The number of job vacancies in the UK rose throughout 2022, reaching a record 1.3 million in May. With far more job ads than candidates, it’s a tough time to be hiring for your company. 

However, there are ways you can increase your chances of attracting a stand-out candidate to your business. From improving your job adverts to building a strong company reputation, these five tips will help you navigate a challenging hiring season.  

1. Know Your Company’s Values

The Covid-19 pandemic changed people’s priorities, including the recruitment space. It’s no longer salary that workers are most concerned about when applying for jobs, but whether company values align with their own. 

Consequently, you should clearly communicate your company’s values to job applicants and employees. By talking about what is important to you and your business in job adverts, you’re more likely to find like-minded and committed applicants.

2. Build a Strong Reputation

Your employees are representatives of your business, and any bad experiences they might have will impact your ability to hire in the future. Before you even consider placing job ads, it might be worth addressing any lingering problems within your current staff. 

If you can get your employees to sing praises about your company online and to their acquaintances, you’re more likely to survive the competitive jobs market.

3. Create Opportunities for Career Progression

53% of UK workers say that job security is more important to them now than before the pandemic. This means job applicants are increasingly looking for proof that companies will value their contributions for years, not just months. 

To emphasise job security, show potential applicants that you invest in your employees and offer them space to grow and move up in your business.

4. Focus on Employee Benefits

As well as feeling aligned with their businesses in personal values, employees also want their jobs to give back to them in more than one way. So, what employee benefits are you offering?

Whether your employee benefits include support for mental wellbeing or unlimited holidays, offering something in addition to a valuable salary is one easy way of attracting the best candidates to your company. 

5. Improve your HR Process

Finally, perhaps the easiest way of attracting candidates is by improving your job adverts. Applying for jobs is time-consuming, and applicants won’t waste time on ads they deem poorly written or vague. 

One of the easiest ways to improve your job descriptions and make them more detailed is to get help from employees who do similar roles in your business. What language would they use? How would they describe an average day in their job?

Our Advice

To say that the UK recruitment market is volatile right now would be an understatement. With competition high, companies need to do everything they can to make their job propositions as attractive as possible. 

Improving your recruitment strategy doesn’t have to wait until you’re actually hiring. Increasing employee satisfaction and clarifying your business values will also ease the difficulty of hiring in the future.