Recruiting employees with the right skills in 2023 will be more challenging than ever, despite the anticipated business slowdown, states a new guide launched today by leading global recruitment firm Monster. The guide cites recent research from Monster which reveals that 87% of UK companies are planning to hire in 2023, while at the same time good employees are getting harder to find. In order to overcome this, Monster advocates a policy of proactivelyhiring across the entire ‘candidate life cycle’, from first general awareness through to current employees.
Entitled ‘Always Be Recruiting,’ the new guide offers practical advice on attracting and retaining talent in 2023 and urges firms to use all available tools, technologies and techniques to constantly seek out new staff. 81% of organisations are struggling to find candidates with the skills they need, according to Monster research.
The strategy that Monster advocates guides businesses to communicate differently at five distinct steps of the candidate life cycle. These steps are general awareness, passive search, active search, application and onboarding.
Using employer branding to build a ‘good reputation’ as an employer before candidates even consider changing jobs helps bring an organisation front of mind when candidates are triggered to seek new work, says the guide.
At the same time, organisations need to understand the importance of developing and maintaining a good careers site to attract candidates who are actively searching. Many careers portals don’t include information that candidates want to know before deciding to join, including about company values and culture, according to Monster. The application process also needs to be straightforward and optimised for the appropriate platform - 70% of job applications in 2021 were completed on a mobile device, the company reveals. If an organisation’s application process is only designed for the desktop, they will probably lose good candidates.
The guide advocates a multi-channel approach to highlight the availability of jobs. Using social media effectively is very important as part of the recruitment strategy, claims the guide, with 57% of jobseekers using social media to research a company they are considering joining.
The hiring mindset should also extend to current employees. An effective candidate retention strategy will bring down hiring costs overall, and should include a feedback loop, providing actionable feedback to employees; a referral programme; and skills analysis, including understanding what skills current employees have before trying to recruit externally, says the guide.
Claire Barnes adds, “Recruiters need to engage with talent whenever and wherever they can find it – online, offline, in-person or remotely. It’s important to present a compelling proposition including consistently and constantly building brand awareness of a kind that appeals to candidates at every stage of the job seeker journey. The entire user experience from research to job offer must be a very positive one.”
The Always Be Recruiting guide is available to download free of charge at https://learnmore.monster.com/UK_always_be_recruiting
