In this blog we discuss the current landscape in the job market and what this means for you and your business.
Recent reports have suggested although wages have risen for working people, unemployment has also risen. But what could be the reason for this?
Why has there been a rise?
According to a recent BBC article, unemployment has risen to its highest since September 2021.
There could be many different factors for this, one mentioned in the BBC article is long-term sickness. If we look more widely, there could also be factors such as care responsibilities, childcare and the roles currently in circulation containing skills that aren’t matching those who are unemployed.
Another area could be that as we have advanced in technology, so have the technical skills required for some roles or the creation of new roles to match the technical expertise needed. The British technology industry had an 8 percent rise in new job posting at the start of 2024.
There was also a study that highlighted men would typically proceed with an application even if they did not match all the skills set required, whereas women would only apply if they met all the requirements.
Responding to the changing landscape
It would be difficult to find a ‘one size fits all’ approach for this, as there could be many different reasons and many different approaches for businesses.
However, if you are struggling to recruit for live vacancies, it could be worth taking a review at the roles published and whether they are speaking to today’s talent.
Some key question you can ask are:
- How long have you been recruiting for this role?
- Have you reviewed how similar roles are advertised?
- What benefits have you listed? Making sure that these are outside of the normal employee benefits.
- Could the wording be more welcoming?
If you need to scale back on recruitment, it may be worth exploring how you can upskill your current workforce to ensure you can fill skills gaps whilst also providing staff with the opportunity to progress in their chosen career.
Remove the ‘middle man’
As a business it can be challenging and time consuming trying to push live vacancies to those who are actively looking. Many will look to work with external recruitment agencies, which comes at additional costs to consider.
One option that could be worth considering easing the burden of external costs is linking directly with universities. With many working directly with graduates and the community to provide those links – matching unemployed and underemployed into skilled roles.
This can also remove the ‘middle person’ by connecting you directly with the candidate from a much earlier stage.
How are you supporting those with caring responsibilities or long-term illness? For example, flexible working or hybrid/remote working. It is worth considering these and how you can implement into your business model for current and future employees.
How we can help you
Our Employer Engagement team can work directly with you to match talented students and graduates to the skill set required. We can also refer you to our wider Engagement team to tap into other recruitment streams.
