As we enter 2019, the impending Brexit is the hot topic on many people’s minds. According to our survey of 1,500 UK-based hiring managers, businesses are struggling to access the skills they need to thrive, with 39% of hiring managers finding that uncertainty around Brexit has directly impacted access to talent. A further 25% of respondents anticipate that the UK’s exit from the EU will have a negative impact on skills availability in the near future.
Although we still don’t know for sure what will happen after Brexit, here are the five recruitment trends we predict will be prevalent this year:
1. Employer branding
When the competition for candidates is fierce, having a strong employer brand is crucial for attracting and retaining talent. Your employer brand is essentially your reputation as a place to work.
Whether it is through word of mouth, or on review sites like Glassdoor, what people think about your employer brand matters. You need to express your employer brand across every platform – from your social media, to your internal comms, to your company policy, every aspect of your output needs to consistently frame your culture, your mission and all of the motivational factors that indicate why people should work for you.
For more insights on employer branding download our ebook.
2. Candidate experience
Candidates have more power than ever – the roles have reversed and employers have now had to become the salesperson to attract talent.
The candidate-short market doesn’t appear to be slowing down, with the availability of candidates falling at its fastest rate since January 2018 and employers need to treat their candidates as they would their most valued customers. Provide a great candidate experience and you’ll be lucky if they tell their friends – get it wrong and they could tell the whole world on Glassdoor.
Not only does a favourable candidate experience help you bring in the best people for your company, but it also helps you to project and perpetuate a positive image to the wider market, therefore building your employer brand (back to the previous point). Providing you get your candidate experience right, those you employ will strengthen and enrich your workforce.
For more insights on providing a great candidate experience, download our ebook ‘Don’t forget the candidate’.
3. Hiring based on behaviours rather than experience and qualifications
Unlike their competency counterparts which focus mainly on skills and experience, strengths-based interviews focus on finding and engaging with candidates who can demonstrate the core strengths that are key to success within the business. This interview method is being adopted by more employers as it’s more personal, allowing employers and recruiters to gain a genuine insight into the personalities of candidates and attract, hire and retain people who are aligned with their company culture, ethos and values.
The strength-based approach is especially useful when recruiting individuals who don't have a lot of work experience, working particularly well for graduate roles and also in a candidate-short market where employers need to tap into different talent pools.
4. Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer the future and is happening now. According to Undercover Recruiter, AI is expected to replace 16% of HR jobs within the next 10 years. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean more people will lose their jobs as a human touch is still deemed vital during the recruitment process in which 100% of our buyer survey respondents agreed. AI can revolutionise the recruitment process with almost 56% of our buyer survey respondents recognising that for at least parts of hiring process, some tasks can potentially be done more efficiently by a machine than a person by giving recruiters more time to focus on hiring the right person for the role, instead of the admin tasks necessary to make it happen.
AI can also be used to improve the candidate experience. For example, we’ve implemented a recruitment chatbot for our client Shop Direct which engages with and screens candidates, moving them along the recruitment process quicker. This is in essence the ideal assistant for the recruiter and an engaging consultant to the candidate.
5. Rise in salaries
UK professionals can expect to receive an extra £20 per week due to salary increases – that’s double the increase received in 2018, according to the latest Salary Trends Report by ECA International. Rising wages often indicate that employers are struggling to fill all their vacancies, so subsequently are boosting their offerings to both attract new talent and retain current employees. The rises mean the average employee can expect to see a raise of about 0.8%. This is following a better than expected salary increase for UK workers in 2018 (0.4%), originally forecasted to be among the lowest in Europe at 0.2%.
Need more information? Get in touch today
At Guidant Global, we’re here to help you traverse the often complicated world of outsourced recruitment. Whether you’re searching for an outsourced recruitment partner, or you’re a current client, we’re here to help you get the best service for your business. We’re here to challenge and transform the quick-fix, impersonal, and rush-to-revenue approach which prevails across the MSP market today by delivering solutions in a better way. We are partners, advisors, and strategic thinkers who deliver results.
For more information, simply email us on contact@guidantglobal.com or visit our 'Contact us' page.