KPMG and REC (Recruitment & Employment Confederation) regularly produce a UK Report on Jobs. In the December 2019 press release, the findings suggested that there is a decline in permanent staff placements. The reason for this was because there is a reduced number of vacancies and less demand for staff. There are also fewer vacancies in the UK labour market. Jan Holt, CEO at KPMG, said that the “employer confidence to recruit has not yet returned, leading to delays with permanent hiring.”. Additionally, the report suggested that permanent salaries continued to increase as firms remained willing to raise pay for suitable candidates. It appears that companies are willing to offer higher salaries for those candidates they believe are suitable for the right role. With that in mind, as employers, we need to be doing everything we can to attract new talent and optimise our chances of a successful hire.
We have collated four popular recruitment trends that could have a positive impact on your hiring success:
1. Mobile SEO
In its beginning, many people thought Search Engine Optimisation was a fad and waited in vain for it to blow over. However, we know that it’s going nowhere. Having a properly optimised site will help people to find your company – and vacant career opportunities – much faster.
Far from disappearing into the abyss, SEO experienced a major shift in recent years as Google announced their move to ‘mobile-first indexing’. This essentially means companies with great mobile websites will be prioritised. Google’s previous indexing method prioritised based on the quality of a desktop site – even if the mobile version left a lot to be desired.
This indicates the shift to mobile usage as consumers, and corporate investment taking place to improve mobile user’s experience.
Research shows that 48% of people consider smartphones the most important device to connect to the internet. Comparatively, half this number (24%) said a laptop and 9% said a desktop. Now is the time to make sure your website sings in mobile.
Read more: Five tips to optimise your job adverts for Google for Jobs
2. Talent Relationship Management (TRM)
TRM is used by organisations to foster internal and external talent to maintain as large a talent pool as is possible. Consider them the ‘cousin’ to the CRM system which has been used to manage customer relationships for a long time. TRM could take the form of a spreadsheet or a process.
Some of the world’s leading companies are 55% more likely than their competitors to proactively build talent pipelines regardless of current hiring needs.
Fostering internal relationships makes internal promotion much more effective.
TRM also works as a method of enhancing relationships with potential future employees, including ex-employees, candidates who just missed out on a role and industry contacts.
Ensure your recruitment processes include a clear, GDPR-compliant, privacy policy that you provide to your candidates, so that you can maintain as large a talent pool as possible to insure and assist your organisation’s future growth.
3. Employer Branding
Employer branding is an organisation’s reputation. What are they like to work for? How do they treat their employees? What is their corporate culture like? How about their staff turnover? All of these elements are easily found online.
LinkedIn research revealed that an incredible 75% of job seekers research about a company’s brand before even applying for a role. With this in mind, what does your employer branding look like? Glassdoor, Google Review and LinkedIn are great places to start your research.
To build a positive employer brand going forward, consider asking employees for anonymous reviews or feedback. Respond to all feedback and remember to action some suggestions to demonstrate you are listening.
Always be willing to listen and improve, and use any negative feedback to grow and evolve positively.
4. Social Recruiting
Similarly to the SEO boom, many employers chose (and some still choose) to refrain from social media. The defending arguments were fears over professional appearances and resourcing.
However, the number of social media users is increasing year on year. Can your organisation afford to miss out on such a large audience?
Social media sites are also getting on board with this recruitment trend making it easier for you to advertise your jobs on their sites. Facebook launched a job posting function for businesses, so that you can advertise your vacancies directly on Facebook.
Conduct research: find where your candidates spend most of their time online and start your social recruiting there, whether that’s Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or YouTube, for example.
Do not be afraid to use social media for recruitment. Embrace it as a powerful tool to reach as many potential candidates as possible.
Are you recruiting?
We hope this article provided some tips to boost your recruitment campaign, if we can help with recruitment or any of your on-boarding needs, please contact us on 0330 223 5253 or office@fitzgeraldhr.co.uk
