Have you struggled to hire in 2022? You’re not alone, as nearly all UK sectors have been affected by staff shortages throughout the year.
Recent research has found that a huge 92% of employers countrywide have found it hard to fill vacancies in 2022. And unfortunately, there are still major challenges to overcome in the new year. Around 20% of workers are expecting to leave their jobs over the next 12 months, in pursuit of better pay and job satisfaction.
Stats like these make it all the more urgent for companies to put a new or improved hiring strategy in place for 2023, as early as possible. If you want to stand an outside chance of winning the war for talent in the new year, you’ll need to rethink your approach.
Here are just a few of the key things to be thinking about:
How strong is your employer brand?
To attract the best talent, you not only need to be able to compete on salary. You also need a reputation as one of the best companies to work for, in your industry, area or both (ideally).
This means putting some serious work into developing a strong employer brand, or employer value proposition (EVP). What can you offer new hires? This could be a commitment to work/life balance with benefits such as flexible working or lifestyle perks, an inclusive culture or lots of opportunities for career development.
Key areas to focus on:
- Your online footprint. For example, testimonials from happy employees and a positive social media presence.
- Your recruitment marketing strategy. Firstly, you need to define your values and what makes you stand out from the competition. The next key step is communicating this effectively with a persuasive recruitment marketing strategy, one that targets the candidates you want to reach.
- Walking the walk. You need to show a real commitment to improving workplace culture, by reviewing all of your policies and processes.
Find out what your target candidates want
For most of the people you want to hire, this will be pay. Most candidates are motivated by salary, but this isn’t the only reason they may choose a role.
Benefits, perks, flexible working, company culture and career progression are all part of the package. You need to do some research (starting with your current employees) to find out what really matters to your target candidates. It’s likely that of all of the above, flexible working will come out on top of the priorities list.
Speed up your hiring processes
The recruitment market has never been so cutthroat, so you can’t afford to hang around. If your hiring processes are slow, hard to navigate or require large amounts of effort on the part of the candidate, you need to revisit them.
Make recruitment and onboarding as simple and quick as possible, or you could lose out on great candidates who aren’t prepared to wait around.
Need expert help to source talent in 2023? Find exactly who you’re looking for – and fast – with Aqumen Recruitment. Get in touch to start your search.