The Ghost of Recruitment Past

Let’s meet a candidate from pre-covid. His name is Bob Cratchit, a hard-working family man who works for Scrooge Inc, a business where career development is unlikely for Bob, and he feels unsatisfied with his working conditions. Bob’s been looking for a new job, but they are hard to come by and he often loses out to other candidates.

The average job vacancy may have more applicants than the firm knows what to do with and they can have their pick of the candidates. In the recruitment of the past, hiring managers often had time to decide between candidates and could have the luxury of a longer interview process.

Though this had been asked about for many years by many people, remote working was hard to come by in a career. As businesses held the power, established routines and ways of working were unlikely to change. For people like Bob, this was the status quo until 2020 and then the world was flipped on its head.

The Ghost of Recruitment Present

You might assume that post-pandemic, it would be easy for businesses to recruit the right talent with more candidates available due to furlough and redundancies. However, present day recruitment finds itself in a candidate-led market due to the rising need for talented people and not enough people willing to change roles. This also means job seekers can negotiate better working conditions, higher pay, and bigger benefits.

Bob Cratchit is recognising his worth and looking to move on from Scrooge Inc. Alongside the other job seekers, there are now great expectations on salaries and benefit packages. If the client doesn’t mirror Bob’s needs and wants, they’ll lose out if they’re not competitive enough. Time is of the essence to secure the best talent now.

Candidates are also looking for remote working. For Bob Cratchit, this could mean he has more flexibility to take Tiny Tim to the hospital when he works from home. We are seeing more people considering their options post-pandemic and generally reassessing life choices. Specialists have always been hard to come by, but it’s even harder now as specialists are aware of the shortages in their sectors.

The balance of power continues to shift with some candidates even ‘ghosting’ potential employers, interviews and not responding to job offers due to other opportunities. Bob Cratchit could be interviewing with multiple employers, a trend driven by market demand and the ease of online interviews. With many candidates currently working from home, this means they can attend more interviews without requesting time off.

In addition, the market has completely opened up due to remote work options, which has shifted salary bands and pay scales which are now no longer driven by geography; it’s become a tale of two cities. Bob Cratchit’s future employer might not even be in the same location that he is.

It’s a double-edged sword for employers. If you’re offering your employees this new flexible way of working, you’ll have a broader choice of candidates, but this also means the candidates have more choice too - and, in many cases, multiple offers to consider. Businesses are regularly disappointed and missing out on candidates by not moving the process along quickly enough.

In the present day of recruitment, we recommend clients move as quickly as possible on meeting a candidate they like, and to get a competitive offer in as soon as possible. People like Bob will get snapped up quickly.

The Ghost of Recruitment Future

In the future, Bob Cratchit and the current workforce will be increasingly interested in more than better salaries and flexibility. Mental health days and wellbeing packages are coming up as important on applicant agendas. The employers that are recognising this and doing things differently are the ones securing the top talent.

Technology and AI software continues to develop which helps to speed up the recruitment process and streamline communication and hiring. As industry innovators, Yolk Recruitment are well versed in adapting to the fast-changing modern recruitment landscape and we utilise a range of platforms to work smart and fast. Speak to us to find out more about how we can utilise our technology to map the market for your industry and identify where you should be securing new talent from.

It’s not just the experienced Bob Cratchit’s of the world benefitting from the change in the employment landscape. The UK Government are now offering the Kickstart Scheme, providing funding to create new jobs for 16- to 24-year-olds on Universal Credit who are at risk of long-term unemployment. The funding covers 100% of the National Minimum Wage (or the National Living Wage depending on the age of the participant) for 25 hours per week for a total of 6 months, associated employer National Insurance contributions and minimum automatic enrolment pension contributions. Employers can spread the job start dates up until 31 March 2022 and will receive funding for 6 months once the young person has started their job. Employers of all sizes can apply for funding until midday on Friday, 17 December 2021.

Nobody can fully predict the future, but 2022 and beyond is looking to be an even more fast-paced world of recruitment where virtual jobs are snapped up quickly as the Bob Cratchits of the world create bigger demand for the best talent and what employers should offer to secure it.

What will you be doing to attract the best talent next year? Speak to Yolk today and we can discuss the future for your business this Christmas.

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