The key reasons for candidates looking for new job opportunities has always been about career development and to better themselves financially. However, with a clear shortage of available candidates to fill vacancies, as well as wanting to secure even higher salaries, they are looking for even more from their future employer.
Indeed.com have stated that it is the tightest the employment market has been in 50 years and on average, there is less than one candidate per job being advertised. The lack of available candidates continued to decline rapidly in July, driven by "concerns over job security due to the pandemic, a lack of European workers due to Brexit, and a generally low unemployment rate", the report by KPMG and the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) said.
It’s a Candidates Market Place
Salaries Are Increasing
Available job starting salaries are rising at record rates due to shortages in candidates, according to KPMG. Rising demand for staff to fill vacancies resulted in the sharpest salary inflation rate in almost 24 years of data collection, its jobs survey found.
Claire Warnes, Partner and Head of Education, Skills and Productivity at KPMG UK said, "Employers are desperate to find good candidates for the many jobs on offer and this is reflected in starting salaries rising at the sharpest rate since the survey began in 1997."
Although Employers are being compelled to increase wages to cope with lack of candidates, in order to fend off the competition and fill vacancies, the speed Employers need to take from first interviewing candidates to offer needs to be faster than ever. Candidates are receiving several job offers, so if the process is slow to offer, they will drop out of considering your role.
Candidates Want More
Remote work continues to be in high demand and according to Indeed.com 1 in 10 jobs offer remote working options. After reviewing the jobs that Bluetree are working on, we can see that 80% of the jobs offer the opportunity to work on a hybrid basis.
As well as remote or hybrid work options and higher salaries, prospective employees are taking time to find out more about an Employers brand, their culture and working conditions. They are super educated when it comes to job searches, sharing information about interview experiences on platforms such as Glassdoor and Google and researching employers thoroughly before they apply for a job. With the shortage of talent available, it is more important than ever to focus on the customer experience of applying to work with a company. Indeed.com have stated that 55% of candidates are deciding not to apply for a job if they see negative reviews on Glassdoor or Google. Bluetree create client profiles that include a company overview, benefit packages, awards, video links and company values, and we have found this has helped our candidates get a better and quicker understanding of our clients and can speed up their response in wanting to be put forward to a role.
The REC Viewpoint
According to new data from the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) Employers’ confidence in both the UK economic outlook and their own ability to invest in their business dropped quickly in the second quarter of 2022, with inflation and labour shortages causing widespread concern.
In April-June 2022, employer confidence in making hiring and investment decisions for their own business hit net: -13. This is the same level as April-June 2020, at the height of the pandemic. Meanwhile, business confidence in the economy fell by 40 percentage points from January-March 2022 to net: -50.
Despite this, labour shortages mean that many firms are still trying to hire new staff. The hiring outlook stayed positive, although it slowed slightly from the first quarter of this year. In the short term, hiring intentions for permanent staff decreased by 5 percentage points to net: +23, while demand for temporary workers fell by 4 points to net: +12.
Neil Carberry, Chief Executive of the REC, said: “This new report clearly shows the effect of rising inflation and labour shortages on businesses across the country. The economy has slowed significantly from the post-lockdown bounce and the next few months look much tougher. While firms are still looking to bring on new staff, this is really a reflection of how difficult businesses have found it to hire so far this year. All of this only emphasises the importance of companies working with professional recruiters on their plans – and for government to take action so we aren’t choking off the growth we need.”
“Part of the solution will be more inclusive recruitment processes, so it’s encouraging to see a fifth of companies pushing in that direction. But it also means investing in training and developing staff, and ensuring working conditions and benefits are competitive enough to help attract and retain talented people.”
