost-free recruitment service, get in touch with one of our expert team members today.