Why businesses need a more proactive approach to talent acquisition in 2023
The recruitment landscape entered the year in the grip of the so-called ‘Great Resignation’. Businesses began to suffer with shortages of quality candidates and a war for talent ensued. We’re now at a point where this war is over, and the talent has won.
The UK unemployment rate for the third quarter of 2022 was 3.6% according to the Office for National Statistics, which is as low as it’s been in recent history. We find ourselves amidst a cost of living crisis and with a surge of more than 500,000 people quitting the UK workforce since the Covid pandemic. The Bank of England’s chief economist, Huw Pill, has warned that the already spiralling rate of inflation could worsen as a result of the job market, long after the effects of exorbitant energy prices on the population begin to wane.
Proactive recruitment and the passive talent pool
With no signs of the talent pool growing, hiring managers need to be agile and proactive in how they go about attracting candidates. According to LinkedIn, 70% of the global workforce is passive – meaning they’re not actively searching for a new role but could be persuaded if presented with the right opportunity – putting ever more emphasis on employers to make themselves desirable to work for and fine-tune their recruitment processes. The remaining 30% active candidates will likely have a plethora of options, and you could often find they’re not as good a fit for your role as their passive counterparts. Check out how passive recruitment strategies measure up against active hiring.
Building relationships with candidates now needs to be a major focus. Even just a few years ago, when the employment landscape was much more in favour of employers as opposed to the candidate-driven market we have now, too many businesses viewed recruitment through a transactional lens. The abundance of talent meant that many businesses were prone to ‘ghosting’ candidates when they were no longer of any use.
Poor communication in the recruitment process is one of candidates’ biggest pain points and external perception of employers has never been more crucial. Plus, you never know when you might have a role that could suit someone who didn’t quite make the grade for a job initially, so it’s always worth maintaining a relationship with these candidates.
Focus on employee retention
What’s the best way to limit the time and money you spend on attracting talent? To invest in retaining the talent you already have in place.
Again, communication is the key here. Whether it’s simply checking in regularly with your employees, to more structured discussions such as finding out the training and development they’d like to take up or their ambitions for their career progression, you can identify and address any issues that could otherwise have built and caused them to leave, much earlier.
This will go some way to addressing issues with staff attrition but there will always be cases where no matter what you could’ve done, people’s circumstances can be such that they will look to leave anyway. Your retention efforts will not have been in vain, though, as a more positive working environment will make ex-employees reflect on their time with your company in a good light. This comes back to the point of external perceptions above – people will look at sites such as Glassdoor before joining a prospective new employer, and the way in which people describe their experience of working for you can make a real difference in your ability to attract talent.
How HR software can help with recruitment
Did you know that you can streamline your recruitment function with HR software? Whether it’s employee engagement, identifying trends in staff leaving or recruitment metrics such as numbers of applicants and dropouts as well as average time to recruit, Natural HR gives businesses the tools and the reporting they need to effectively attract and retain the best talent in this turbulent climate.
Don’t just take our word for it, come and see for yourself! You can book a free demo of Natural HR here.
Learn more about our recruitment software module.
